Owyhigh Lakes Trail Spring Hike

With a weather forecast of mostly cloudy, I decided it was a good day to do a "no view of Mt Rainier" hike in Mt Rainier National Park. We choose to hike the Owyhigh Lakes Trail from the north end on the White River road off of Hwy 410. The trail goes by Owyhigh Lakes at 3.5 miles, a pass at 4 miles, connects to the Eastside Hwy at 8.8 miles and connects to the Eastside Trail where you can hike down to Ohanapecosh 17 miles from the trailhead where we began. We decided to hike to the pass and a bit beyond before returning to the trailhead where we began. We hiked about 8.5 miles with an elevation gain of 1650 ft. The trail starts as a nice easy ascent in the forest for the first 0.25 miles, before ascending in a series of switchbacks for the next 2.25 miles.

 At the first switchback there was a view of Shaw Creek, we did not see any water in the rocky creek bed.

The trail was nice and soft. There were several small wooden bridges to cross with a few trees on the trail to step over or around.

 The trail passes over an unnamed creek several times.

 At the top of the switchback section there is a log crossing over this creek, where the waters was coming off of a large melting snow field.

 We hiked over a few snow patches on our way to Owyhigh Lakes.

 We heard several grouse along the trail, but only saw this one.

 The last mile of the trail on the way to Owyhigh Lakes is fairly flat. When you see Governors Ridge between the trees, you are close to the lakes.

View of Owyhigh Lakes with Governors Ridge behind them to the east.

To the west is Tamanos Mountain.

We decided to hike up to the pass before returning to the lakes for a lunch break.

 Looking back at Tamanos Mountain with a field of glacier lilies and anemones in the foreground.

 Looking back at Owyhigh Lakes and the north end of Governors Ridge.

 From Owyhigh Lakes to the pass the 0.5 mile trail was covered in snow. The snow wasn't too deep, we didn't need snowshoes or microspikes.

The pass is where Governors Ridge and Tamanos Mountain meet, before the trail begins to descend another 4.8 miles to the Eastside Road.

 Panorama at the pass looking south. The knobby peak is Barrier Peak.

Panorama at the pass looking north west towards Tamanos Mountain.

We met someone who was hiking to Owyhigh Lakes from the Eastside Road, he said there were better views of the Cowlitz Chimneys a little ways down the trail, so we decided to go take a look.
The trail continued in and out of the snow to a hill meadow where we could see the Cowlitz Chimneys through the clouds:

We waited a while, but the clouds would not lift.

Hiking back to the pass, through a field of glacier lilies.

Back at Owyhigh Lakes for a lunch break before returning home. Panorama looking east:

Some of the wildflowers we saw on our hike today:

Goat Lake Spring Hike

Today, we hiked to Goat Lake in the Henry M Jackson Wilderness. This hike is on the Mountain Loop Hwy, east of Granite Falls. The hike is 10.4 miles roundtrip with 1400 ft of elevation gain.

 The trail starts in the woods with a soft trail and a gentle grade.

 The trail soon splits into the Upper Elliot and Lower Elliot Trails. We choose to hike up the Lower Elliot Trail that follows Elliot Creek.

 We enjoyed hiking in the forest, with Elliot Creek nearby and lots of wildflowers along the way.

 The trail goes under a very large fallen tree.

 We had many glimpses of Elliot Creek between the trees.

 There were a few short wooden bridges and rock crossings over streams.

 After 3 miles, the Lower and Upper Elliot trails join together and continue on to Goat Lake.

 There were two very large trees where the trail enters the Henry M Jackson Wilderness.

 We had some views of the nearby peaks.

 Soon, the trail reaches an old stump and rootball. The trail to the right goes to a waterfall, the trail to the left begins to climb uphill in a series of switchbacks to Goat Lake.

The side trail to the waterfall has lots of fallen logs to climb over.

 I stepped out onto the large rocks along the creek to get this photo of the lower falls, the upper falls are hidden behind the trees.














We continued the hike up to Goat Lake, we saw these falls coming down from the outlet of Goat Lake on Elliot Creek.












We saw some long narrow waterfalls coming down the cliffs as we approached Goat Lake.

Panorama at Goat Lake:

 View of Goat Lake from the shore:

Waterfall we saw along the north shore of Goat Lake

 After enjoying a leisurely lunch break at the lake, we returned to the trail and took the Upper Elliot Trail back down. We saw many small waterfalls along this route through the woods.

A large boulder we hiked around on the Upper Elliot Trail.

View of the mountains from the Upper Elliot Trail.

Some of the many wildflowers we saw along the trail today: