Goat Mountain

January 22^nd (Friday)

On Friday we were all packed and ready for our day hike, it was a beautiful clear day.  We started hiking at around 08:45, when it was light enough in the forest to see.  We headed up into the forest behind some of the upper-level houses across the river in Martin River, and started to make our way up Goat Mountain.  We had planned our route up the mountain by looking at it from a distance and observing the lines and patches of deciduous trees that most likely marked an old slide area or gully.   

We had also looked at topographical maps and we could see the cliffs at the top, but it looked like there would be a route around them.  We also talked to Doug, one of the residents here who had been up Goat Mountain.  He did not make it all of the way to the top, but he took a similar route to the one that we planned on taking, and he had made it up above the tree line.  He told us that that was the route of the old telephone wire, and that it went up to the old tower on top.  

 

It was so nice to be into the forest again and it was a beautiful day for a hike.  As the sun came up, the sun line came down the mountain as we were heading up towards it, and by 09:45 we were in the sun.  It did not take us long to spot the old telephone wire.  

There were two black, white, and silver-twisted sets, and also one larger all-black cable.  Sometimes we followed along with them, but often they were buried or otherwise hidden from view.  It was neat to speculate and try to envision how they might have run the cable. 

We followed the route that we had in our heads, and we easily came up onto the ridgeline that we wanted to follow.  We kept the deciduous trees in the gully to our left and made our way up, up, up.  The terrain was quite steep, but for a bushwhacking trip the forest floor was quite clear of brush, and the going was fairly easy.  

At around 2000 feet the gully to our left ended and also the more distinct drop-off to our right came to an end.  Our obvious landmarks were gone, but we knew we had to keep going up.  Quickly we came to the base of our first cliff and to the hanging wall of icicles that hung off of it.  Some of them were very pretty glistening in the sunshine.   

Many of them had grown downward, but some of them had grown upwards as falling drops of water must have iced up and built up when they landed.  There was one very spectacular icicle that had formed off of an old twisted branch.   

The water must have been running right down the twist of the branch because the sheet of ice had formed hanging down from the twist and following it downward right to the tip at the bottom.  It was very neat to see. 

At the base of each cliff that we came to we had to decide either right or left.  Sometimes it would look best to the right, but we would have to end up going left along the base to find a way up around the cliff.  As long as there were trees and bushes we were able to make our way up around each cliff area, but it was necessary to have the handholds provided by the trees.  

By about 2200 feet we started to get up into the snow.  At first it was a solid layer, but as we got closer to the top there was a fluffy dusting of a few inches on top of the solid layer.   

The hardness of the snow made it easy to walk on top of, but we often had to kick our feet into it to make secure footholds. 

Eventually we made it to the top at 3000 feet.   

The views were spectacular.   

The snow on the top, especially the fresh 3-inch dusting was perfectly untouched and with the glistening snow it could have easily been the landscape from another world.   

Our footprints stretching back behind us were the only mark that touched the surface.   

 At the very top there were the remains of the old wooden telephone transmitting radio tower.  

It lay on its side with a box and a small electrical panel part way along it, and the metal cables and connection points into the rock still looked solid.  

It had taken us about 3.75 hours to get to the top, and we were aware that the trip down might be somewhat time consuming because of the steepness and firm snow. 

We sat down to enjoy our lunch and take in the view.  

It did not take long for our bodies to cool down, and we were eager to get up and get moving again before our muscles started to tighten up in the cold.   

After our quick lunch and taking some pictures at the top we headed back down.  

It ended up taking us about 2.5 hours to make our way down, and in the top 1000 feet we often had to turn around and make our way downwards with our bodies facing the mountain, holding on with both hands as we felt our way down for secure footing.   

When we got back home, just a bit before sunset, we were tired, sore, and happy.  What a great day!!