Goat Lake — Wednesday, Sep. 20, 2023

Yesterday I went on the third hike of the summer to Goat Lake. It was a lot cooler. There were only two cars in the parking lot when we got there (instead of the 40+ cars on previous hikes), and we met the occupants of both on their way down before we arrived at the lake. No one else was there for 30 minutes until a lone hiker showed up. Several people showed up as we were leaving, backpackers and hikers.

The fall colors were starting to show. The old growth trees, some alive, some dead, were amazing as usual.

We hiked the trail along the beach as far as we could go which took us to that last beach. That beach has easier access so I'll keep that in mind for future trips. Once there we could see the end of the lake which is pretty much what you can see from the first accessible beach. The snow melt is a lot smaller.

We also saw two birds fighting over a small fish. See photo. There were also more mushrooms since it had rained the night before.

It was amazing how few cars were parked along the road to the trailhead, as in almost none. No one at Lake 22 that we could see.