Goat Peak Summer Hike Washinton

The forecast was for rain in Western Washington, so we headed to the east side of the Cascades. We choose Goat Peak off of Hwy 410 on the east side of Mt Rainier. There are 4 different trails to Goat Peak, we picked #959 the Goat Creek Trail off of Bumping River Road. This trail is 11 miles round trip with 3,400 ft of elevation gain.
The trails starts in the woods, with a short flat section before climbing up the south side of American Ridge.















At about 1.5 miles and 900 ft of elevation gain the trail enters a clearing and we began to see the small peaks to the south, Mount Aix is seen between the trees ( photo on right below).
 


 

 At 4 miles the trail joins the American Ridge Trail, the way to Goat Peak is to the right. The next mile of trail is a more gentle gain. While the trail was on the south side of the ridge line, we could see Mt Adams to the south. When the trail moved to the north side of the ridge line, we had great views of Mt Rainier and Fife's Ridge.

The last 1/2 mile is a steep series of switchbacks climbing 500 ft to the summit.

 We had lots of opportunities to stop and take pictures of wildflowers along the way.

A short distance before the summit, this rocky out cropping provides great views of Bumping Lake and in the far distance Mt Adams.

This Forest Service marker is at the top of Goat Peak.

Panorama View from south to east to north: 

Mount Aix, Mt Adams, Mt Rainier, Fife's Ridge

Panorama View from north to east:

Fife's Ridge, peaks at Snoqualmie Pass, the Stuart Range

 View from the top looking down to Bumping Lake, Mt Adams to the left of my sisters.

 View from the top, Mt Rainier to the right of my sisters.










We had to protect our lunches from the chipmunks.

Butterflies:

 Heading back down the trail

















Some of the many wildflowers we saw today:

Mount Townsend Summer Hike

 The sun was shinning and the forecast was for clear skies, so we headed out to Mount Townsend. I hadn't seen the views from the top the other two times I hiked up. So glad we did the hike today, as there were more rhododendrons and other wildflowers in bloom than 2 weeks ago.
This is a 8.2 mile round trip hike with 2,900 ft of elevation gain when hiking from the upper Mount Townsend parking lot. (Off of Forest Road 27 near Quilcene)
The hike starts climbing immediately, the first mile the trail is lined with rhododendrons.

 There were a couple of places where there was water on the trail, but easy to step over.

 As the trail ascended we began to see some of the nearby rock formations and we saw an eagle soar overhead.

 The upper half of the trail goes through meadows filled with wildflowers this time of year.

 There is a waterfall on the hillside, barely seen on the right hand side of this picture.

 As we hiked up toward the saddle, we began to see the cascade volcanos across Puget Sound, here you can see Mt Rainier and Mt Adams.

 As we climbed towards the top of Mount Townsend from the saddle, we could see the nearby Olympic Mountains.











View of the Olympic Peaks to the southwest from the top of Mount Townsend.
I don't have a photo, but to the north, we could see across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Vancouver Island, the San Juan Islands and the Coastal Mountains in British Columbia.

Panorama to the west, looking across Hood's Canal and Puget Sound. They are too small in this photo, but we could see Mt Baker, Mt Shuskan, Glacier Peak, Mt Rainier, Mt Adams and Mt St Helens.

While eating lunch we were visited by butterflies and

 chipmunks.

 Looking back up at Mount Townsend as we begin to hike back down the trail. There was very little snow today.

 The hike down was breathtaking, when the switchbacks headed northward, we looked out toward Mt Baker and Glacier Peak. When the switch backs headed southward, we looked out at Mt Rainier, Mt Adams and Mt St Helens until they were out of view.

 We saw this small bunny off of the trail on our way down.

Some of the many wildflowers we saw in bloom today: