Washington's Pinchot National Forest covers 1,368,300 acres and includes Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. The Goat Rock Wilderness (108,096 acres) is part of the magnificent Cascade Mountain Range between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. In fact, before beginning this project, I backpacked a section of the Pacific Crest Trail in the wilderness, and had marvelous views of Mt St. Helen, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams.
Packwood Lake (photo below), on the edge of the wilderness area, was formed 1200 years ago by a large landslide. It is a 462 acre natural lake located on the western side of the Cascades at an elevation of 2875 feet. This magnificent destination can be reached by hiking four miles or driving a 4WD vehicle. As you hike along the lake, you enter the Goat Rocks Wilderness, which is accessible only to those hiking or on horseback. The island in the lake seen here is small and is off limits since someone started a fire there a few years ago. Some of the water from the lake is piped several miles to a power plant which supplies electricity to four local towns. One afternoon we watched as a fire fighting helicopter hovered over the lake several times, refilling its water container, and then flying back to the fire scene.
Packwood Lake (photo below), on the edge of the wilderness area, was formed 1200 years ago by a large landslide. It is a 462 acre natural lake located on the western side of the Cascades at an elevation of 2875 feet. This magnificent destination can be reached by hiking four miles or driving a 4WD vehicle. As you hike along the lake, you enter the Goat Rocks Wilderness, which is accessible only to those hiking or on horseback. The island in the lake seen here is small and is off limits since someone started a fire there a few years ago. Some of the water from the lake is piped several miles to a power plant which supplies electricity to four local towns. One afternoon we watched as a fire fighting helicopter hovered over the lake several times, refilling its water container, and then flying back to the fire scene.
Visitors are encouraged to sign in when beginning a hike or backpack into the wilderness area, but the sign-in station post had rotted and fallen, so we found another post, debarked it, and attached the signage and drop box to the new post.
Our small but productive trail crew!
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