I seem to be asking why, a lot more as I get older. I have hiked Goodykoontz from Williamson as well as from the north ridge off the Burkhart trail. My question when hiking it up the north ridge was why, as the west ridge clearly meets the trail a good mile earlier. Today I answered that why by ascending the west ridge to Bobcat Knoll. the ridge is very prominent and is the first significant one you hike around after leaving the Rattlesnake/Burkhart trail merge. I looped around to the other side and there is a nice drainage that allows you to access the ridge. From here it is pretty steep climbing with manzanita being your main problem. Animal trails quite often help you get around it but sometimes it is unavoidable and you do have to bushwhack. Other sections it is best to bail off the ridge to the south and sidehill a bit. The final obstacle is a large rock outcropping on a steep section blocking the ridge. Fortunately you can slip along the north side of it and circle around and then make a short scramble back to the ridge. From here the ridge continues for a bit, mainly level with some more manzanita to mess with. Then voila you are at Bobcat and connected to the main route.
The day was hot and the way up the remainder of this ridge is quite steep but not too long. A final bump gets you on the Goodykoontz ridge and stay to the west side as you ascend the final 100 or so feet to the summit. The register is not that old starting in 2015 and is mainly hiked by HPSers. The temp on top was 85 and I nixed the idea of a loop over to Pallett and instead took the standard route down and connected with the trail.
Every time I hike this trail I meet a hiker who has passed Cooper Canyon Falls and asks me if they have and how to get to it. Sure enough the same thing happened on the way out and on the way back I stopped someone right before they passed it. The filthy casual hikers, got to love them. The remainder of the hike up was unpleasant with the heat but I made my way up slowly and was overall happy with my performance as I've only done a short training hike since Ross. Anyway west route for me is a go for future hikes, with pants I would've been fine.
Goodykoontz Peak
Thanks. I wondered about that west ridge portion below Bobcat when I went up from the SW. It looked very brushy. Now that the SW ridge is closed again, I might have to give the West a try next time.
