Goat Lake Hike

On Wednesday, August 14th, Kendra Wanzenried, Vincenzo Lalli, Marta Colozzi, and Joanie Pryor. four hardy members of CAI-PNW, hiked the Elliott Creek Trail to Goat Lake off the Mt. Loop Highway east of Granite Falls. After about an hour drive from Joanie’s in Lake Stevens, they headed out on their 10.4-mile round trip adventure. The first segment of the trail includes a moderate part of the 1400-foot elevation gain. The last part of the trail is the rest of the gain – nothing any of them have not done before. What’s great about this hike is between the two elevation gains is a wonderful, restful, leisurely stroll through beautiful forest, with a rushing creek, waterfalls of all shapes and sizes, history, and of course a large blue-green lake surrounded by snowy peaks following their final climb up.

The weather was perfect – sunny, not too warm. This would actually be a great choice when temperatures climb into the 80’s as one is sheltered by forest most of the way. The only down side were clouds shrouding the tops of the peaks at the far side of the lake so we were not able to see all of the surrounding mountains. There were, however, some snow fields visible on the slopes at the far end of the lake which delighted Marta!

The group headed out from the trailhead at 10:00 and returned to the parking lot around 3:00. All seemed to enjoy a day having the opportunity to stretch their legs in beautiful and refreshing surroundings.

Submitted by Joanie Pryor