Goat Ridge

June 21, 2024

Distance: 11.5km round-trip Elevation gain: 1285m

Time required: 9.5-10 hours total

I was surprised to find that this trail was snow-free. Snow often persists in the alpine until well into July. In fact, when I did this hike, the snowline on the North Shore was sitting at 1200m elevation. Yet despite this ridgeline sitting above 1800m, it was almost completely clear of snow. I suspect this has to do with the exposure. The ridge is completely exposed to the sun. There were some scattered snow patches once you hit 1800m but overall, it was quite dry.

The trailhead starts just prior to where the very popular Lindeman lake trailhead is on Chilliwack Lake Road. As often happens, I was the only person doing this hike that day despite the beautiful weather.

The trail climbs very steadily and steeply through the forest, working its way up to the ridgeline. There are several rope assist sections. The trail is clearly marked and easy to follow. Once you gain the ridge, there is lots of hiking on scree, loose dirt, and boulders, with a good amount of class 3 scrambling involved. However, it is not that challenging and would be easy to those who have scrambling and/or mountain travel experience. There are no steep drop offs required to be traversed.

There are four 'peaks' that are reachable along the ridgeline. All of them offer stunning, 360-degree views. When I did this hike, the trail was only flagged to the second peak. However, I flagged the rest of the trail so that it is clear about which way to go. I really enjoy flagging trails. I get a strong sense of satisfaction from it. I like the feeling that I am doing something that will be of benefit to others in the future (as well as myself). I always underestimate how much flagging tape is required. I went through two full rolls and that was only flagging about 3km.

I reached the fourth 'peak,' situated directly to the south east of Goat Mountain, in about 5 hours. The hardest work is gaining the ridge. Once you've done that, it doesn't take that long to journey to the next peak.

Goat Mountain from directly below. I suspect I could have scrambled up it easily enough. I am sure there are those that do.

Williams peak and Goetz peak to the west of Goat Mountain (on the right)

A gorgeous view of Chilliwack Lake

A look at Greendrop lake. This was taken from the second 'peak'

I saw many beautiful sub-alpine wildflowers. Pictured below are Indian paintbrush, spreading phlox, heartleaf arnica, and littleflower penstemon.

It was very hot that day and there are no water sources on the trail. I went through all of my water within the first 6 hours. I spent almost the entire journey back quite dehydrated and had to put a lot of concerted effort into trying not to think about water or how thirsty I was. It's not the first time this has happened to me (my worst experience was when I did The Needles) so I was familiar with the feeling, unpleasant as it was. It's fascinating how when you are extremely thirsty/dehydrated, your brain can think about almost nothing else but water. I contemplated eating the dirty snow but decided against it. There is a creek close to the trailhead that when I reached it, I basically threw myself into. Never had water tasted so good. Not mention felt fantastic on my hot, dirty, slightly torn-up body.

Overall, Goat Ridge is a very rewarding hike. And it appears it is an excellent high elevation hike capable of being done earlier in the season when other peaks are still covered in snow. For experienced hikers, it is not that challenging. For less experienced or beginner hikers, it may present some challenges. I would not recommend this for a beginner.