1982: The Pasaytan Loop, page 18

Upper Goat Lake.

7:05 PM.  We went to the upper lake and I have to say that I respectfully disagree with Elizabeth. I think these lakes are both really pretty. It’s close, but I believe I like the lower one best. It is surrounded by lush meadows and a lovely grouping of Lyalls Larch and other trees.

I just loaded a roll of Ektachrome into the camera. Normally, I use Kodachrome 64 (or even 25). But the warm side-lighting and the rich green foliage of this area really begs for the Ektachrome treatment.

We wandered up a trail that climbed to the northern ridge where I earlier saw what I thought was a watchtower. As I got closer I could see that it was nothing but a clump of trees.

Upper Goat Lake reminds me a whole lot of Peggy's Pond, down in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area. I puttered around through the rocks and took a lot of photos. There were no signs of hunters (garbage or horse poop), so they are elsewhere – maybe north across the pass in the next basin. That would put them close to yucky Holman Pass.

It appears that the upper lake is spring-fed, as there was no observable inlet stream feeding into it.  There is a stream between the two lakes, but that's not to say that the lower lake doesn't have a spring source also.

It is easy to see why this lovely area is so popular. It is primarily surrounded by meadow-covered hillsides, with some pretty damn spectacular backdrops.

Goat Lakes, Goat Basin, and the PCT climbing to a distant ridge.

Micki and I climbed up pretty high and I took a few dramatic shots of both lakes, Goat Basin, and the PCT switchbacking up to the north of us.

All the snow that we saw along the trail just below these lakes last Monday is now gone. I imagine that when we initially passed through, this area was under 2-4 inches of snow.

Hard to believe this was just a few days ago!

Well, it is time for dinner. Turkey Tetrazzini and another surprise pudding that I got from Larry. I had the first pudding last night and discovered in doing so that you should not put the pudding into boiling water. It has to be the other way around.  But what’s a few lumps between friends?  I'm still not sure what flavor it was, lemon or butterscotch, but it was hot and it was sweet.

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