Elliott Creek
Washington’s weather has settled back into its normal pattern- sunny weekdays and cloudy/rainy weekends. Plan A was thwarted once again by the weather so I had to find a Plan B. Given the 100% chance of rain, I tried to keep in the forest and at lower elevation. After rejected a few options, I settled on returning to the Goat Lake Trail off of the Mountain Loop Highway. I had hiked this trail many years ago and remembered that it paralleled Elliott Creek for much of the way to Goat Lake. It seemed like the best option given the 100% chance of rain.
The trail to Goat lake is five miles long and actually has two options- an upper trail and a lower trail. The upper trail follows a decommissioned road while the lower trail follows Elliott Creek. About halfway in, both trails merge and continue onward to Goat Lake. On this day, I focused just on the lower trail and Elliot Creek. It gradually gains elevation as you head up valley and always stays within earshot of the creek. A nice added bonus is that the forest along the lower trail is very diverse and lush, offering even more to look at.
On this particular day, it rained steadily the entire time and both myself and my camera gear got drenched. Thankfully, Pentax makes cameras and lenses that are built to take these kind of conditions! As these outings tend to go for me, the destination wasn’t as important as the trail to it so I only managed to make it a fraction of the way in towards Goat Lake.
