Um. Overwhelming beautiful. LAKE: Gorgeous, serene, numbingly cold, snow-covered, picturesque … wow. The surface is completely glassy and still making it perfect for photo ops(see pics attached). The snow melt makes it almost impossible to swim but that didn’t stop my two insane guy friends from stripping off their shirts and dove in. They might have stopped breathing for a moment, it’s THAT cold — my legs went numb after a few seconds! The lake gets its name from goats that used to live in the area when there was mining nearby. HIKE: A little over 10 miles which is the longest hike I’d been on yet. And this was on 6 hours of sleep when the day prior I had done two aerobic classes and run a 5 K(insane, I advise against doing all of this in one weekend). There are moments where you’re walking right by waterfalls and a nice section with an expansive stretch of green canopies and hushed air. The worst part was the sudden steep incline up to the lake itself, I’d say a walking stick would be ideal here with crumbly rocks and plenty of little trickles of water to bound over. Saw a lot of hikers who seemed to have camped out overnight. The trail is pretty darn far from Seattle, about 2 hours or so so make sure to leave bright and early to get the most out of it!
