Goat Lake below Cadet Peak
— a cirque the snow gives back in July.
Not only on a wall.
“Goat Lake sits in a cirque below Cadet Peak in the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness, a roughly five-mile walk from the Mountain Loop Highway above the old mining country around Monte Cristo. The trail follows Elliott Creek, runs past a long-cascade fall, then opens onto the basin. The lake holds the colour of meltwater into late summer. Mountain goats sometimes work the talus across the water; the peak above keeps its snow until August. Most parties make a day of it and turn around at the outlet. A few camp at the designated sites near the inlet and stay for the morning.
Goat Lake below Cadet Peak, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Goat Lake sits at roughly 3,161 feet on the south flank of Cadet Peak inside the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness, on the Mt. Baker–Snoqualmie National Forest. The trail, Forest Service #647, leaves the Mountain Loop Highway at the Elliott Creek trailhead and climbs about 5.2 miles one way to the lake outlet. Cadet Peak rises to 7,186 feet directly above the lake; Foggy Peak stands to the west. Elliott Creek drains the basin south into the Sauk River near Barlow Pass, a few miles below the ghost town of Monte Cristo. The wilderness itself was designated by Congress in 1984 and named for the longtime U.S. Senator from Washington state.
The lake is fed by snowmelt off Cadet and Foggy peaks and drains south into Elliott Creek, which steps through a series of cascades on the way down toward the Sauk River. Elliott Creek Falls, about three miles up the trail, is the most photographed stop short of the lake itself. The water reads cold green in early summer when the silt is still in suspension, then clears toward dark blue by September. Swimming is legal but cold enough that few people stay in long. The outlet bench is wide enough for a small group to spread out without crowding, and the inlet end is reserved for designated camps.
The Goat Lake Trail is reliably hikeable from late June through October, with snow lingering on the upper benches into July in heavy years. A Northwest Forest Pass or America the Beautiful pass is required at the Elliott Creek trailhead. The Mountain Loop Highway closes seasonally past Barlow Pass and adds road mileage when it does. Camping is permitted only at the designated sites near the inlet; fires within a quarter mile of the shore are prohibited. Black bears and mountain goats are both common in the basin, and the bear-canister recommendation from the Mt. Baker–Snoqualmie National Forest is sensible. The walk in and out runs about ten miles round trip.