Goat Creek Trail

Went on this trail today to go up to goat mountain. There are alot of creek and river crossings throughout the trail i reccomend having all the winter and wet weather hiking gear for this trail. Along with good balance and poles. Could become very dangerous in some spots. We decided to turn around when alot of the water fall crossings were starting to get deeper and wider and it was starting to be a safety concern for me and my group plus one dog. But over all we traveled about 8miles round trip . It's a great hike if u love waterfalls and there were no people which made it even better . !

Road to trail head is no longer closed. All trails can be deceiving, so do your research. Pictures of this trail have a view of mount rainier and Adams, you will not visualize them on goat creek. Goat creek trail ends at a cross roads, to get the views, continue straight up goat mountain. Follow the sign that says “goat mountain 1.5 miles.” Round trip for me was 13.9 miles. Very cold and windy at the top, my feet were cold in the waterproof shoes because the ground was frozen solid. Consider bringing wool socks, gloves, hand warmers, warm hat, and several layers. Not an overpopulated trail at all, I do my hiking on weekdays to avoid crowds anyways, but I was out there for 9 hours and didn’t see a single other hiker.

First time back since the road closer. The road going up is much nicer now, which is great for the vehicles, but sucks because it has increased the number of people hiking the trail now. I kind of preferred it when most people did not want to try making it up the old road. Oh well. The trail was excellent and the forest was beautiful. Will be back again soon.

Great trail! Well maintained, and easy to follow. However, this trail isn't for the faint at heart. The trail is close to the edge, and it's a steep long slope to the bottom. If you're afraid of heights, this will be hard at times. But it will be hard to find a better hike! just look up the mountain, and you should be fine

Gate is open today and the road is in great shape! Went about 5 miles in toward Vanson peak. Great hike. Not sure why it is rated hard. Trail has a nice mix of short ups and downs with mostly a gentle upward contour hugging profile. 6 cars at the trailhead and we had 6 encounters with other hikers/bikers. Not solitude but not annoyingly busy either. A great hike on a beautiful day!

Loved this hike! Did it on a Wednesday and only encountered 1 other group who only went to cathedral falls. The falls were stunning. Some challenging but doable creek crossings. We heard owls communicating to each other, which was beautiful. Note: please obey the law and keep your dogs on leash! As someone who has a dog that reacts to dogs off leash, I have to leave him home which is very sad. He loves coming on hikes so much. I didn’t see any dogs on this trail, which made me kick myself because I could’ve brought my dog.

Drove up to try this one out only to be met by a road closed sign. It was about 4 miles to the trailhead, I wasn’t up for it. ☹️ I didn’t investigate why. I’ll try again later.

I hiked this at the end of summer last year. It was beautiful but I’m definitely planning a return trip when there will be more water going over the falls.

this is a beautiful trail but I wouldn't call it lightly traveled. Of all the trails I've hiked around here so far this one had the most people on it. The Falls are beautiful the scenery is beautiful it's a good hike

The road is a little rough in places on the way up to the trailhead. I would recommend a high clearance vehicle. There were a few other vehicles at the trailhead. I think I saw 5 people all day. It's a well maintained trail and it looked as if someone had come through recently to cut back trees that had fallen in the trail. There are many creek crossings in the trail. Some are small and you can basically step over them, others I was grateful to have waterproof boots and trekking poles for stability. The many waterfalls are incredible and so worth it! The main one is only about 1 mile in. About 5 miles in there was still some snow on the trail, but nothing that was difficult to walk over. At the 6 mile mark there are other trails that you can continue on.

June 2 2018, great hike. Great people on the trail. The big falls was a sight to see.

one of my fav. trails I have ever done. 2 waterfalls 100' or more & a dozen amazing smaller ones. tough dirt rd to trail for a low car but made it within a mile & walked the rest. At trail junction the left is washed out bad about a mile in i didn't make it past but worth it for the falls. The right trail has yet more waterfalls leading to what i believe is deadman lake.

Hiked Goat Creek Trail #205 (near Morton) to Vanson Lake. But turned around mid-way due to snow. Cathedral Falls is snow free. Rd 2750 has average pot holes and a few big ones. There are some flat spots. It gets rougher toward the end. High clearance vehicles won’t have a problem. Careful driving for lower clearance vehicles. Parking at the trailhead will accommodate many vehicles. The trail is as you’d expect. Easy to Cathedral Falls. It’s 1.25 miles in and beautiful, but I was expecting there to be more water. It is snow free beyond Cathedral Falls past the Jct of Trail #218. Keeping right, the first signs of spotty snow are just beyond that. It’s off and on for about ¼ mile until it becomes constant around the 2700ft level a ½ mile after the jct. In the beginning, the snow is slushy and slippery but only inches deep. Soon it’s a foot deep but firmer and lightly travelled. Then becomes mid-thigh post-holing. After this the tracks stop and I was the only one. Breaking trail was about knee deep post-holing with some butt deep post-holing. That’s where I turned around and actually lost sight of the trail at the 3000ft level at a very beautiful cascading falls. At the 2900 ft level, there are 2 very big blow downs across the trail that require hiking around. Snow makes it more difficult. All and All it was a good hike. Snow made it more challenging and I will go later in the year to make it to Vanson Lake.

Did part of this trail today. It was beautiful! Roads and the trail up to the waterfall are clear. Snow about half way up the trail prevented us from getting to the top. Need snowshoes still (easy to lose the trail and the post holing was going to be too tough for us.) This trail is nice because of the changing scenery along the route.

A couple of good pot holes on forest road so take it slow but gate is open.. you can get all the way up to the trailhead.. no snow on trail either....wet in spots but not bad at all..falls are flowing real good!!

truck now required to get to trail head. also right now I would consider some of it a snow hike.

The road wasn't as terrible as we expected it to be. The trail was pleasant and the falls were amazing. Good hike for all ages and abilities.

Dogs are aloud on this trail head according to 'Washington Trails Association'. As long as they are on leash.

Long but rewarding. Definitely recommend taking the lower trail. When you get to the creek (right after a noticeable increase in incline) the trail can be easy to miss. Hike perpendicular to the creek to continue. Don't try to hike up the rocky creek path like we did at first. The lake is gorgeous and very peaceful.

I hiked with my 7 month old daughter in a carrier and while the up and down was rough because I'm out of shape and had an extra 20 lbs, the multiple water falls is well worth it! Drive careful too! Happy hiking!

Beautiful waterfalls, fun water crossings. The second half of the trail is a bit overgrown, and there's a lake at the end, but not a showstopper. Still a lovely hike, I'd do it again. The road sucks. Our Subaru did just fine.

road going up is pretty rough. waterfalls are beautiful right now but definitely be ready to get your feet wet. some deep snow twards the end of the trail.

Lots of water flow right now. It made for some amazing views of the waterfalls and rivers, but be prepared for wet feet. At some points the trail itself was a running creek. It was easily hiked by my three children (the youngest being 7), and we did it in less then 4 hours(we took play breaks).

Went up this weekend. it is not closed. not at all. there was plenty of people there. and no gates were closed or locked. I don't recommend anything with low ground clearance getting to the trail head. driving was a little rough. not 4x4 only just rough. the trail it's self was way worth it. I'm coming back and doing more. I love this place.

As of August 27, 2016- Road closed at the start of Conley Rd. due to extreme fire hazard. No access to the trail to do this hike

This hike was fun, really awesome waterfalls along the way. The drive was a little sketchy on the way up in a 2013 Ford Fusion, it scraped the skid plates a couple times :(. only did about 4 miles of the hike this day because we got a very late start. The hike we intended to do had the road washed out, we just happen to stumble upon this one after some locals tell us about it. Still was awesome and fun. Easy hike, even for kids!