Goat Lake 06-02-19

AppleWatch Stats:  11.16 miles RT, 1767 ft of elevation gain.

What a beautiful sunny day to hike to a beautiful lake.  Apparently everyone else thought so too, and when I arrived at 8:30am the parking lot was already overflowing.  I was pretty surprised.

I really love this trail.  It can be done in like a loop, as the Upper and Lower Elliot Trails diverge shortly after the trail starts, and then rejoin a couple miles before the lake.  I like to go on Upper and return on Lower.  The Upper trail is a wider flatter trail, with groves of aspens and peek-a-boo views of the crags across the valley now and then.  The Lower trail is a narrow twisty undulating trail through the woods.  You can't go wrong with either.  Here and there you can see sections of boardwalk type planking from when this was a "paved" (with wood) road to a town and a hotel.

There are also numerous waterfalls along the trail. The biggest ones you have to leave the trail a very short distance for, but they are oh so worth it!

Today there were flowers everywhere.  The trillium were done and the bleeding hearts looked tired, but still - color everywhere.

bunchberry dogwood

beadruby

queen's cup

columbine

coral root

The lake itself, although many people were there, seemed quiet and peaceful.  Swallows were skimming the water's surface and water skeeters were skittering on top of it.  It was pretty idyllic.

I was joined by a friendly chipmunk for lunch.  No, I would never feed wildlife.  Looks like he just so happened to pack a mini PB&J too hehe.  In fact it was a nice day for a lot of small wildlife - although I didn't get a photo of all of them.

banana slug

yellow warbler

Get out into nature and soak it all in!

Iron Goat Trail 05-28-19

AppleWatch Stats:  6.02 miles RT (went West along the lower grade, up to the higher grade and then down the switchbacks), 723 ft of elevation gain.

Last year I discovered that this ointment called "Green Goo" that I'd gotten from an outdoor company was a wonder at soothing wasp stings.  It needs reapplied every time the hurt comes back, but reduced pain and swelling.  Similarly, the green trails of the Pacific Northwest are the green goo that soothes when the heart and soul are stung by various things in life.  Again it needs reapplied often, but I am not going to complain about that!

This was a gorgeous sunny day to take a hike, and I headed up to Iron Goat with Cedar and Luna.  I felt kind of bad because Adventure Dog is getting older and he was a bit tired from the hike the day before and Luna just hates going in the car.  But my heart was in need of some green goo and it works better when my pups are along.  I picked this trail because of the length still being a decent length, but easy as far as elevation gain so I wouldn't push Cedar too hard.

The wildflowers were stupendous!  Wild strawberry, flowering currant, thimbleberry flowers, a lady slipper orchid, coral root, bleeding heart, Indian paintbrush, columbine, tall bluebells, and numerous other flowers I am not sure the name of.

Of course one of the biggest draws with this trail is the railroad history.  This trail follows the lower and upper grades of an old railroad line, in fact the site of one of this country's biggest railway disasters.  There are many tunnels in varying degree of erosion and vast stretches of concrete wall that once supported snowsheds, the hope in vain was to protect the railroad.  I love these great walls, splashed with various colors of mineral, lichen and moss.  Numerous little waterfalls cascade over them and one even has a little stream flowing down a channel at the bottom.

From the upper grade there are some decent views of the surrounding peaks as well, and if you're lucky you might see a train across the valley on the active rail line.  I heard a couple going through (sadly you'll also hear Hwy 2 almost the whole time), but didn't catch one of the trains during a time I passed by an overlook.

Happy adventuring!

Forgot my cap and made do with a handkerchief, which I had never done before, so my hair ended up knotted in it lol