[Bloated Chipmunk]

A couple wks. ago a friend of Marmot & Pika's invited a bunch of us for an overnighter to Gothic Basin. I agreed to come if the weather wasn't too bad. In the end it just wound up being the 4 of us -- MM, Marmot, Pika, & yours truly. I had been here once before in October '07 & remembered that it was a pretty nice place so didn't mind coming back. Plus, I figured we might tag Gothic Peak *if* it wasn't stuck up in the clouds. MM & I met Marmot & Pika @ the TH ~ 9:30. It was totally packed -- LOTS more cars than I remember from '07. It was disappointing, but I hoped most of the people were either day hikers or going to Monte Cristo / Glacier Basin instead. I guess I've gotten used to doing the non-crowded lesser-known trails so when I do something more popular I'm a bit taken aback. Oh well, that's how it goes. We even spotted Trailblazing Todd's car @ the TH. M & P said he was heading up to the Silver Lk. / Twin Lks. area. We wrote a msg. in the dirt on his trunk. Looking forward to his TR. The trail starts @ Barlow Pass along the old washed out rd. to Monte Cristo. There is a sign for Gothic Basin by a stinky portapisser but curiously it is not right @ the junction. Instead the junction is a little further up & the sign encourages people to go left for "trails" & cross the river. Go right here instead, staying on the west side of the river. The trail begins as a pleasant walk thru the forest on a gentle grade.

MM, Pika, & Marmot @ the TH

TH sign

Resist the urge to go left

Easy beginning part of the trail

After a bit the trail steepens considerably as it switchbacks up the slope. Eventually it busts out of the bigger trees & gives views toward the east. There are a few minor creek crossings & little falls. I kinda tweaked my ankle while crossing one of the creeks, similar to what I did on Miller Pk. 2 yrs. ago, this time the other foot.

Views along the way

Waterfall & pk.

Pks. across the way

Stream crossing

Waterfall

Pks. across the way

Eventually the trail turns pretty rocky & there are some awkward moves up big rocks....especially if you're carrying o/n packs like we were.

Marmot & Pika coming up one of the steep rocky sections

Little pond

Reflection

Pks. across the way

Falls

Pk. to the north

Flowers

Hangin' out in the clouds

After clambering up the rocky trail for awhile, the incline eased & we rounded the ridge into the picturesque Gothic Basin. It was as I remembered, but w/o the fall color this time.

Entering Gothic Basin

GB

GB

We continued on up to Foggy Lk. in search of a suitable campsite, being careful to choose an area where we could avoid both wetness, slopes, & heather as much as possible. Finally we found a couple of semi-dry dirt patches in between the heather.

Looking back down @ one of the tarns

Heading up toward Foggy Lk.

Marmot coming up

Gateway

Del Campo

Lk. outlet

Lk. outlet

Foggy Lk. & Del Campo above

Foggy Lk.

Foggy Lk.

Gothic Pk.

Funky rock

Flowers & rock

View eastish from camp

Marmot takes in the views

Del Campo as seen from camp

Camp

Tarn below

We relaxed for awhile @ camp, keeping an eye on Gothic Pk. The summit stayed in the clouds most of the time, so we had no desire to go up it & figured we'd see how it looked the next day. We had dinner & then walked down to the lk. outlet to filter water. While we were there, we saw some nice colors on the clouds from the setting sun.

Dinnertime

Camp

Going down to filter water

Lk. outlet

Late afternoon sun on the clouds

Bright clouds

Marmot capturing the moment

Orange & pink clouds

Marmot capturing the moment

We chatted for awhile as the skies darkened, gazing @ the stars above. Eventually everyone was pretty cold despite down jackets & long undies, so we turned in for the night. In the morning, we awoke to clouds. Gothic Pk. was still hiding itself quite well & only every now & then would we get a quick glimpse @ its summit. Nevertheless, we decided to walk up the ridge a ways after b'fast to see if it cleared up along the way.

Morning camp

Patch of blue

Gothic Pk. in & out of the clouds

Gothic Pk.

Foggy Lk. lives up to its name

Hikers in the Mist

Unfortunately it was looking like GP would be in the clouds all day & we felt it silly to go to the top of a pk. just to see the inside of a cloud so we called it good around the snowfields & had some fun glissading. Unfortunately I think MM lost his walkie-talkie on his glissade (& didn't realize this 'til much later). So if anyone is going up Gothic Pk. soon, pls. keep an eye out for a walkie-talkie somewhere on the snowfield on GP's east side.

Gothic Pk. in the fog

MM on the talus slope

Looking down @ some of the snow slopes

Snow slope & tarn

We headed back down to Foggy Lk., which by no surprise was foggy most of the time too.

Foggy Lk.

Foggy Lk.

Marmot & Pika heading down toward Foggy Lk.

Back @ camp we had a snack & then packed up to leave. On the way we went to the overlook for Weden Lk., but as we looked down it was mostly obscured by vegetation & clouds. Sweet campsite in that area though. The hike out was tedious on the rocks, but eventually gave way to the smoother forested trail. Along the way we happened upon a ripening patch of berries, too.

Leaving GB

Blooming heather

Yellow flowers

MM picking berries

Back @ the TH there were still lots of cars, but nothing like the madhouse we witnessed on Sat. morning. The trip concluded w/a stop for Mexican in Granite Falls where I sprung for the grande Cadillac, of course. Big thanks to Marmot & Pika for such a fun trip & great company!

[Dr. Greenthumb]

Thanks for the nice trip report. The pictures are great. I especially like the picture at night with the bright clouds. I was up at Glacier Basin this past weekend and got caught in some hail. We were lucky to find a nice cave like rock to sit under for a while. I love that area. Is it easy to find the route to Foggy lake from the basin?

[Bloated Chipmunk]

Yeah, just kinda turn right/westish & follow the cairns up through a little shallow gully/crack, keeping Gothic Pk. & Del Campo more or less straight ahead. You'll pop over the top of some big bedrocks & see Foggy Lk.

[Trailblazing Todd]

[MountainMan]

My Gothic Basin pics: Starting off:

If they think this is bad, I wonder what they think of the trail higher up?

On the way up:

Pika:

Gothic Basin:

Sunset:

Morning:

Gothic Peak in the Fog:

Foggy lake:

On the way down:

Poop bag for The Angry Hiker:

Maybe it was from this poodle?

[half fast]

Nice TR... I really like GB and FL. It is a great hike and yes it can get a bit dicey on a couple of the rocky sections but it is worth the effort for sure !! Wonderful photos too !! Thanks for sharing ...

[polycarp808]

wow, those sunset pics look amazing.

[Dr. Greenthumb]

That place is incredible! It reminds me of the enchantments with the fantastic reflections that you can get with high lakes and mountains. The colors of the clouds in the suset are so beautiful. I really like how you used the mountain in the corner with its cloud like edges to contrast and mimic the clouds. I also think that the picture of the bright cloud reflecting into the dark landscape is a mind blower! Very inspirational, I hope to get there as soon as I can. Thanks!

[bertman]

Those are some really nice sunset photos. Well done. Bertman PS. I had to look this up but technically speaking pikas are related to rabbits so they are not rodents, but the TR title is better this way.