Everything I'm doing blog: Snowgrass Flat--Goat Ridge Loop

Thank goodness for golf, softball, soccer, etc. or we might have seen all those people on the trail to Goat Lake in the Goat Rocks Wilderness.

Digital photography still amazes us old school shutter bugs.

Ben & I left Olympia at 1700 Friday Aug 8, 2014. Trailhead start: 1930.

Tiny waterfalls along the trail.

Having made camp just short of the Goat Creek bridge, we prepared to hang our food. Ben tossed a rock bag tied to my rope over a high branch & we used the PCT method. We set up camp: Ben, his Bear Mountain Bridge Hammock, and me, my DIY bridge hammock. After a short meal, we went to the bridge with headlights and Ben's Canon G1X camera & itty bitty tripod. Ben focused and framed, then opened the shutter, turning me loose to "paint" the dark landscape using the spotlight from my headlamp. Photo below. Delicious fun, if you ever get the chance.

Photography done, we retired to our hammocks. Not long after tucking in, I learned the downside of sleeping to the sound of a creek rushing past--I got cold. I hoped I had incorrectly attached my underquilt and checked--no such luck. My Marmot Hydrogen sleeping bag (30 degree rating) didn't keep me warm. I balanced pulling out my insulating air mattress & losing heat while doing so against doing nothing--I stayed in and stayed cold. I envied Ben with his long experience hammock camping, warm and cozy in his hammock. Morning found both of us remarking how cold we felt. Cold fingers made coffee, tea and hot meals and broke camp. We left, warming quickly with each step away from the Goat Creek drainage. People tell the truth after a cold night, but now I wish I'd said, " You were cold? I was sweating all night and had to tear off a layer. Yeah, and I'm a cold sleeper.". I have no sense of humor.

We passed very slowly through Snowgrass Flats, wildflowers doing their blooming best.

Tent camps abounded, as did mosquitoes, which homed in on Ben, biting through his shirt. I took 4 bites on exposed skin only, having treated my clothes and hat with permethrin. Impressively, many parties hiked with young children, down to 8 years old or so. We saw hikers from Nepal and Colombia. We feasted on views of Mt. Adams south of us.

Following a long lunch at Goat Lake we ascended the trail 200' to straddle the Goat Ridge, then dropped into the Jordan Basin, filling our water bottles at the last trickle on the long leg back to the trailhead. We walked on, at times seeing Mt. Rainier to the northwest, Mt. Adams south and Mt. St. Helens southwest. About 1600, dog-tired, we made camp between some trees on a moderately sloped hillside far from any natural drainage. The thick base of pine needles on the ground at our campsite forced a relocation of our kitchens to the dirt trail, where we lit our stoves and cooked. We had water enough for dinner and breakfast tea. Nightfall brought much warmer air than the evening before.