Heart Lake via Lily Basin Trail — Friday, Aug. 24, 2001

South Cascades > Goat Rocks

Had time for a longer day hike so I decided to do the Lily Basin Trail in the Goat Rocks Wilderness. To get to the trailhead, you take FS road 48 from Packwood. The road is in pretty good shape but there are some large potholes and there is one spot which is in pretty tough shape so be careful. This trail offers a little bit of everything plus some killer views. For some reason, the very first part of the trail has a tremendous amount of tree blowdown but only in a few spots after that. The first couple of miles is nothing special but there are some good views of Mt. Adams. The trail continues climbing and enters some older forest which is very nice. About 4 miles in, there is an awesome view of Mt. Ranier hanging over Packwood Lake. Postcard material definitely. The trail then dips briefly and climbs to the other side of the ridge to the Lily Basin side. This part of the trail is exposed and you start to slowly climb around the base of Johnson Peak. There are a few stream crossings and there's some mud on the trail. One of the stream crossings is tricky and requires some nimble scrambling. Next you continue climbing over some rocks up to the intersection with the Angry Mountain Trail. The view here is unbelievable. I found a perch on a rock and enjoyed my lunch. There was views of Ranier, Adams and St. Helens. Couldn't have asked for a better day. Saw some sort of creature scrambling over the rocks. Looked like a cat of some sort. Didn't go down to Heart Lake but I heard there was some mountain goats nearby. Good hike. Worth the effort.