
Sunrise on Goat Lake © Jeffrey H. Lubeck – MESH Art LLC – all rights reserved.
Goat Lake in the Sawtooth Wilderness of Idaho possess water that appears to be shades of emerald and deep blue. Goat Lake offers superlative views of spectacular mountain peaks.
For most, reaching Goat Lake’s 8,220 ft elevation entails a 8.1 mile (round trip) hike that includes 1,650 ft of vertical gain. The last 3 tenths of a mile to the top of the falls, includes 600 vertical ft of gain on a loosely defined trail of scree and sand. Once reaching the falls, a short distance of boulder hopping and route finding occurs before crossing the creek and following the trail to the the lake. Towards reaching the falls it is best to try and stay as close to the falls and the creek. However, the approach varies greatly based on time of year, snow level, and level of water flow.
An extra 2 miles of travel (round trip) and 400 ft of vertical gain can be added to the trip. It provides a magnificent view of Goat Falls and the Goat Creek Basin from the Goat Falls Overlook.
If done together the entire route from the Iron Creek Trailhead with be 10.1 miles with 2,150 vertical ft of gain.
In the summer months, Goat Lake experiences a good deal of day hikers and some overnighters. The numbers of both drop somewhat during the week days. Early Fall is a fabulous time to visit Goat Lake with the number of travelers materially reduced.
For this photo-shoot I took a trip starting on the trail an hour prior to the light of day. After spending the night, I left the lake mid-morning. In short, I spent over 24 hours photographing Goat Lake.
I decided to capture my first images starting at the Goat Falls Overlook on the Alpine Way Trail.

The photo-shoot
Goat Falls at Dawn

Goat Falls at Dawn from the Goat Falls Overlook © Jeffrey H. Lubeck | MESH Art LLC. – all rights reserved.
At dawn the light on the rock walls is almost blindingly orange\red. The coloring as the sun rises above the horizon changes quickly. However the look is accurate and common for almost all of the Sawtooth’s at Dawn.
For perspective, I captured the image below from the same spot a few days earlier at Noon. The difference in light and color between Dawn and Noon is remarkable. The color of the rocks and the various shades of green are are a good example of how they look in early July at Noon.

Goat Falls on Fourth of July Holiday © Jeffrey H. Lubeck | MESH Art LLC. – all rights reserved.

Goat Creek crossing on Alpine Way Near Goat Falls Overlook.

The trail on the Alpine Way

The Alpine Way effectively acts as the border into the Sawtooth Wilderness from the Sawtooth National Forest. Count on working around on downed logs.

Indian Paintbrush

Williams Peak, The Goat Creek Basin, The Garbage Can and the Garbage Chute.
Fun in Winter
A fun winter-time adventure is to scale Williams Peak (10,636 ft.) or Thompson Peak (10,715 ft.), or the saddle in between them (10,020 ft.) and ski the Goat Creek Basin down through the Garbage Can. After a 900 vertical ft. ascent, you can continue the trip down. Your next task is skiing down the Garbage Chute into Goat Creek meadow.
Caltopo Backcountry relief maps indicate the Chute is about a 400 vertical of drop with much of the angle being 40-50+ degrees. There are a few spots that the maps suggest’s 60+ degrees.
A Post about The Garbage Chute is located [here].
The drop of the entire trip is about 4,600 vertical feet of skiing.
Note: The waterfall to the right of the Garbage Chute is pretty. However, it is not Goat Falls. Goat Falls is to the right and out of the picture.

Up the creek bed at the start of the sand|scree.

Approaching the top waterfalls on the sand|scree creek bed.

Looking down the creek bed from the waterfall and boulders.

Lunch Spot on Goat Lake © Jeffrey H. Lubeck | MESH Art LLC – all rights reserved.

My campsite at Goat Lake.

Late in the Day on Goat Lake © Jeffrey H. Lubeck – MESH Art LLC. – all rights reserved.

Civil End of Day.

Civil Start of Day.

Dawn on Goat Lake © Copyright Jeffrey H. Lubeck | MESH Art LLC – all rights reserved.

Sunrise on Goat Lake © Jeffrey H. Lubeck – MESH Art LLC – all rights reserved.
*** Jeff’s Thoughts and Other Worthless Trivia ***
Research & Map of Photo-shoot
If you want to hike to Goat Lake and are not familiar with it, I strongly encourage performing your own research and drawing you own conclusion on how it should be done.
The map I have provided should only be used for context as it relates to this Post, and not as a usable guide.
Campsite
If you noticed the dark clouds in the photo of my tent and campsite, you are a good observer. As happens often in the Idaho Mountains, late afternoon Thunderheads with not much rain came through just before dinner time.
However, a bigger event presented itself after dark. A violent windstorm barreled through the lake area for about 30-60 minutes. The wind was as intense as I have experienced in 45 years of backcountry travel. My tent held, bent and did not break. I was not harmed. However, the wind was so strong my tent at times would bend completely to one side collapsing onto me in my sleeping bag for anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds at a time. Then the tent would return to normal. It was roller-coaster ride I did not expect.