Goat Island Peak, Peak 1190 " The Muppet"

 Goat Island Peak - 1314M

1264M Prominence

50.06455, -124.39669 

May 24, 2025

Peak 1190 "The Muppet" - 1190M

610M Prominence

50.04415, -124.43961

May 24, 2025

10 H 20M C2C, 9H 35M Moving 

31 KM total, 8KM paddle, 

1940M Elevation Gain

Goat island has interested me since I was a child. Something about such a huge island sitting right in the middle of a lake made me want to explore it for many years now. It has taken me far too long to make that a reality, but I finally did it, in style too. To approach the island we drove down East Haslam main, and parked the trucks as close to Fiddlehead hut as we could drive. Fiddlehead hut is one of the huts on the Sunshine Coast trail, and the area is steeped in history. At 7 AM we got moving. For the day I was accompanied by Tyler and two of his friends. After portaging the two boats 900 meters from where we parked the trucks down to the water, the three of them got set up in the canoe, and I loaded up my sea kayak. We began paddling at 7:20 AM, and after a straight shot across Powell lake, we were ashore at the base of Cassiar Falls by 8 AM. At the base of the East side of the river is a trail, admittedly quite overgrown, but still noticeable. We began to bushwhack our way up the trail, paying close attention to following the trail. For the most part the four of us were able to keep track of it, but about two thirds of the way up a section of mossy rocks broke up the forest and maintaining trail was impossible. After this section we continued through the forest a little while longer, and then we were on the logging road. The logging road was fully operational, so the trek was easy cruising for the next few kilometers. After cruising down the road, we arrived at the part of the trip where we would have to start making our way up the gulley, we poked around for a minute trying to find the path of least resistance, and then finally opted to dive into the bush on the right hand side of the creek, right where a "danger, rock fall" sign was installed. From this point we continued up the relatively steep forest with minimal bush until the terrain inevitably funneled us into the creek bed that we looked at from down on the road. This creek was set into a gully with increasingly tall walls on either side, so we were stuck in the gully for the next 400 meters or so of elevation gain. Thankfully the gully was quite straight forward, although increasingly bushy. About two thirds up I guided us into a slight detour on the left of the gully to scramble over the rock and avoid the most vegetated section of the gully. This was probably unnecessary, and soon enough we were back in the gully in the upper reaches of it. There were a few scrambly moves up near the top, and then some horizontally growing trees to detour around. After these hurdles we were at the col between the main summit and a smaller bump to the South, and from this point the bush had receded and we were able to complete some simple hiking on solid rock up to the summit. The snow was nearly entirely gone aside from a few small patches on the summit. We dropped our packs and took a good long break and enjoyed the views of the Rainbow Range and beyond while we ate lunch. The vantage point from Goat Island Peak offers a unique vantage point to look at the Qathet peaks, which was new to me. Once we all agreed that it was getting a little chilly due to the wind, we began to make our way back down. Just as we were reaching the col again, Tyler's dream came true and we managed to see two mountain goats on the south bump. It was a fantastic experience, and now the island really has lived up to it's name and expectations for me. The descent was the same as the way up down to the road, but instead of bypassing the more bushy section, we just plowed our way through it, trying to seek out any little bit of rock we could find on the way down. Near the bottom of the gully I split up with the crew and kept going at my own pace as they made their way back to the Canoe to head home. They had an event that night, and I wanted to try and bag the other main peak on Goat Island, since I was already there. Just a few days before this adventure I had calculated it's prominence at just over 600 meters, which I was unaware that it was so prominent. The route to "The Muppet" as it is called on Bivouac.com started with making my way back South down the logging road to the yellow bridge where we had emerged from the trail this morning. From this point I crossed the bridge and began to follow the maze of logging roads that were on my Gaia base map. I had no idea if this would go or not, and I had done no research at all before attempting it. The worse that could happen was I would get shut out by densely bushy logging roads. The roads started off clear, but eventually the roads became covered with about 15 years of slash alder. This didn't really bother me, as the ground was still flat and I just swam my way through it. 200 Meters shy of the top the maze of logging roads stopped and I was forced to crawl into the forest, this was kind of a blessing though as it was easier travelling than the logging roads for the most part. I looked at my topo map and considered for a minute to traverse over to the North side of the mountain since it was slightly less steep, but after seeing the South East side of the mountain from the end of the road, I took my chances with it. It turned out to be an enjoyable class 3 scramble with a little help from the bushes up to the summit.  At 2:40 I was on the summit, which did offer good views, albeit similar to the ones on Goat Island Peak, as one would expect. I didn't linger around though, and quickly made my way back down, as the lake waters on Powell Lake usually get a bit more rough in the late afternoon. I cruised down the logging roads I climbed on the way up all the way to the yellow bridge, then down the overgrown trail back to the kayak. I made it back to the kayak after descending 1150 meters of elevation in an hour and 45 minutes. I then loaded up the kayak and paddled back to Fiddlehead hut, where a Sunshine Coast Trail hiker staying at the hut graciously helped me portage my kayak most of the way back to the truck. 

The Kayak is as long as my truck

Launching at Fiddlehead Hut, Peak 1190 on the left, Goat Island Peak center

Calm morning waters

Working our way through the trail

Up on the logging road after the trail, with a first good view of the main
objective

Soon after entering the gully

The gully got bushy

And then bushier...

The boys working their way up the upper reaches of the gully

Nearing the summit. Pointy peak in background is Beartooth, range in foreground is Rainbow range

Relaxing on the summit

Working our way back down into the gully

Some scrambly bits in the gully

Views of objective #2 moments before diving into the bush

Me on top of the Muppet

Looking back at Goat Island Peak from on the descent from the Muppet

Route