Hike to Goat Mountain Lookout

This morning we walked into town and poked into the visitor information center to ask for more information about Yosemite and about our planned hike to Goat Mountain Lookout at Bass Lake near where we are staying.  We hit the jackpot!  The fellow in the information center had lots of hiking maps and information.

Armed with the information about the hike to Goat Mountain Lookout, we drove the 9 miles or so to Bass Lake.  We had some difficulty finding a place to park the truck, because the trailhead to the top of Goat Mountain was in a lakeside campground, but the campground was closed for the season.  We finally found a parking spot and headed up to find the trailhead.

Here's a photo of Bass Lake.  It sits at about 3,000 feet elevation.  The summit of Goat Mountain is at 4,634 feet.  So, we had about 4 miles to gain 1600 feet - not bad.

At the top of the campground, we located the trailhead.  Here's Dave admiring the trail sign.  We were a little surprised, because the trail documentation said that the hike is 5 miles round trip.  Note that Goat Mountain Lookout is shown as 4.4 miles away.  This after half a mile of walking from the lake to the top of the campground.  We hadn't exactly been prepared for a 10-mile hike.  We only had two litres of water, but we did have lunch and snacks.  We decided to go ahead and head on up, knowing that the weather was mild and that we've hiked 10 miles before without using a full 4 litres of water.

Along the way, Kathy stood almost underneath an old tree that had fallen across the drainage near the trail.  Little did we know when David took the photo that Kathy got photo-bombed by one of the zillions of gnats that beseiged us throughout the hike.  Here's the damn bug, shining in the flash of the camera:

David found some huge granite slabs standing upright and had to try to topple them just like that now infamous boy scout leader.  He was not successful.  Maybe that was for the best.

The trail we chose had some great scenic views.  Here's one view looking down on Bass Lake:

We had several opportunities to look across to the range of mountains to the northeast.  This is a view of Shuteye Peak, which has an elevation of 8,355 feet:

At the top, we sat on the stairs of the lookout tower to eat our lunch and enjoy the view.  The cabin, which is no longer in use for fire lookout purposes, now houses signal relay equipment.  Here's Kathy munching away under a huge signal drum:

The lookout tower was not without its amenities, however.  We were blessed with a two-seater outhouse, just in case we both felt the need:

The hike back was pleasant and uneventful - except for the gnats.  They plagued us up and back, and we often had to wave our hands or hats to shoo them out of our eyes as we walked.  Note to self:  try this hike next time after the first frost.