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Trip Report    

Alpine Scramble - Goat Island Mountain (Mount Rainier)

Nice, scenic route with varied terrain; plenty of sweat but not technical; (not the same route as in the "100 peaks" guide.)

  • Road suitable for all vehicles
  • Ascent via the ENE ridge staring from the Wonderland trail - we followed an "elk highway" up the steep ridgeline.  Planned to leave the ridge at about 5800 ft and cross over to the less prominent ridge above where the USGS map says "Falls". En route, Three of our party were stung by yellow jackets or some sort of hornets; a hazard this time of year.

     We got a bit too curious for our own good and decided to see if we could scramble the ridge around the basin at approx. 6600 ft.  we explored up to around 6400 and confirmed that the route "is where it is" for good reason.... the terrain is definitely not Class 3...but had some fun looking around.

    Backtracked and ascended the less prominent east trending ridge to Goat Island proper and followed the route as planned.  no issues on descent from the saddle at approx. 6400 ft. Fryingpan creek easily boulder hopped.  (I noted that there is now a visible footpath along the Goat Island ridge that was not there last year.  Where practical we spread out t avoid further impact. )

took us about 9 hrs but we were not a "fast" party.  we used helmets when exploring the "off route" section but otherwise not needed.