[Fletcher]

My wonderful girlfriend, Julia, and one of my oldest friends, Joe, got out to the Goat Rocks this week. It was a great trip. After the long drive to Conrad Meadows TH, we weren't hiking until nearly noon on Monday. It was hot.

Conrad Meadows

Goat Rocks Wilderness, all of our first time there!

Rainbow Trout in the South Fork of the Tieton

At a leisurely pace with a couple of long breaks, we made it to Surprise Lake by 3:30. Still pretty snowy there. Surprise Lake isn't really anything special so we didnt linger here. After that, we had continuous snow and followed the route set by Trace and Kyle over the weekend to gain the Klickton Divide. Upon reaching the ridge at 6600 ft, there was a nice broad flat area. It was 5:30. Looking forward to a relaxing evening of bourbon sipping and chess, we decided to call it a day and set up camp here on the snow. Wonderful sunset views of Mt Adams made for a great evening for Julia and Joe's first ever snow camp!

Above Surprise Lake

Joe gaining the ridge

Gilbert

camp chilling

Joe with Adams

nice view

Saint Helens sunset

I slept in more than I intended to on Tuesday morning, and set out solo for Gilbert at 5:30. A trivial ridge run and short class 3 scramble had me topping out at 7:15. Clear skies and great views for breakfast.

ridge run to Gilbert

up here

hug the moat

false summit

summit

Goat Rocks and Tahoma

Adams

Adams

summitshot

25 minutes on the summit and I was back at camp 3:15 after I left. After some coffee, we packed up camp and headed down.

nice boot ski

Joe glissades

saw lots of these guys on the trip

Back at the car at 3:00, we went home through Yakima for pit stops at Nino's Mexican Grill and Bailbreaker Brewing. Fun trip with some of my favorite people.

[hbb]

I didn't realize the road to the trailhead was open again. That's good news!

[ONELUV1]

It looks like Joe has substantially improved his glissade technique since Green MTN. Lookout. Good on him!

[BigBrunyon]

Nothin better than big mex after a big hike

[ozzy]

Aw Gilbert, what an awesome peak! Took me 3 times to finally bag it. I approached from Cispus basin, been wanting to do the Conrad approach though! Cheers, nice tr and pics!

[MangyMarmot]

Cool trip! awesome place. I need to get back there.