In the Goat Rocks Wilderness you can get great views of Mount Adams.
The Pacific Crest Trail ascends to 7,000 feet in the Goat Rocks Wilderness, to the base of Old Snowy.
From there the PCT heads due north, along the Knife’s Edge.
The Goat Rocks Wilderness, located in the Central Cascades of Washington State, is filled with wonder. Goat Lake, Snow Grass Flats and Cispus Basin are but a few on the many splendors. The Pacific Crest Trail bisects the wilderness so it is usually a busy place in the summer. Here are two pics from a trip in 2016.
Depending upon your access point, its not hard to intersect the Pacific Crest Trail, which is what we did, from the Snow Grass Flats Trail. Its about 5 miles to get to the junction, and our goal was to camp as high as we could, making it easier to spend sunset at the main attraction, the Knife’s Edge.
Due to the unusually hot July we had, the south facing slopes we ascended were dry. Looking up, the peaks surrounding were almost naked, only a very few small snow patches remained.
We made our way up, looking for the elusive camping spot, made more difficult due to lack of water.
Our final resting spot for the night was a magnificent camp, just below the last remaining snow fields below Old Snowy.
We hid in the shade until the proper hour and ascended to the “summit” of the PCT. High above the timber line the PCT climbs to a junction. Heading right you’ll climb steeply up Old Snowy to a saddle where the trail makes a turn, here are the views towards the north and south.
This is the highest point along the PCT in the Goat Rocks. If you want to scramble up the rest of the way to the top of Old Snowy, it takes about 15 minutes, one way.
Continuing upon the PCT, (headed north) the trail now descends along what is known as the Knife’s Edge. The long ridge zigs and zags down, and the trail is blasted into the very top of the serrated, sinewy ridge line as it descends into the abyss…
Its a cool place.
A short way down the trail reconnects to the “bypass”. Back at the trail junction: If you’d gone left the trail skirts along steep slopes to meet the PCT as it descends along the first section of the Knife’s Edge.
And a very smoky abyss as you can see from the images. There are a forest fire nearby, and the horizons were smoggy. During the day, I could not see even a hint of Mount Rainier, or Mt Adams. Only at sunset could you make them out at all.
My plan was to climb up, camp a few days getting images of sunrise and sunset and night sky from that vantage point, but alas, the smoke was there to stay!
Here is my best shot from the trip:
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Mount Rainier National Park surrounds the entire mountain, but the thing is just so bloody big that you don’t have to be in the park for the mountain to fill the frame. These images were all taken quite a distance away, across White Pass and deep into the Goat Rocks Wilderness.
We entered the wilderness at Snow Grass Flats, hiked up to an intersection with the Pacific Crest Trail, and hiked north to the highest point along the PCT in Washington, a place called the Knifes Edge.
Photo Tour info is available here.
The Goat Rocks Wilderness is located in the southern Cascades of Washington State. Remnants of an ancient volcano core eroded into crags of stone, the Goat Rocks lie between the mammoth summit of Mount Rainier and Washington State’s second highest peak, Mount Adams.
The Pacific Crest Trail makes its way through the wilderness on its way from Mexico to Canada.
In late July and early August the snow melts and the meadows are alive, painted with acres and acres of fantastically beautiful wildflowers.
Snow Grass Flats is a fairy-like section of trail nearby. The Bear Grass and Lupine creating such color splendor that its hard to hike!
If you’d like to purchase a canvas wrap or fine art print, here is the gallery to view and choose size and frame.
Next summer Washington State Photo Tours are available! Tulip Photo Tours, Night Sky Photo Tours and North Cascades Hiking Tours.
Thank you all for the wonderful feedback! Every month I am learning new skills and integrating things, be it with image capture or photoshop…I am definitely looking forward to 2015!
Here is my next set of 12 favorite images from this year. I hope you enjoy them!
Isolation Lake Panorama, Alpine Lakes Wilderness
Tulips and Stormy Skies
Barn and Dandelions
Lake Ann from the Maple Pass Trail, North Cascades
Mount Rainier Milky Way
Mount Shuksan from Skyline Divide
Padilla Bay Sunset
Mount Baker and Park Butte Lookout
Sunset in the Enchantments, Alpine Lakes Wilderness
Mt Adams and Pacific Crest Trail, Goat Rocks Wilderness
Tractor and Sky, Skagit County
Virgin River at Night, Zion National Park, Utah
I shot many images in 2014. As I review them there are some that capture my imagination. Here are the first 11 images:
Spider Meadows, Glacier Peak Wilderness
Skagit County Barn: Early Morning
Mount Adams and Split Rock, along the Pacific Crest Trail in the Goat Rocks Wilderness
Padilla Bay
Crystal Lake, Alpine Lakes Wilderness
Skagit Valley
Liberty Bell and the North Cascades Highway
Samish River
In the Subway, Zion National Park, Utah
Stormy Skies at Maple Pass, North Cascades
Skagit River Bridge
Colchuck Lake, Enchantments, Alpine Lakes Wilderness
On September 3rd, 1964 President Johnson signed into law the Wilderness Act. This watershed piece of legislation has been a cornerstone in preserving the wild lands of America.
The Wilderness Act provides a definition for wilderness: “A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”
I have been lucky enough to visit many wilderness areas and enjoy their majesty and solitude. Here are a few images from my travels.
Sahale Camp, Steven Mather Wilderness
Pasayten Wilderness
Milky Way, Glacier Peak Wilderness
Point of the Arches, Olympic Wilderness
Mount Rainier and Avalanche Lillys, Goat Rock Wilderness
Left Fork Canyon, Zion Wilderness
Steeple Peak and Lost Temple Spire, Bridger-Teton Wilderness
Enchantments, Alpine Lakes Wilderness
Mount Olympus, Olympic Wilderness
Amphitheater Mountain, Pasayten Wilderness
Upper Lyman Lake, Glacier Peak Wilderness
Mount Baker and the Park Butte Lookout, Mount Baker Wilderness
Sunrise, Steven Mather Wilderness – This image will be displayed in the Smithsonian Museum as a part of the Wilderness 50 Celebration starting on Sept. 3rd, 2014
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. Washington State is blessed with more than 30 Wilderness Areas, one of which is the Goat Rocks Wilderness.
The Pacific Crest Trail passes through the Goat Rocks crossing some of the most stunning terrain along the trail in Washington.
Here are a few images from the Goat Rocks Wilderness.
Mount Rainier and Beargrass from the Lily Basin Trail
Mt Adams and the Pacific Crest Trail
PCT along the Knife’s Edge, Mount Rainier in the distance
Avalanche Lilies along the Lily Basin Trail
Pacific Crest Trail
Snowgrass Flats
Mount Adams and Snowgrass Flats
Mount Rainier and Packwood Lake
Upholstered in Lupine
Cispus Basin
Morning light and Beargrass
PCT Thru hiker “Thirsty Boots”
Acres of wildflowers
Explosion of colors
Milky Way over the Goat Rocks
Nighttime in the Goat Rocks Wilderness
The Knife’s Edge is a section of the Pacific Crest Trail in the Goat Rocks Wilderness in Washington State. Here the trail has been blasted and carved into the top-most edge of the ridge.
As one heads north on the PCT the trail climbs through the colorful meadows of Snow Grass Flats, through the snow and on to rock and scree to reach a promontory on the side of Old Snowy.
Mount Adams and Snowgrass Flats
Knife’s Edge, Goat Rocks Wilderness
Thirsty Boots
We chatted for a few minutes, he seemed ready to go, but I distracted him by having him pose for more pictures while I plied him for info. All hikers going long distances pick up a nick-name, and his seemed to fit very well.
Thirsty Boots
He was very friendly and certainly didn’t seem tired, stressed or over worked. In fact he looked and acted like someone out for a stroll on a nice Saturday afternoon.
But he did seem a bit antsy to keep walking….
Thirsty Boots along the Knife’s Edge
These three images of Mount Rainier were captured while hiking along the Lily Basin Trail in the Goat Rocks Wilderness. The lake with the small island is called Packwood Lake.
North Western Images - photos by Andy Porter 