Saturday was looking like good weather, and since I was going solo so I thought that Goat Ridge would be a good destination.
Goat Ridge is a sub-peak west of Sky Pilot mountain near Squamish.


It's a real grunt to get up there from the Petgill Lake side but since I recently put together an E-bike, I thought that taking it up the logging/mining roads would be the way to go.
The ride up was pretty good, but there is a good washout and a large blowdown section that would block any vehicles from getting up here, if you could get around the rather beefy gate.
I started biking at 7:30 and it took just under an hour to gain 530m. I stashed the bike in the woods near the bottom of the trail at 800m elev.
View from higher up on the logging road:


I started hiking around 8:30 and the trail is steep but pretty obvious. Sometimes the trail splits in two, but like other bike trails, I found that they usually join up again a short time later. There is no way I would ride down this trail on a mountain bike though, way to steep and technical for me. After a while I heard voices and then passed 3 guys taking a break at a viewpoint. They had ebikes with them, I guess they were pushing them up and going to ride down. I wished them well and said see you up there, but I didn't see them again for the rest of the day.
A bit further on I encountered some bear scat and started to make a bit of noise.
Some peek-a-boo views here and there and at around 1400m the trail levels off and the you reach the first lake which is a beauty.


The trail must have split because it became much less obvious, but still pretty easy to follow if you pay attention. Good views were opening up.


The main theme on this ridge is gullies that run north/south that you have to pay attention to.
Gully and Garibaldi:


These are words of Howesound on one of the previous trip reports on CT from 2004, which I found very accurate:
"On the ridge, every time you climb a bump, you will be faced with a north-south gully. So, repeatedly, you have to find a way to climb down into the gully an up to the next bump. The map looks like the ridge is a smooth ramp up to the summit -- it isn't. You will spend lots of time on these up an down trips. At this time of the year, when you are not on rock, you may be able to find a path."

The next lake was another beauty with many familiar North Shore peaks as a backdrop:


Once or twice I got off route and encountered a gulley and I would have to find a way down.
Gully and the route ahead. Habrich poking out at left:


I noticed some clouds forming on the peaks across Howe Sound and soon they around Goat Ridge as well.
Here is a picture before the last down 'n up gully and the last bit to the top. Sky Pilot in the background.


Another tarn and a view over to Port Mellon


I soon got to the top and dumped my pack, and noticed another bump 100m to the NW. I quickly headed over there to check it out, it
is a few metres lower but it has good views down to Skyline Ridge. I could hear voices down there, probably people that took the gondola up. Back at the main summit I cracked open an appropriate beer, took in the 360 degree views and had lunch. There were good views of Sky Pilot and I could see people up there with the binoculars. Clouds moved in to keep things cool. There is a very steep dropoff to the east that goes down several hundred metres.


Meslilloet Glacier but Meslilloet was in the clouds while I was there.


A general view over towards Ben Avon:


Sky Pilot and Co-Pilot just to the left:


Capilano, Lions, Hanover, Brunswick, Windsor, Deeks:


Squamish Spit area:


Howe Sound towards Port Mellon:


Who can forget about Garibaldi and Black Tusk? Habrich Ridge in front.


And here is Mt. Habrich:


I spent quite a while on the summit and then headed down with a plan to swim in one of the tarns. At the first swimmable tarn that I passed, I met a couple of hikers that had headed up the trail from Petgill Lake. Further down I tried to scout out some spots to put a tent, this would be a great place to spend the night.


I had one swim in a bathtub tarn which was really cold, and then another swim in the big tarn with a view of the Lions. This tarn was warmer but still too cold to swim across.


The rest of the hike down was uneventful. The tree cover helped keep the temperature down. I passed two more people closer to the bottom, they were pushing bikes up as well, which seemed like alot of work. After retrieving the bike the rest of the trip down to the car took about 25 minutes on the roads.

That area changed a lot; when I went up it was still not logged & you had to hike all the way from Sea to Sky



Super views & these tarns are special. Great to overnight, although grunt from Petgill would be tough with extra gear

Looks like a very beautiful aera. Often thought of going up there when I first heart of it.

K