This is a new area for me. Plenty of western larches. You can see them even along Hwy-410 (elevation just above 3000').
Instead of in and out, we did a loop with Pleasant Valley trail. So total maybe 9 miles. Both trails going up to Goat Peak are relatively steep: 1000' in 1 mile. There are quite a few easy scrambles next to the trail. Quite fun to explore.
Trail condition: very good. Only a small section of Goat Peak's west ridge, before connecting to the Pleasant Valley trail was faint. According to the map, there were 2 options. Somehow we didn't notice the longer zigzag option (0.7 mile), instead, more or less went do the 0.3 mile option, which gets fainter the lower it went.
Photos: 1-3 the short scrambles.
4) summit view to the south.
5) American River.