Goat Lake Overnight Trip Report

We drive down to Packwood Friday afternoon. After a couple false starts we left around 4pm and reached the chambers lake trailhead around 8pm.

We arrived at the trailhead Saturday morning expecting to beat most of the crowds. We were wrong—the lot was already well overflowed, with cars parked along the road nearly back to the entrance of the Chambers Lake Campground road. We ended up parking about a quarter mile down the road.
We left the trailhead around 7:30 a.m. and reached Goat Lake around noon. There were lots of marmots and pika around the lake. One marmot was particularly vocal, and for a while we were worried it might keep screeching into the night.
Goat Lake itself was beautiful. The lake water, however, was not particularly tasty after filtering. Still, the setting was worth it, and this would be a fun trip to make an annual outing.
For camping at Goat Lake, a 20-degree sleeping bag was perfect. A down jacket would have been nice to have once the temperature dropped. If camping lower down around Chambers Lake, a 45-degree bag probably would have been sufficient.
There also appears to be an option to camp closer to the trailhead on the Snowgrass side, which could be useful for a future trip.

Sunday morning brought *light rainfall and a beautiful inversion around camp*. There was a bivouacker camped next to us who appeared to have spent the night comfortably under a tarp.
I hopped into Goat Lake before we packed up, which made for a very refreshing start to the morning. We got moving around 8:45 a.m. and reached the car at approximately 12:30 p.m.

Notes for Next Time
– Have dinner in Packwood. – Bring hiking shorts. – Bring a down jacket, even with the 20-degree sleeping bag. – Consider camping closer to the trailhead on the Snowgrass side if needed.

– How do bananas get sweeter?

– Where did this bear spray come from?