Attack of the (Deranged Killer Mutant) Mountain Goats

I've been wanting to visit either Upper Lena Lake or Lake of the Angels in the Olympic National Park for some time now. On very short notice, I arranged to make the trip this past weekend. I would have stayed home had I known all of the shenanigans that followed . . .

I brought my bike so that I could ride from a road wash-out a mile or so to the trailhead. Once I arrived I discovered that the tube had blown (shredded is more like it), so I had to walk to the trailhead. No big deal.

Immediately upon starting the trail, I headed uphill. That wouldn't change for the next 4 miles as I gained almost 4000 feet in elevation. It was like a 4 mile/4 hour stairmaster carrying a 50 pound backpack! About halfway up, I encountered a guy heading down and we exchanged notes. I was already a sweaty mess and remarked about what a tough climb this had been. He told me that there were a couple of "headwalls" to get through prior to arriving at Lake of the Angels. Seems "headwall" is a hiker euphemism for "cliff". Going up wasn't the hard part on those headwalls - it was the going down that was scary!

I lost the trail at a couple of places, but really lost maybe only 5 minutes total. The trail wasn't well marked, and with all the stream crossings and alternate campsites/trails, I got on the wrong one a time or two. Again, no big deal.

I slogged my way up the second headwall, after crossing and climbing up a decent snowfield first. Once I got to the Lake of the Angels I was greeted by the resident herd of mountain goats. Those goats have absolutely no fear of human beings, and pretty much view us as walking salt licks. This, combined with a forewarning about their aggressiveness here, and the fact that a hiker was killed by a mountain goat in the Olympic National Park had me a bit nervous.

Those goats followed me around everywhere and kept me up literally all night long. I didn't realize until the next morning that those beggars were really thieves - they took my hat!! I hope that goat has a nasty stomach ache from eating my hat.

Anyways, the location was stunning. I saw an amazing sunset, watched the stars come out and light up the sky. It was so clear there I think I saw every star that is visible to the naked eye. Then I got to watch a pretty sunrise. I started my walk out pretty early, since I didn't want to share my breakfast with the goats (like I almost did with dinner). At the bottom of the first headwall, my left foot slipped, my knee buckled, and I pinwheeled down the slope. To make matters worse, the snowfield that I wrote about earlier was at the bottom of my fall (only about 6 feet or so). Which means I got to slide a bit downhill before coming to rest. I'm super lucky I didn't sprain my knee or ankle on that tumble. There were a couple of others on the way down (like I said, it was steep!) but nothing major.

All in all, I enjoyed Lake of the Angels. It was a beautiful alpine meadow and lake ringed in by mountains. I won't be going back though - those goats made the time there thoroughly unenjoyable. I'll look for another lake and alpine meadow that doesn't have a resident goat population!

Have a great day out there everybody. And sleep well, I know I will!