Mileage: 3.6 miles RT
Elevation Gain/Highest: 1355/6985ft
Map: Green Trails Mazama No. 51
My favorite places to stop post hike with friends are 5 B’s Bakery, Bird’s View Brewing Company, The Mazama Store, Methow Valley Cider House, Glover Street Market, or just Pack A Cooler. You can learn more about these places in my Must Hike Must Eat Eating Out Guide.
Find out current conditions and as always, practice Leave No Trace. Pretty please.
Hike Details:
The Goat Peak Lookout Trail offers panoramic views of the Methow Valley and North Cascades without a whole day’s worth of effort or throngs of people. The longish forest road does most of the climbing for you, the trail starts at about 5630ft and quickly takes you on to an undulating ridge towards the summit of Goat Peak. If you visit in the fall, you may be lucky enough to walk through a corridor of golden alpine larches!
My Hikes:
11/1/2020
We were done early enough from our Pipestone Canyon Rim Trail hike that by the time we rolled through Mazama, we could make the day a two-fer and visit the Goat Peak Lookout.
We arrived at the trailhead around 12:20pm and there were just 3 cars (both our guesses were off). The road had quite a few patches of compact snow and ice in the shady spots and the parking lot was mostly covered but not by much. The beginning of the trail was bare to start but soon snow covered in all the exposed areas. The snow had a wide compact path so most shoes would be okay.
BUT. If you are familiar with the hike, you know you hit about .8 miles in and 6100 feet and there is what I call the “gauntlet” to survive. The trail is steep and shaded AKA: icy and treacherous. Two groups hiking turned around here because their footwear had neither traction nor protection from snow if postholing around said icy spots. Those with poles, traction or high boots seemed to be okay (I had microspikes). From the gauntlet on, the trail becomes more snow covered and narrower as fewer folks have made it all the way to the top.
All this is to say we had the lookout to ourselves for two hours, basking in the sunshine and the end of fall. A trail runner and a family with snow boots appeared around 4pm and we soon headed down as the sun was setting. The perfect ending to our Cascade Loop weekend!
6/18/2018
You can read more about this trip at How Did I Spend My First Monday Without A Full Time Job?
10/8/2017
Finishing a loop on the Cascade Highway and returning back on SR 20, we were looking for a short, but amazing fall hike to do outside Mazama where we planned to stop at the wonderful store there for treats. Pulling out my Green Trail map for the area, I noticed this little gem just up on the mountain behind the store! Of course, we had to drive awhile on forest roads to get there but it was all worth it.
Arriving at the parking lot, there were only 4 other cars in the parking lot at 12:30pm. I love it when I don’t have to share the trail with a bazillion other people! We put on layers and threw some more in our packs before heading up the trail as it was only 40 degrees at the elevation of 5630ft.
The trail starts out in the forest but within .25 miles we had broken out at our first viewpoint. The peaks in the distance were dusted with recent snowfall and just a wisp of clouds floated by in the bully’s skies that made crossing over to the east side all worth it.
The climb and sun had us warming up fast so it was time to delayer a bit. The trail followed along an open meadow for a few hundred yards and then back into the forest where the real climb began. Somewhere up above was our destination lookout out of view. Here is where we did most of our gain for the next mile with just a few breaks for views of the mountains around us as the trail takes a mostly direct path up the slope.
There were some small snow flurries on the ground here at but no accumulation until we hit about 6300ft in the trees. It wasn’t too slick but I was glad I had spikes in my pack for the way down. The light snow on the fall colored foliage was a reminder to expect anything this time of year. Fall may still be here but winter usually has its way.
At 1.25 miles we left the forest again and made it to the long ridge to the summit. We could see the lookout ahead through the sea of golden larches, the rest of our trek was an easy .5 miles across the wide ridge.
The wind was cold and the layers went back on but by the time we reached the lookout it had calmed down again. The hikers from the cars in the parking lot had all hiked out as we had hiked in so we had the summit to ourselves our entire stay at the summit.
The famous lookout guardian, Lightin’ Bill, was disappointingly not there and the structure was boarded up for the season. He has been manning the lookout since the 1970’s and is well known for his experience spent in the lookout during lightening storms. Maybe we’ll see him next time! Icicles clung from the wooden platform and chopped logs were piled up on the side but the windows were and stairs were closed up.
There was plenty of room to wander around on top, especially on the other side from the trail. The views of the surrounding mountains was spectacular, Silver Star and Gardner standing proud with new coats of winter white. We could, also, see down as SR 20 snaked through the valley and the cabins small town of Mazama below.
The trail was dry (except for the dusting of snow), so we were glad we had brought plenty of water for the short hike (WTA and my guidebook said 5 miles but GAIA had us at 3.6 miles).
This is a great hike if you want to do some visiting of local places in Mazama or Winthrop but still want to get in a hike to amazing views without all the crowds. We stopped for drinks at the Mazama store and had just enough time to make it over the pass and to Darrington on the way home (if heading south on I-5 from SR 20, it is faster to take the Mountain Loop then to go all the way out through Burlington) to have pizza (gluten free) and a beverage at River Time Brewery before they closed!
Directions: Drive east on SR 20 over Rainy and Washington Pass to MP 179 and the town of Mazama. Turn left and cross over to the town of Mazama, turning right on Lost Creek Rd at the T (left takes you to the Mazama Store). In 2 miles you will see Forest Road 52 on the left signed for the Goat Creek Sno-Park. Turn and follow this road 2.7 miles to a junction on the left signed for FR 5225 and Goat Peak L.O. (which is hard to see until you make the turn as it is tilted). Now follow this road up and up about 5.8 miles until you see a turn on the right signed for FR 200. From here, the trailhead is another 2.9 miles. There is room for about 10 cars in the lot and a privy is available. Northwest Forest Pass required
For more hikes in this area, check out my SR 20-North Cascade Highway page!
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