This one starts at the end of FS Road 57 which is currently washed out about a 1/4 mile from the Bare Mountain trailhead. Goat Mountain was to be the final chapter for Craig and I in our quest to complete the "Barnyard Trifecta" which (besides Goat) includes Dog Mountain and Rooster Mountain (a.k.a. The Arc and Point 5339').
From the car at 2120', we departed at 0830 and walked the road to just after crossing the large bridge over Lennox Creek. We officially left the road at about 2210' and headed west through open forest to Cougar Creek. The crossing went off without a hitch via some nicely placed boulders. On the other side, we immediately found ourselves swimming through a sea of brambles, Devil's Club and other nettles. We headed essentially due west up the steep slope always looking for the most brush-free line. We continued up this sort of terrain to about 3000' where we crested a sub-ridge of sorts and had our first look at the east-west ridge that continues on past Goat Mountain Lake. We headed off in the general direction of the ridge fighting our way through increasingly painful swaths of Devil's Club and nettles. The going was so slow that I started having doubts that we'd even reach the mountain this day. Anyhow, eventually, at about 3500', we got ourselves situated in some nice open forest and were able to ride it up to about 4000' just below the crest of the ridge. Curious to see if travel improved along the ridgeline, we topped out at 4100', but were unable to hold the ridge for long because of cliff bands, so we dropped down a bit and initiated a long traverse about 60' below the crest. As a side note, we didn't get into consistent snow until 4200' and with a very noticeable thermal inversion, it was a lot like hiking in May or even June. We were even attacked by bees at one point!
We traversed below the ridge to 5100' which got us into the gentler terrain shown on the quad. From here we were able to peek over cliffs and look down to Goat Mountain Lake. We also had our first good views of Goat and it still looked a long ways off. After soaking up some of the fine weather, we lost about 100' along the ridge and then began the final slog up to the summit. Craig had done the majority of the leading up to this point, but at 5100' the snow got a bit deeper and we traded lead a few times to make the going a little easier. We followed the NE summit ridge to 5350' then veered south into a subtle basin that gave us good access to the SE summit ridge. As I topped out on the ridge, I was shocked when Craig said he heard people on the summit. I refused to believe this as we never (ever!) see anybody while climbing these more obscure peaks. Sure enough though, as we popped out of some trees there were two guys standing there who had been watching us for a good 45 minutes or so. John and Andy were a friendly couple of guys and we exchanged hiking and climbing stories from past trips for a good 30 minutes or so. They had come up a more direct way from the north. This was very appealing to Craig and I as a descent as it would get us back to the road in about half the time as retracing our steps from earlier in the day. John and Andy took off at 1400 and Craig and I left 15 minutes later.
Straight down the mountain to the north was our route and we enjoyed some pretty decent glissades along the way. The route is fairly open to 3400' where it starts to get overrun by brush and cliffs and slabs. We trended west to avoid the worst of the steep rock and brush and really only had to negotiate one or two slabby areas before dropping in the basin at around 2700'. The brush was easier to work with in the basin, but still made going slower than ideal. It should be noted that this route would be pretty rough going if ascending, but no worse that most of the other routes to Goat. Surprisingly, we actually found John and Andy again in the brush at about 2500' and the 4 of us walked back out to the creek together. We parted ways and Craig and I made another pretty easy crossing of the creek (although it's got a lot more flow to it in this area compared to where we crossed earlier in the day) then walked the road 1.1 miles back to the truck arriving at 1630.
Another great trip folks! And, very good times tucking in all of the "Trifecta" peaks with Craig.
The Goat Mtn (more than a couple in WA) that Randy and I did is the one up the North Fork Snoqualmie River Road (FSR 57). Same area as Phelps, Twin Peaks and Dog Mtn.
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