Goat Mountain Lookout P300

Continued...

The last day of a three day roadtrip to the Sierra foothills was a bit of a dud. While I did manage to visit one summit on my agenda, three others were foiled by locked gates and private property issues. I had spent the night camped at Teaford Saddle above Bass Lake in Madera County, close to the starting point for Goat Mountain and Goat Mtn Lookout. I had visited the higher Goat Mountain when I was in this part of Gold Country panning for P1Ks. It turns out that the SE end of the summit ridge sports more than 300ft of prominence and has an old USFS lookout that would have been reason enough to visit. A decent Forest road climbs from Teaford Saddle to the lookout, but it is gated near the saddle, leaving one to walk about 2.5mi each way. Even if the gate had been unlocked, downfall about 100yds up the road would have prevented much further driving. The cloud cover from the previous day had only grown thicker overnight, leaving a 40% chance of light rain this morning. None fell during the two hour hike, but the cloud level was low enough to leave the summit without views. The hike is fairly casual, gaining about 1,000ft over the course of several miles. I found the lookout abandoned, the observation deck above locked from below. From what I could see, it was missing most of the windows, the interior left to the elements. Even the microwave relay antennae attached to it looked weathered. I was done with this shortly after 9:30a, but it was the only summit I would reach today. I made efforts to visit Smiley Mtn, Fish Creek Mtn, and Mercer Mtn, all along my way back out of the foothills, but they came to naught for one reason or another. More research may be needed to access these...

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