Goat Rocks 1998
by Mike Thompson, 1/29/2012
Goat Rocks 1998 with Mike, Jane, Erika, Laura, Lindsay Morgan, Lindsay Hirsch, Buddy the Wonder Dog, and Wayne Hinkley.
We did a trip into the Goat Rocks at the end of June, 1998. Erika brought her friend, Lindsay Morgan, and Laura brought her friend, Lindsay Hirsch. The route was one we had taken several times before: start at Conrad Meadows, hike up the South Fork of the Tieton River to Surprise Lake, then continue up onto the north rim of that valley to a point just east of Mt. Curtis Gilbert, the southern-most and highest of the peaks in the Goat Rocks Wilderness.
On Sunday, June 28th we loaded the gear into our Plymouth minivan and drove to Grandma Agnes and Grandpa Al's house in Yakima. We stayed in Yakima Sunday night, got up early on Monday morning, had a breakfast of muffins and coffee at White Pass, and then drove to Conrad Meadows. We parked the van at Conrad Meadows, took up our packs, and the hiking began.
The weather was good and we had a nice hike in. We made our lunch stop at the footbridge at the junction of Conrad Creek and the South Fork of the Tieton River.
Further along, as the trail rose toward Surprise Lake, we passed a waterfall.
We reached Surprise Lake at about 4:30 PM. Tired from the miles, the climb up to the lake, and the heat, we set up camp for the night. After dinner, as we bedded down for sleep, there was a short rain shower - the only rain we would have until the end of the trip.
Rising the next morning, we packed up and headed north from Surprise Lake. Beyond that point we were on snow a good portion of the time. There was a fair bit of snowfall during the winter of 1997/1998, followed by an unusually late spring, thus quite a bit of snow remaining in the mountains. This meant we were too early to see the wildflowers in their prime, though they were in evidence wherever the snow had melted away. With care we traversed the loop trail at the top of the valley of the South Fork of the Tieton, and then ascended to the valley's rim at about the 6,000 foot level.
There we set up camp for our second night at a super-deluxe spot. It offers a view of the valley to the south, and a view of the summit of Mt. Curtis Gilbert to the west. It also has low rocks to cook on and sit on, and a couple flat spots for the tents.
Our third morning we packed up and returned to Surprise Lake. There, just after noon, we met Wayne Hinkley, who had hiked in from Conrad Meadows that morning. Jane, the four girls, and Buddy continued the hike down to the van, which they would drive back to Yakima for another night at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I turned around with Wayne and we headed back to our camp site of the previous night.
Just after we split up to go our separate ways, a thunderstorm hit with heavy rain showers. The weather pattern was clear mornings, clouds and passing thunderstorms in the afternoon/evening, followed by fair nights.
When Wayne and I reached the camp spot we set up the tent, switched to day packs, and climbed up the Meade Glacier to the summit of Mt. Curtis Gilbert. The snow on the fairly steep west side made the going a little tricky, but we reached the summit about 7:30 PM on July 1st. Wayne and I had hoped to make a three-day trip of it, traversing the crest of the Goat Rocks and then hiking out to White Pass. However with lots of snow the navigation looked difficult, so we settled for climbing Mt. Curtis Gilbert.
We returned to Conrad Meadows the following day, hiking out in a thunderstorm much of the way. One lightning strike very near the trail gave us pause!
The next day was Friday, July 3rd. As Wayne and I sat relaxing on the patio in Yakima with Grandpa Al, the big thunderstorm of 1998 hit. It thundered and rained unbelievably hard in Yakima for close to an hour that day. Meanwhile, thirty miles to the north, the downpour was washing out the Canyon Road between Yakima and Ellensburg, sending mud slides down the hillsides, across the highway, and into the middle of the Yakima River. You can see these fingers of rock debris jutting into the river like jetties on the Ellensburg end of the canyon, where they'll remain for hundreds if not thousands of years.