Hiked: 10-18-18
Length: 11.6 mi.
El. Gain: 1600-2000 ft.
Talk about a lucky, late fall hike. With the sun shining, we slogged up 15 miles of decent but slow forest road. This was after I declared I didn’t feel like driving far up any forest road and definitely not hiking too far.
After considering High Rock, we settled on Snowgrass Flat, a trail in the Goat Rocks Wilderness that intersects with the PCT and has some great views of rocks, not so much of goats.
Fun and/or boring facts about the Goat Rocks:
- Remnants of a volcano gone extinct 2 million years ago
- Parts of the Cascades range
- Peaks range from 3000 to 8000 feet, with Gilbert Peak being the tallest
- Not shaped like goats
It’s not the core of an ancient volcano, or anything, but it is pretty cool.
This was a rare drama-free hike. No one tried diving into a waterfall, no intestines were consumed, all tires remained inflated. It was refreshing.
The trail started out pretty chill, following a ridge on more or less even ground until we crossed Goat Creek and descended into a cedar swamp.
It was a little surreal walking on flat ground through a mostly dry swamp area, though of course Aggie decided to wade into the ONE swampy spot we found.
Then we climbed. The climb was moderately steep and challenging, and we were rewarded with a view of the surrounding Goat Rocks.
Eventually, the trail crossed the PCT and spiraled up into some pretty awesome views of some big rock.
We ended up hiking 3 miles more than the original plan, stopping for lunch (SANDWICHES) before heading back down. Aggie delighted in chasing the thousand or so chipmunks that scurried across the trail and was properly tired out for the ride home.
Just as we drove back down the forest road and turned onto highway 12, the rain started and we thanked fate and fortune for the fun, sunny hike.
Aggie’s Rating: 
5 out of 5 Paws. Much chipmunks. Love hikes.
