Cutthroat Pass and Cutthroat Lake 7-20-13

Adventure Dog and I spent the weekend camping up on Highway 20.  I love this mountain highway!  It is so rugged and majestic and beautiful.  The craggy peaks' alluring wildness changes with the movement of the sun, sometimes illuminated in brightness, sometimes dark and foreboding, always completely enthralling.  Even just driving along it will take your breath away, but if you want to stretch your legs, the trails are well-marked, well-maintained and all that I saw had a decent parking lot and privy.
We stayed at Lone Fir Campground, which I've stayed at before, and early Saturday morning headed for Cutthroat Pass via the Cutthroat Lake Trail.  If you're doing this one on a warm day, going early is the key. It is a steady climb and the rocks soak up the rays of the sun and radiate them back at you.  The first cool thing we found along this trail was an old trough.  I'm not sure what cattle would eat up here.. I didn't see a lot of grasses, just brush, wildflowers, pines and larch.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were quite a few streams still burbling along from the melting snow above.  The rock were tinted pink, orange and peach, so the streams took on a rosy look also.

 As I hiked along the trail I enjoyed a view of the surrounding mountains.

 

Another important thing for this hike in the summer is plenty of water.  I brought 2 liters and there were also streams for Cedar, but between the two of us we used all the water, and ran out with just a little under 2 miles left to go on our way back to the car.

 

I'm not sure what this cairn signified, if anything, but I added a stone on the way back down.

 

And after toiling along, taking breaks every time I saw Cedar's tail start to droop, my legs starting to feel the climb and feeling some of my first and worst hiking blisters, we were at the top and among the jagged stone peaks and patches of bright white snow.

 

The Pacific Crest Trail runs across this pass, and you can see how much respect for signs the wind and snow have.  I only saw one person all the way up and that was just as we reached the top and he was heading off along the PCT with a larger pack than mine.

 

This is how Cedar celebrated getting to the top.

 

 The surrounding mountain ridges.  There was just one jagged line after another, all layered and stretching on into the horizon.

 

We ate our lunch on this flat rock and just soaked in the awesomeness of where we were.  At least I did.  Once Adventure Dog knew the sandwich was gone, he went off and stood in the snow again.

 

There is Cutthroat Lake wayyyyy down there which we hiked to on our way back down.

 

Here it is.  I was really hoping to get in and swim at this point, but the edges were deep mud and reeds.  I waded in the outlet stream instead.  This was a worthy hike!

Goat Lake 6-22-13

What a goreous day for a 10+ mile trail!  The skies were blue, the sun was sunny and we were off to a nice early start.  Dave, Adventure Dog and I arrived to find that others were also off to an early start and the trail was a popular one today!  Off we hiked and chose to take the Upper Elliot trail to Goat Lake.  This trail is not a complete loop but offers a large loop option which keeps the lower 2/3 or so of the trail new and different for the return.
The upper trail follows an old logging road and is often lined with lovely alders.

To me alders look like groves of tall art canvases.  They have patterned white and gray bark and have been painted with splotches of lichen and moss.

The upper trail also offers the occasional view of the surrounding peaks.

Although I think it's kind of early in the wildflower season on this trail, I was happy to see that there were a variety blooming.

Columbine

Coral Root

Bleeding Hearts

Bunchberry Dogwood

Not a flower

This trail has it all really from views, wildflowers and the lake, to huge trees and waterfalls.  Here are some of the falls we passed as we hiked along.

The one you read about in the guidebooks though, is McIntosh Falls, which is truly breathtaking.

Here are those huge trees!  There is a section of them and I think most are cedar if not all.  They are just massive and ancient.

There used to be an old mining town along the trail area somewhere.  Also there was at one time a hotel up along the lake.  In many places you can still see the old board wagon road, although it is deteriorating.

It was a long hike to the lake, but so worth it.  Goat Lake and the surrounding snowy peaks are enchanting, and there is even a waterfall on the east side flowing down in with a musical thunder. 

Looking back toward the end of the lake we hiked in at

 

Here is a cool root type thing we saw sticking up in the forest.

On the way back we took Lower Elliot.  It was less populated and went through a lower area with more boggy mossy spots and most of it following along the frothy Elliot Creek.  It continuously drops in elevation resulting in kind of a shallow continuous waterfall where we could see it.