This is definitely an underrated campsite! We did an overnight (Sat-Sun) at Lake George. This would be an excellent introduction to backpacking, but maybe not the best day hike (although Gobblers Knob has excellent views!).
We got to Longmire WIC around 8:30 am to pick up permits, with no waiting or issues. Got to the trailhead around 9 am; road is in good condition, and very doable for low clearance vehicles. The hike to Lake George went rather quickly: the first ~3.5 miles on Westside road went by quickly (~900 ft of gain), but had some nice views of Rainier and fall foliage. The Lake George trail was in great condition and again, had nice peeks of Rainier (~500 ft of gain). We got to camp in about 1.5 hours, and set up at campsite 4. We then hiked up to Gobblers Knob, which offered majestic views of Rainier and was surprisingly empty! We saw only one person and had the view to ourselves for the ~30 mins we spent up there. The lookout tower had a lot of flies, but they mostly stayed in the trees and the shade. Then, we took an excursion to Goat Lake to get some more miles under our belts. The trail to Goat Lake is quite brushy, but the lake is nice and has lots of blueberry bushes surrounding it :) Overall, we did around 10.5 miles with 3600 ft of gain that day.
Lake George camp itself was very nice: spacious campsites, bug-less, quiet, and a surprisingly clean and pleasant pit toilet (which is not something I've ever said before!). Thank you, NPS! No running water as of now, as far as we could tell. The views of the lake were very nice at sunset!
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