"After reading some uninspiring beta about the east ridge of Goat Island, I decided to take the primary route described in Peggy Goldman's Washington Scrambles (2nd Edition) and I highly recommend it! I beat the brush for only about 50m before emerging in open montane forest, then quickly hit a game trail superhighway that scooted me over to a beautifuly, easy-traveling ridgelet. The ridgelet in turn spat me out into a huge green-fescue meadow. By taking this route, you get to skip a lot of river rock hopping along Fryingpan Creek, get a lot more meadow walking (albeit steep), and get to do a wee loop without submitting yourself to the east ridge. The second part of the loop keeps Rainier and the Emmons Glacier in front of you the whole time. After walking over Goat Island West and Baker Point, I followed the ridge down to the col at 6400 feet (stirring up a posse of seven goats on the way). From there to the creek was smooth sailing. I had planned to cross Fryingpan to hit the Wonderland trail on the south side of the creek, but I waited too long to cross and just ended up bushwhacking down to the foot bridge. Beautiful day, if a bit hazy from a fire blowing up on American Ridge." — TynanRammGranberg • Sep 1, 2025