Goat Lake

Goat Lake, July 2, 2005

Yesterday saw my longest day hike, at least since I was in Boy Scouts as a teenager. I've put up an album of the pictures. The day promised to be overcast, so the original plan, to tackle Mount Dickerman again and achieve the summit this time was set aside for a hike that would be interesting without require long distance visibility at the end. Thus, Goat Lake.

I had company this time. Gaurav, who had joined me for last week's trip to Bearhead Mountain, came along and brought three of his friends, Sachin, Harish, and Krishna. (I'm hoping I'm spelling of their names correctly. Guys, when you read this, please feel free to correct any errors.)

The raw data of the trip is that we had about 1400 feet of elevation gain with a round trip of 12.3 miles. The guidebook gave the distance as 9.5 miles, but that was from the trailhead and assumed we would take the Lower Eliot trail the entire distance. Unfortunately, the Mountain Loop Parkway is completely washed out about a quarter mile from the turn-off for the fire road that leads to the trailhead. The fire road itself is another mile or so long. Finally, on our return trip, we took the Upper Eliot trail, which is a bit longer than the Lower Eliot, although it's in way better condition.

The Lower Eliot trail itself was washed out just a quarter mile in, but we were able to pick our way along the creek bed and recover the trail only a few hundred feet later. The remainder of the Lower Eliot saw numerous obstacles with fallen trees and extensive overgrowth. Despite these problems, we were in general agreement that we picked the best choice - Lower Eliot out and Upper Eliot back. My posted photo album captures a general sense of the problems with the trail.

In addition to being the first hike I've taken over ten miles since taking up hiking regularly again, this one also convinced me that I'm serious enough about hiking that some better hiking boots are in order. As such, I've now retired my Thom McAn boots that I picked up for $30 in a Walmart in Hawaii. They are being replaced by a pair of Timberlands with a much stiffer sole. I've had enough of feeling every pointy rock I step on right through the soft soles of the Thom McAn's. I'm looking forward to breaking them in, perhaps as early as tomorrow.