Knowing that my climbing colleagues would plan plenty of climbs that could be characterized as a "pleasant outing with a strenuous approach" (see e.g. the feature article on Snowfield Peak), I was intent on finding a "pleasant outing with a pleasant approach." In other words, a trip that would be enjoyable as a backpack trip, but with a glacier climb thrown in. An area I had wanted to explore further is the Goat Rocks Wilderness, a high alpine wilderness located in the southern part of the state between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. But are there any glaciers down there? You bet. And one of them--the Conrad glacier--leads to the summit of Mt. Curtis-Gilbert, which at 8184 feet is the highest along the Goat Rocks crest. Our group consisted of Dox, Dug, Dox’s friend David Pippen, yours truly, and my friend Adam Gravley. We headed out on August 6 for 4-day trip.

The adventure began on day 1 as we were distracted by the scenery going through Mt. Rainier National Park and mistakenly drove over Chinook Pass before we realized we’d missed our turn to the Goat Rocks. Then later, back on route, Mr. Pippen sheepishly informed us he’d left his cooking pot at home. No problem. We stopped in a mom & pop store near the trailhead and picked him up a Teflon-coated clunker, which banged and clanged tied to the outside of his pack the whole trip.

On the trail that first day we were treated to the lovely and beautiful Conrad Meadows. Did you know that it is the largest mid-montane meadow in the Cascades? Repeat to yourself about 1,000 times and that will approximate how many times it was said and heard on this trip. I’m sure the meadow is pretty neat, but unfortunately it turned out to be nothing more than a green buzzing blur as we raced through it to leave behind the gobs and gobs and gobs and gobs and gobs and gobs and gobs of mosquitoes. From the meadows we switchbacked up into and contoured around the South Fork Tieton River basin. We took a very leisurely pace and after about 6 or so miles decided to hunker down for the night. Good call, since we were able to find an old horse camp in the trees and set up the tents just as it started a steady rain that stayed with us much of the night.

Day 2 found us backtracking a bit to look for the jumping off place to the high country. The rain had stopped but it was overcast. Dox got the shutterbug and snapped photographs of flowers and greenery in the basin. Unable to find a trail, we bushwhacked a few hundred feet to the top of the ridge. From there we entered a large high alpine plateau. Patchy snow still remained, and we caught our first glimpse of Curtis-Gilbert. We spent the day lazily roaming, descending a bit to cross what appeared to be the south fork of Conrad Creek, stopping for lunch at the "Bar P Ranch," a lovely vantage spot in the middle of the plateau. We continued our traverse until we reached Conrad Creek. We climbed up along the creek as it gushed through waterfalls until finally reaching Cold Lake, which was still frozen, by mid-afternoon.

We were in a beautiful cirque at the base of the Conrad Glacier, surrounded by Mt. Curtis-Gilbert and neighboring peaks to the southwest and the broad dry ridge leading to Tieton Peak to the west. It would be home for the next two days. We gawked at the scenery for a short while and then began to set up camp. Suddenly it got darker and darker and the rain began, the big-drop kind that soaks you instantly. We scrambled to finish getting the tents up and then jumped in for what would be a 3-hour thunderstorm. Time to rest, snack, and play [what’s the name of the card game?]

Day 3 was absolutely gorgeous: deep blue skies and sunshine. We took time to do a refresher of glacier climbing and rescue skills for David and Adam and then hit the hill. We had the entire place to ourselves (in fact we didn’t see anyone in the high country the whole trip), except for occasional herds of mountain goats, which was a great relief to me having promised we’d see them. The snow was hard-packed and we used crampons. The crevasses were still buried. The crux of the climb during the ascent involved negotiating a relatively narrow snow finger through a rock outcropping, which led to the upper part of the glacier. We had to traverse across and up a short but steep section of class 4 rock and then on to a very steep snow slope before it leveled out to the ridgeline. From there it was a fun class 2 or 3 rock scramble to the summit. We crowded together at the top, signed the register, and surveyed the Goat Rocks region from its pinnacle. It was a most-excellent summit. The only disappointment was that afternoon clouds had rolled in, and we couldn’t see much of the surrounding ring of volcanoes (Rainier; Adams, and St. Helens), which is one of the highlights of being in the Goat Rocks.

The snow finger had proved a little hairy on the way up and some in the group had identified another route down. It had the appeal of forming a loop trip back to camp via the Tieton glacier to the west. Turned out to be very steep and broken up, and it proved the most challenging and strenuous part of the climb as we slowly and carefully weaved among the crevasses. We definitely needed and used both pickets--should have listened to Dug and brought the third. While a bit nerve-racking, it was also exhilarating, and we also got to see a different part of the mountain. We made it back to camp by late afternoon thoroughly satisfied and exhausted. Fortunately the thunderstorms had not materialized.

Day 4 was about 10 or so miles out. We decided to follow Conrad Creek back to Conrad Meadows to make a loop trip rather than return the same way. We were treated to wide-open vistas and enjoyed some off trail navigation and bushwhacking before eventually rejoining the main trail near the meadows. We raced through the meadows and made it back to the cars by late afternoon. At one point someone among us said, "The Goat Rocks rock!," and that pretty much sums of up the trip.