Goat Rocks Backpack

Trip Summary
Backpacking Miles: ~20
Approximate Elevation Gain: 1900 feet
Days/Nights in the wilderness: 4/3 
Number of mountain goats seen: zero!


In mid-August we spent 4 days/3 nights backpacking in the Goat Rocks Wilderness of Washington.  This is one of the most beautiful alpine areas in the Pacific Northwest.  During our trip the weather was outstanding, the wildflowers were at peak and the light for photography was just about perfect.  We planned this backpack during the middle of the week, to avoid the crowds that hit this area on the summer weekends.  Other than the thru-hikers on the PCT, we hardly saw anyone in 4 days, except for the hike out on the last day.  We hope you enjoy the images from the trip.  You can click on any of the images to see them larger.

The Goat Rocks are collection of moderate size volcanic peaks located between Mt Adams, Mt St Helens and Mt Rainier in southern Washington state.  Although the area is named after the mountain goats which are commonly seen there, we did not see a single goat on the trip!  

We also would like to thank our good friend Matt for recommending this area.

Tuesday, August 21st, 2012

Snowgrass Flats Trailhead (4700') to Split Rock 

Campsite (6600') near the Pacific Crest Trail

6 miles

  

Scott on the trail near Alpine Camp.

Angie and Warren on the trail near Snowgrass Flats.  This is where we really started to get into the wildflowers.

Angie filtering water from a snow-melt stream near our camp.  The little stream dries up overnight and starts running again the next day when the sunlight starts melting the snow.

Warren resting in our camp after the hike up.

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012

Exploring the PCT and Snowgrass Flats 

plus a day hike to Goat Lake

"Morning View"  Sunrise alpenglow on Mt Adams with peak summer wildflowers.  Scott and Warren got up early for sunrise (Angie and Cami slept in).  We were surprised by how close Mt Adams was to the Goat Rocks.

"Ice Bubbles"  The temperature dipped below freezing during our first night out.  This was a small pool of water near our camp which froze overnight.  I was drawn to the circles and lines here in the ice.

The view from the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) just north of our camp.  You can see our tent in the middle right hand area, near the big split rock.

Scott and Angie with Mt Adams.

Scott and Mt Adams.

Angie, Cami and Warren.

Cami and Warren at Goat Lake.  Yes there is actually a lake in there.  This basin holds a ton of snow and the lake didn't actually melt out until late September...just in time for it to start freezing over again!

The shore of Goat Lake.  This is usually a good area to see some mountain goats.  We scanned the cliffs above the lake, but didn't see any.

 

Scott and Angie at Goat Lake.

Mt Adams from the trail to Goat Lake.

Warren checking out the wildflowers.

Angie and Warren with Mt Adams.

Wildflowers in Lily Basin.  Goat Lake is in the smaller basin in the top center area of the frame.

Angie the Explorer!

Scott admiring the view of Mt Adams.

 Angie relaxing in the sun near our camp.

There were several Hoary Marmots living in the rock pile above our camp.  This guy was slightly upset with us getting near his rock pile.

This was the "boss marmot" and he must have weight 20 pounds.  He was very curious what I was up to with the telephoto lens.  I would quietly sit near the rock pile and he would slowly emerge from the den to keep and eye on me.

Our campsite near the PCT.

 Cami getting some rest after a long day of hiking.

Family portrait with wildflowers and Mt Adams

"Above the Clouds" Sunset alpenglow on Mt Adams.  This was basically the view out the side of our tent.  It doesn't get much better than this!

"Celestial Existence"  The Milky Way and millions of other stars above Mt Adams and a field of lupine and paintbrush. This was the only clear night while we were out and I took full advantage of the conditions. To me it seemed like the wildflowers were all looking up and admiring the stars just like I was while creating this image.  This one is Scott's favorite image from the trip.

Thursday, August 23rd, 2012

Campsite above Snowgrass Flats to Cispus Basin

~4 miles

Warren and Scott got up early again for sunrise (Angie and Cami slept in again).  This is the view from the PCT just above our campsite.

"Lupine Sunrise"  Day break over a huge field of lupine.

After soaking up some of the early morning sun at our campsite, we began our hike over to Cispus Basin.  The hiking was relatively easy since we were on the PCT most of the way there.  The only hard part of the hike was getting up into the side valley were we wanted to camp.  It was an offtrail bushwhack up a very steep slope to get there.  It was tough work, but definitely worth it. 

 Here is the view from our campsite in Cispus Basin

Angie, Cami and Warren in one of the side valleys in Cispus Basin

Warren can't resist water!  It was fresh snow-melt and was probably 38 degrees, but it didn't bother him one bit.

Gilbert peak and a small pond in Cispus Basin.

 Warren and Cami resting at our camp.

"Cheers"  This was the view of Cispus Basin during our dinner that evening.  Talk about a table with a view!

 "Cispus Basin Sunset"  Nice sunset light and a field of lupine in Cispus Basin

Friday, August 24th, 2012

Cispus Basin to Snowgrass Flats Trailhead

7 miles

"Stay Awhile"   Summer wildflowers and sunrise alpenglow on Mt Adams.  On this morning Warren and I woke up to thick clouds, fog and wind (surprisingly Angie and Cami slept in). We decided to get up anyway and hiked up to the place I had scouted the evening before. Luckily, just as the first rays of light began to touch Mt Adams, the fog started to dissipate.  

One of the many waterfalls in Cispus Basin.

"Snow Cave"  This was the first time we have ever seen a snow cave in the Cascades.  These "caves" are created where large areas of snow collect over a stream.  The moving water of the stream melts the snow out from underneath and creates the cave.  It was really cool experience shooting a few images inside the snow cave.

Angie relaxing prior to the hike back to the trailhead.

The dogs were completely content to lay in the warm sand and had no intentions of going home.

Scott and Angie in Cispus Basin

We made great time on the hike out (it was all downhill!), but we were amazed by the number of people going into Snowgrass Flats on Friday.  We counted 66 backpackers, 5 horses and a llama named Teddy.  Our recommendation; if you want solitude, definitely go during the middle of the week.

Heart Lake Backpack, Yellowstone National Park

In mid August, we backpacked to the Heart Lake Basin in Yellowstone National Park. We spent 4 days/3 nights in the Yellowstone backcountry and had a wonderful time. Total backpacking distance was ~23 miles.

Backpacking in Yellowstone is done on a permit system. Hiking and backpacking info from the National Park Service is available here. We submitted our permit request in January and found out in early April that we were awarded permits for the dates and route we submitted.

Saturday, August 13th, 2011
Heart Lake Trailhead to Heart Lake Campsite 8H3
9 miles

The trail into Heart Lake Basin travels through an area that was nearly obliterated by the 1988 fires. The lodgepole pines are growing back slowly, but are only ~15-25 feet tall and don't provide much shade. We did the hike during the mid day hours and found it to be very hot due to the sun beating down on us.

Factory Hill on the trail into Heart Lake Basin. The lake can be seen in the distance. Damage from the 1988 Yellowstone fires is visible on the slopes of Factory Hill on the right.

Nice thermal feature along the trail

We arrived at our campsite in the early evening. While we were setting up camp, an American Marten (aka pine marten) came by to check out a squirrel nest in a snag.

Pine Marten investigating the squirrel nest.

Very unhappy Mama squirrel.

Pine marten close up. A rented Nikkor 80-400mm lens helped get close to this little guy.

Apparently raiding squirrel nests is very hard work and quite tiring to pine martens!

"This is my camp!" Pine marten with a crazy look in his eye.

This stream ran through our campsite and created a beautiful soundtrack for sleeping. Mt Sheridan is the mountain in the background.

Full moon rising over Heart Lake.

Full moon close up

Sunday, August 14th, 2011
Exploring Rustic Geyser Basin and
Eastern Group Geyser Basin

Sunrise near our campsite.

Paintbrush and other assorted wildflowers

Lots of birds near camp


On the trail to Rustic Geyser Basin


Rustic Geyser Basin. This was a really cool experience for us and was one of the highlights of the backpacking trip. This basin has several beautiful pools and a good sized geyser. There were no boardwalks and no people, so we were free to explore the entire basin. This is quite a contrast to the hoards of people and boardwalks at the front country geyser basins.

Columbia Pool. The water looks refreshing, but looks can be deceiving, since the water temp is 189 degrees F.

Scott and Angie at Columbia Pool

Scott and Columbia Pool

Bubbling thermal feature

Angie exploring the basin with camera in hand. Her goal was to get an image of every thermal feature in the basin. She succeeded.

Rustic Geyser eruption. Rustic Geyser erupts for about 40-60 seconds every 10-90 minutes. While we were there is was going off about every 30-45 minutes. The eruption lifted the water about 20-30 feet in the air.

Angie's video of Rustic Geyser erupting


Amazing colors around the thermal features


After having lunch and watching Rustic Geyser erupt 4 times, we headed over to the Eastern Group Basin.

Eastern Group Basin


Scott near a small pool.



Scott composing an image.

End result.

On our way back from the geyser basins, we ran into a pair of sociable backpackers from Eastern Texas. They had arrived that day and told us they saw grizzly tracks for about 2 miles on the trail coming into the Heart Lake Basin! They never saw the bear, but had their bear spray ready. They also told us the Park Service had dispatched several rangers into the area near our campsites to look for a missing moose calf. Apparently the moose calf had gone missing sometime during the previous few days and the mother moose was still in the area. The rangers were worried that the calf may have perished and that wolves and bears might converge on the area...not good! They spent most of the evening looking for the moose calf (they never found it) and trying to scare the mother moose away from the campsites. They actually went as far as to shoot shotgun blanks into the air to try to spook the moose. We thought we might have problems sleeping that night, but amazingly once we went to bed, we were out.

Back in camp. Angie and the campfire she built all by herself. Single match!

Angie's favorite part of the 8H3 campsite was the new composting toilet which was just installed this year. Check out her video tour below.


Sunset near our campsite. The wildflowers were at peak bloom while we were in the area This was quite a treat, since the flowers usual peak several weeks earlier. A hard winter and cool spring kept significant snowpack over Yellowstone until late June, which contributed to the late wildflowers.

Night image of the stream near our campsite

Camping under the stars

Monday, August 15th, 2011
Backpacking from site 8H3 to 8J1 - 3.5 miles

The following morning, we got up early expecting to climb Mt Sheridan (10,308 feet). Everything looked good early, but as the morning went on thunderstorms began to build. Once we started hearing thunder and seeing lightning, we decided to skip the climb and explore the area around our campsite.

Thunderstorms over Heart Lake

Small stream coming down the slopes of Mt Sheridan. Thunderstorms building in the background.

A beautiful moment between thunderstorms

Scott and Angie at Heart Lake

On the way to our campsite on the other side of the lake, we spotted the moose that had been hanging out in the area. Apparently it was not afraid of the shotgun blasts! We saw this moose at about 100 yards, which was about as close as we would want to be in the backcountry.

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011
Campsite 8J1 to the Heart Lake Trailhead - 9.5 miles

Down on the beach near campsite 8J1, we found grizzly tracks in the sand. From the look of the track the bear must have come through the area sometime during the previous day. Seeing a track like this definitely grabs your attention!


Scott's self portrait (Angie slept in). Heart Lake and Mt Sheridan are in the background.

Moonset over Mt Sheridan

Looking all the way across the lake to our previous campsite (8H3)

Snowshoe Hare in summer clothes

Wildflowers near our campsite

On the hike back to the trailhead, the trail follows the beach on the north end of Heart Lake for about a mile. Hiking in sand with a backpack on is seriously hard work!


Parting shot from the Heart Lake Basin...doesn't get much better than this!

This was an outstanding backpacking trip. We really enjoyed all of the thermal features and wildlife in the area. Spending four days in the Yellowstone backcountry is an experience we will always remember. If you ever have an opportunity to get into the backcountry at Yellowstone, take it!