Packwood Lk, Goat Rocks Wilderness

“I drove up to the Packwood lake trailhead (in the Goat Rocks Wilderness of Washington State) Saturday after work to find it deserted. I slept in the car, and Sunday morning I went back into Packwood for breakfast, then returned to the trailhead. I hit the trail at 2 pm, not in any hurry(NCAA b-ball on the radio). The first two miles of the aquaduct trail were snow-free, then it was patchy for a while, then got deep enough to put the snowshoes on, then it disappeared again, then got deep again, then was all gone when I got to the lake. If I went back tomorrow, I would definitely leave the snowshoes home. There was some blow-down to negotiate, but nothing to bad. The lake is very scenic, with a small island making a nice foreground to pictures of Johnson Peak in the distance. I explored the aquaduct entry area, and an old cabin that had a strange boat in it, apparently made of skins stretched over a frame. There was a nice campsite at the northeast corner of the lake, so I settled in for the sunset, made dinner and hung my hammock. There was deer poop everywhere, at least 20 piles in my campsite alone. I was very glad I hadn't brought the dog and a tent. The temperatures were hot when the wind came up the valley, and cold if they came from over the lake and down from the glaciers. I was serenaded to sleep by an owl and the yipping of some coyotes when the moon came out. Monday morning I lounged around taking pictures, then motivated at noon and headed to the south end of the lake, and got some nice views of Rainier. I needed my GPS to find the Upper Lake Creek trail due to some snow in the woods, but once found it was easy to follow. It wound its way upstream just a few feet up the bank that borders the creek bottom, which is very interesting. I couldn't tell if a forest grew up in the middle of a braided stream, or if a stream had invaded a forest. I had hoped to go far enough to get a view of Packwood Glacier, but once I was about 1/2 mile beyond Beaver Creek, I knew that was an unrealistic goal, still 2 more miles ahead, and the woods were pretty dense, so a view may have been unlikely anyway. I went back to the lake, and explored the mud flats where the streams meet the lake, getting some more good photos of Rainier and Johnson Pk. I did the two miles back to camp in just 65 minutes because the lakeshore trail is snow-free and in excellent shape. The permit box at the wilderness boundary says there is a $100 fine for not having a permit even for day use, and there was no pencil in the box. Oh well. The 11th essential: a pen. The lake was 90% melted out Monday morning, 100% by late afternoon. Monday night was another display of planets, stars and the moon, with more owls but no coyotes. Tuesday dawned gray and drizzly, so I packed up and then hung out a while under my tarp that I use as a rain fly for the hammock, hoping for some last views or maybe an end to the rain. At 10:30 I gave up and left, and the rain stopped about an hour later, so the delayed start did help. I went back a slightly different way, heading up and over a 200 ft bump, following some snowmobile tracks, instead of countouring around the bump like on the way in. I got back at 1 pm, 2 1/2 hours to go 4 1/2 miles, maybe 1/3 snow-covered. As I approached the trailhead, I saw red tape crossing the trail in several places, and there were small bits of paper held down by rocks at numerous spots, each piece of paper marked with notes like "#2" or "#8". Weird. When I stopped for lunch in Packwood, I was informed that someone had committed suicide at the trailhead Monday night. The tape and markers then made tragic sense. How sad. Still it was a great trip, and having the entire lake to myself for three days made it special. I was surprised at the quantity of truly giant trees, the scenic quality of the lake, and the great mountain views. The downsides to this hike, the crowds and the motorized access, were not in evidence this trip. A big thanks goes out to Bev Blanchard and Eric Willhite, whose recent trip reports (on WTA. org) alerted me to the fact that this trip was now open. Pictures are posted at nwhikers.net, trip reports forum. Trip stats: 5 miles Sunday, 7 Monday, 5 Tuesday. No more than 1,000 VF total, but snow added some difficulty.”

“Slugs are funny.”

“Thanks for sharing. :)”