Goat Mountain (Mt St Helens Monument)

Activity Notes

This will be an adventure hike to the summit of Goat Mountain in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. Goat Mountain is a peak about 3.5 miles west of Butte Camp, SW of Mt. St. Helens. Most of its faces feature steep basalt cliffs, but west face features an informal steep hiking trail to the summit ridge. The summit provides an unobstructed view of the south face of Mt. St. Helens with Adams peaking over its shoulder, as well as Rainier and Hood.

We'll meet at the MMC at 7 AM to carpool to Kalama Horse Camp, arriving at the trailhead around 8:30 AM. From there we'll proceed north on the Fossil Trail to about 3400' where we'll pick up a flagged bootpath. The bootpath is very steep, rising about 1600' in one mile and leads to a short ridge walk to the summit. The terrain reportedly is never more severe than class II, but hikers should anticipate some exposure on the ridge, similar to promontories in the Gorge (e.g. Archer Mountain, Indian Point, etc.). If the terrain proves to be more severe than expected, we will turn around. Total stats for the day should be about 6 miles with 2900' of gain.

This will be an exploratory hike, meaning the leader has not done this hike before. Applicants should be comfortable with steep hiking, exposure, and bushwhacking (since this is not a maintained or official trail). Applicants should also accept the possibility that we may turn around if we encounter risky terrain.