[ragman and rodman]

Goat Island Mountain is a massive mountain that separates the Emmons and Fryingpan Glaciers in Mount Rainier National Park... and while she offers a gentle two mile west ridge approach to her summit, a person has to put in a lot of work to reach the west end of the mountain where the west ridge is most accessible. I had done the west ridge route two years earlier under perfect snow conditions... as snow still covered Fryingpan Creek and the lateral moraines west of Summerland... making for easy snow travel... a route that was ~13.5 miles roundtrip, gaining ~4000 feet of elevation. After reading SAReno's recent trip report of accessing the summit via the east ridge we knew there was an elk trail that would take us most of the way to the summit... however, we still weren't sure where to leave the Wonderland Trail. The contour lines on our USGS topo map only showed forgiveness in one place on the east side of GIM, but we were looking for confirmation... so Snowdog contacted Ree... and Ree sent us a map that confirmed our thoughts on where to leave the Wonderland Trail and head up. From the Fryingpan Creek parking area... hike the connector trail for .1 miles... turn right onto the Wonderland Trail and hike toward the White River Campground... hike the Wonderland Trail for 10 minutes (a half mile) and you will find the east ridge. The Wonderland Trail makes an obvious bend at this point... and while you can't see cars on the road 50 feet below, you can definitely hear them. Note that the elk trail is not obvious where you want to leave the main trail, but you will find it very quickly. GIM's east ridge wasted no time in gaining elevation... as we followed the elk trail (which either stayed on the ridge or just left of it) to ~5800 feet... where we left the ridge and crossed a basin to another east-trending ridge that took us directly to the summit (7288'). After spending an hour on the summit, we made the leisurely 2 mile stroll along GIM's west ridge... constantly being harassed by Mt. Rainier in our face... to the point where we left GIM's west ridge at ~6400 feet... made our way down to an interesting crossing of Fryingpan Creek... then a tedious hike over the lateral moraines to Summerland... where we found the Wonderland Trail that took us back to the car. ~11.5 miles roundtrip, gaining ~4200 feet of elevation. Stunning views on this hike... everyone deserves to make the 2-mile ridge walk from the GIM summit to the west end of the mountain. Good news... the footbridge just below Summerland has been repaired. Maps and photos of our trip to Goat Island Mountain. ..

[tigermn]

That looks like a really cool trip. How bad was the bushwhacking (or was it), coming up the east ridge?

[silence]

sweet .. who knew? seriously I never thought about that approach ... and there's even a trail ..

[Snowdog]

After seeing earlier TR"s on this route, I pestered Ragman into giving it a go. Finding the Elk trail was easy peesy. Those guys make more of a Freeway than a game trail. They do not, however, walk in single file, so there are numerous side trails that can pull you in different directions. At one point Ragman dubbed me "Elk Woman" or "One who walks with Elk" commenting on my uncanny ability to stay on the main trail. Did I mention it resembled an interstate highway??? He was simply being kind. I acquired other, more colorful knicknames as the day wore on. This route wastes no time gaining, and soon we popped out exactly where we wanted to be. We trended left, picked up the ridge to the high point, and voila- there we were! Now we had ample lunch break, and the anticipation of the looong ridge walk.

Playing around w/ zoom

pretty little un-named lake

ridge one earns the walk of by climbing up the east side of GIP.

Off we went- and it was spectacular, every step of the way. Then the descent began-being careful not to start down too soon. We reached FryingPan creek, which posed a bit of an obstacle to cross. We climbed back up to some thin snow and gingerly tip-toed across.

think light thoughts, and walk quickly

sketchy snow "bridges"......

Then it was just a matter of descending to the bridge, or was it? The terrain steepened, and Barb,(in the lead) started going up to intersect the Summerland Trail. She kept going. And going. I began to loudly protest going up when we wanted to be going down. I said I was Hot,Tired and Cranky. They agreed. Another knickname acquired! (I'm guessing a few other knicknames crossed their minds too) We emerged right at the Summerland shelter. I will always believe Barb simply wished to visit summerland since we were so close....probably planned it all along...

unplanned visit to Summerland

We picked up the trail, and stopped to dunk our tired toes in the creek, instantly numbing all the pain away. 4.2 miles later, we were back at the car.

[ragman and rodman]

[ree]

Glad it was fun. Hope the map helped some.

[Magellan]

I love it. Thanks for the TR. This peak is definitely worth going back to.

[BarbE]

[tigermn]

[iron]

that tarn looks pretty sweet!

[ragman and rodman]