Goat Mtn. Overlook hike

 Yesterday (Friday's) our hike was the Goat mtn. overlook. I kept thinking I'd done it with the Senior Trailblazers, but I guess I hadn't, I have no blog record of it. The only time I'd been there apparently was in September of 2014 with my husband. We had tried to summit that day but the trail or lack of trail was sketchy at the upper meadow and I didn't feel comfortable continuing, so we turned around before summiting. You can read about that day's hike HERE. The skies were clear on that day and we had some great views.

It was cloudy with a chilly start for our hike yesterday. We parked and the upper lot near the restroom and walked down to the trailhead.

My husband and Scoutina at the sign-in trail register.

Did you know that slugs like to eat mushrooms?

As we were hiking along my husband showed me a wire he had noticed on some hikes he had taken before. It appears to be left from when the Lookout used to be in the area. The wire and the insulator are visible between the two trees.

We found the old Lookout trail, it takes off to the right as you are hiking up the trail. You can see a large broken tree branch on the ground paralleling the trail in the photo below. There is no sign informing what the side trail goes to. I found a great article that includes photos of the old Lookout site. 

You can read the short article HERE.

There were a few heart rocks along the trail

The vegetation free forest broke out into these wonderful little green areas here and there.

Our Scoutina savoring a prize stick.

Boardwalk section of the trail

We then came to an area where there was more light and the forest changed to Alder and Vine maples and lots of vegetation. The trail was quite brushy.

Thimble berries and Blueberries made an appearance, along with some early signs of fall color.

The clouds were in and out with some peek a boo moments from the sun, so we were able to get some views off and on.

Looking northwest towards the Welcome pass trail area.

The top of Goat mountain in the distance. 

Blueberries were plentiful

The trail has been uphill most of the time but now in the open it really goes up. 

There were many rock steps until our lunch spot.

Mt. Sefrit visible at the overlook. Hannegan peak is to the left of Sefrit and Shuksan is to it's right.

I took a screenshot of the peaks that my iphone's Peakfinder app showed. 

Enlarge the photo to better read the peak names.

We could see the Mt. Baker ski area across the way.

The zoomed in look at the ski area.

The view looking up from the overlook

My Summer hike bucket list verification photo.

There was a very chilly breeze blowing at our lunch stop. So on came the jackets.

The clouds tried to clear a bit for a view of Shuksan.

Scoutina and I enjoying the views and the welcome short window of the Sun's warmth.

As we made our way down the trail, I turned and took one more look at the mountain. It was bittersweet because I know I'm not fit enough to hike to the top as it was quite the effort for me just to make it to the overlook. Someday??? Who knows.

Back into the forest and the nice soft fir needle surface of the trail for the ever downward trek.

The wilderness area sign attached to a tree.

I forgot to take a photo of it on our way up, so here it is now near the end of our hike.

A very hard day's hike for me. I questioned my Summer bucket list quest as I worked on the last uphill before lunch, but as usual as we were making our way back down my energy reappeared and I was filled with satisfaction for meeting the challenge of the day. As the season is changing and the daylight hours are less each day, I'm hoping we'll finish the hikes on our list. We are running out of days where we can hike in the high country areas of the mountains. We had 14 hikes on our combined Summer hikes bucket list, one more was added last night😄. Now our bucket list has 15 hikes on it! We've completed 10, we have 5 to go and hopefully enough nice weather days to complete them. I need at least a couple of rest day in between hikes so we'll see if we finish the list.

Trail rating: HARD (yes, all caps for my added opinion)

Total distance: 8 miles by my Garmin

Total ascent: 2711feet

Track of our route

Yellow Aster Butte hike, goal completed!

 Monday's hike choice was Yellow Aster Butte. I'd hiked it twice before but never reaching the top. 

Those times were each with Senior Trailblazers. 

You can read about those hikes here: 2014's sunny day hike & 2015's cloudy day hike.

I had told my husband of my desire to get to the top (the south summit) and he said we would get there. 

We left early in the morning to fog at our house so we really didn't know if we'd get the sunny day that was forecast. 

The 5 mile road to the trailhead had many potholes so we were rocking and rolling all the way up.

Fingers crossed and with my nerves and hopes in a heightened state I began the journey up the trail.

My husband and Scoutina at the trail register.

Views were beginning to appear as we made our way up in the open. 

Yay, the sunny skies that were forecast came true.

Mushrooms were plentiful along the trail again on this hike.

Scoutina enjoying a flatter section of the trail.

After hiking in the forest section we came out into the open.

A bit of fall color was making an appearance on the bushes.

A view of our destination in the distance

This was the only snow patch along our route, much different than the 2014 & 2015 trips

More fall color

A view of Shuksan and Mt. Baker

After passing the saddle where we had stopped on the 2014 journey we rounded the corner and I spotted these two Marmots lounging on a rock below us. *A zoomed in photo.

The next section was all new to me, not only because it was a clear day with views but in our 2015 journey we turned around before reaching the top.

Views of Mt. Baker, Keep Kool butte and the Tomyhoi tarns. 

Our family has been to the tarns and Tomyhoi peak on a few different hikes way back in our hiking past. In those days the route was by way of the Keep Kool trail there was no Yellow Aster butte trail. I haven't been to the top of Tomyhoi, I only went to the saddle before the summit. My husband has been to the top several times. We've camped the tarns. So it was nice to look down into that area once again.

Looking in the distance at Tomyhoi peak.

First view of the Border peaks. U.S. on the right with the reddish area and the Canadian border peak on the left.

Now the trail goes up in earnest.

It was a grind for the last tenth of a mile or so up to the top but well worth the effort. 

Scoutina enjoying the views from the top of the South Summit.

360 video view from the top

We were the only ones at the top for quite awhile, so plenty of time to soak it all in without interruption.

The true summit of Yellow Aster butte in the distance between the Border peaks in the photo below. I didn't feel the need to go to the highest summit, the rounded part of the South summit was a perfect ending place.

Heading back down the trail I noticed the other side of a rock we had walked beside.

In on the photo below you'll see my husband and Scoutina patiently waiting for me to make my way down from the top.

A closer look

I liked how relaxed Scoutina was as they waited.

Enjoying fall colors and Shuksan

Very few flowers were out, just some purple Aster and some very short Paintbrush.

More fall color

A last look at where we'd been. 

We heard many Marmots as we made our way back down the trail. I took a recording of their calls. 

You can listen to the audio file HERE.

As we hiked we talked with some Forest Service workers. While we had been hiking they had dug a new support hole for the trail junction sign. This is the same signpost as the one in the photo in the beginning of this blogpost, just more sun and taken from a different angle.

Heart rocks along the trail

Our last view of Mt. Baker from the trail as we made our way towards the trailhead. The evening's shadows were beginning to spread as the sun was lowering in the west.

A memory photo from years ago I decided to include, this is from a trip my husband did years ago to Yellow Aster butte with some friends and our Malamute "Lexis"💓

Trail rating: Hard

Total miles hiked: 8.8

Total ascent: 2628

*we've seen distances anywhere from  7 - 81/2 miles for this hike on various trip planning websites depending on your final destination.

Hiking to the top of the south summit of Yellow Aster Butte was everything I had hoped for: 

that top of the world feeling

views forever

knowing that I gave it all I had to get there

This hike was one of my Summer bucket list hikes. It meant so much to me to get to the top. It's one of the harder hikes I've done in awhile

I finally did it!