Foggy Lake - Foggy Pass — Washington Trails Association

Gothic Basin - Monte Cristo, Foggy Lake - Foggy Pass — Jul 17, 2011 — DogCoPilot

Day hike

Features: Wildflowers blooming

Issues: Blowdowns | Mudholes | Water on trail | Snow on trail

We started out relatively late, and arrived at the trailhead at 1130. We had dogs, and kept them on leash...

We started out relatively late, and arrived at the trailhead at 1130. We had dogs, and kept them on leash during the beginning mile to keep them away from other hikers, but other than a trail runner, we didnt meet any other hikers until halfway up the mountain, and there was only 1 person. The trail starts out fairly flat but climbs swiftly after the first mile, and switchbacks (what seemed like to me forever). After probably 2 1/2 miles of steep switchbacks, it flattens out a little and you have watch your step on loose rocks and cross a couple creeks. Some of the creeks you cross still have snow pack, and ou have to cross over it to get to the trail. We were very careful. The few miles we decided to go straight up a couple snow fields. We had ice picks, and definitely got good use out of them. So we did not stick to the trail, but there was no real discernible trail in the snow. We spotted Del Campo and aimed for that. One of the more experienced hikers with us had done this hike 2 other times previously when the snow had been melted. This season its just not melting fast enough. We reached the basin/lake at about 300 I believe, and we glacaded down, after eating and getting pics of the still snow-covered lake. We made good time coming down the mountain and arrived back at the trailhead around 520.

Dogs were exhausted.

The rain started pouring so we got real lucky.

None of us used gaiters. But ice pick is necessary.

I will definitely be hiking this again as soon as the snow melts, so that I have more of an opportunity to hike around the lake and possibly scramble Del Campo (it looks awesome.

Read full report

Gothic Basin - Monte Cristo, Foggy Lake - Foggy Pass — Sep 04, 2010 — Bill DeGroodt

Day hike

Issues: Blowdowns | Bridge out

Expand report text Hide report text

Enjoyed this real workout day hike in cool weather. I'll not go over the basics of this really great hike...

Enjoyed this real workout day hike in cool weather. I'll not go over the basics of this really great hike to Foggy Lake as others have done that. I thought I would add some information from my GPS. See the Hike Profile to get a feel for the steepness of the hike. It took 3.5 hours up to Foggy Lake and 3 hrs down. Don't let the distance lull you into thinking it is fast or easy. This is a real good workout with a very rewarding break at the top.

The lower part of the hike is in good condition, but the upper section before the basin is in bad shape.

Read full report with photos

Foggy Lake - Foggy Pass, Gothic Basin - Monte Cristo — Aug 12, 2010 — geezerhiker

Overnight

Features: Wildflowers blooming

Expand report text Hide report text

An improvement in the weather drew me to the mountains, where I was not disappointed. The trails to the...

An improvement in the weather drew me to the mountains, where I was not disappointed. The trails to the Lake and the Basin are demanding, but worth every step. The clouds teased at times, but moved away for outstanding views. There was only one family camping in the Basin with me, and the solitude was wonderful. The wildflowers are still awesome. The waterfall flows have decreased, but remain beautiful. I saw a Ptarmagin with three chicks, a Pika, and some frogs at the river crossing. The bugs were tolerable. Hiking out today I passed a parade of hikers on their way to the Basin. Good weather always bring us out!

Read full report with photos

Gothic Basin, Foggy Lake/Foggy Pass — Sep 20, 2009 — Riri

Day hike

Issues: Blowdowns | Mud/Rockslide | Water on trail

Expand report text Hide report text

This hike really beat me up although I'm not sure if it was due to two weeks of inactivity, my...

This hike really beat me up although I'm not sure if it was due to two weeks of inactivity, my general clumsiness, the trail conditions, or the fact that I ventured up to Foggy Pass via a very imprudent route. In any case, the trail features some giant, slippery, steep rocks that took me out 3-4 times on the way down, skinned my palms, scraped up my legs, and left me generally bruised and exhausted. Use caution and bring hiking poles! Those with limited range of motion and arthritis in their knees may find scrambling over the steep boulder portions on the upper trail very challenging.

The hike is only moderately strenuous until just before Gothic Basin, where ascending the upper trail becomes very hard work indeed. It takes just a little more effort to climb up to Foggy Lake via a somewhat indistinct trail that is marked with infrequent and inconspicuous little cairns. This is definitely worth doing though. If you want to continue on to Foggy Pass, don't do what I did, which was follow four hikers along the east (right-hand) shore of Foggy Lake. That way was absolutely treacherous, with sliding talus and shifting boulders, preceded by a lot of bush-whacking just to get to the talus field. My poor canine companion, Daphne, had to be carried over some of the larger boulders that were too far apart or too slanted for her to cross herself. The west shore (left side) is infinitely easier, though it still requires sure footing on spongy, moss-covered slabs, some of which are quite wet and slippery. There is no trail to the pass, so just stay mid-level along the west shore of the lake until you reach the snow fields. Poles are helpful on the snow field and a lonely cairn marks your arrival at the Pass. From here, one supposedly gets an impressive view of Morning Star Peak although today, Foggy Pass was, well...foggy.

Trail Notes: The walk (or bike) on the gated dirt road to Monte Cristo is blessedly short. There's a hiker's bypass just shy of the bridge, due to a past clay-slide that took out the road. A hiker's trail has been pounded through the clay-slide directly ahead, but I didn't chance it, heading up the bypass instead; it's short. Just past the Gothic Basin trail register, take the right-hand trail (do not follow the signs to Monte Cristo or the river crossing). Start an easy ascent through the forest, skirting around a mudslide you'll encounter about 40 minutes in (I'm basing these times on a moderately-slow pace). Shortly thereafter, you'll cross a creek and see a waterfall on your right. After this point, the trail starts to steeply climb, getting very steep about 75 minutes from the trailhead. Lots of blowdowns, one of which you'll have to crawl under. About 1 hr, 50 min into the hike (approx. 3738 ft elev.), the trail turns decidedly rootier and rockier. Sometimes you'll have to hoist yourself 2-3 ft up and over the tangled roots and large rocks that define the upper portion of the trail.

Sadly, the berries are all gone now. If you take your dog, make sure she/he is agile and sure-footed. There is plenty of water all along the trail, including several creeklets and a large cascade at 4045 ft. I didn't need to take any extra water along for Daphne, as there are several small pools for splashing in and once your reach the Basin, lots of little tarns.

To head up to Foggy Lake, stay on the main trail, angling northwest and passing between Gothic Peak on your left and Del Campo Peak on your right. En route, you'll pass two large tarns; neither of these is Foggy Lake. The lake, once you reach it, is surprisingly large and deep; there are some nice-sized trout swimming in its clear blue waters. At the north end of the lake, you'll see two large snow patches; the pass is just above.

DISTANCE TO/FROM GOTHIC BASIN: 9.4 miles
ADD'L DISTANCE TO FOGGY PASS: ? 0.7 miles
TIME IN TO GOTHIC BASIN: 3 hr
ADD'L TIME UP TO FOGGY PASS: 1 hr, 15 min (the hard way, following the east shore--not recommended)
TIME OUT FROM FOGGY LAKE: 3 hr
TOTAL ELEVATION: 2639 ft to the Basin (elev. 2361-5000 ft); add 250 feet to reach Foggy Lake (elev. 5250 ft) and another 250 ft to Foggy Pass (elev. 5500 ft)

Read full report with photos

Monte Cristo,Foggy Lake,Weden Creek #724,Gothic Basin #724 — Jul 26, 2008 — Scott&Lucy

Day hike

Issues: Blowdowns | Washouts | Snow on trail

Expand report text Hide report text

This was a spur of the moment hike when the weather was better than forecast. After being used to the...

This was a spur of the moment hike when the weather was better than forecast. After being used to the wilds of Eastern WA, the throngs at Barlow Pass were slightly offputting. Nevertheless we set off down the Monte Cristo road about 10.30 and got to the real trailhead about 30 minutes later. From there we only saw one person the whole way to Foggy Lake.

Lots of trees down on the ""flat"" section; almost so many that I was annoyed and thought about turning back. The steep steep section is in fairly good shape--a few places have deteriorated into loose rock.

It was a pleasure to get out of the dense trees around the 4500' mark. Lots of flowers to be seen, and the snow bridges seemed pretty solid when we crossed them. No idea how long they'll last. From here on up there are sections where the trail is hidden, so some route finding skills are probably a necessity for a couple more weeks.

We stopped for lunch at the flat section (5200') at 2.15 for about 30 minutes. From there the trail was completely hidden under snow, so we just followed a snowfield up, resorting to scrambling over some dry solid rocks when the snow got too tiring. Made Foggy Lake about 3.30 and had great fun watching various parties descend from both Del Campo & Gothic Peaks. The lake is still almost completely frozen over, and I didn't see any good campsites--not that I was really looking; we also didn't stop by the lower lakes. The weather started closing in, so we left about 4pm.

It took us about 15 minutes to get down to the spot where we had lunch (lots of fun glissading), then another couple of hours back to the car.

Lesson learned; this summer pack your ice axe and sunglasses in your pack regardless! I don't think we needed an ice axe where we ended up, but if we had wanted to scramble up the saddle to Gothic Peak, or over to Foggy Pass, it would have been a necessity.

Read full report with photos

Gothic Basin Foggy, Lake #724 — Oct 09, 2005 — Slugman

Day hike

Expand report text Hide report text

I picked up Yetiman in Everett and we took our mountain bikes up the mountain loop hiway past Granite...

I picked up Yetiman in Everett and we took our mountain bikes up the mountain loop hiway past Granite Falls to Barlow pass, arriving there just before 9 am. I left Daisy home for this one.

A quick roll down to the trailhead just before the bridge over the river, and we were on our way up the Weden creek trail. It starts out fairly flat and just parallels the river, then starts heading steeply up and begins switchbacking. I had to take it pretty slowly as the humidity was very high and the breeze was slack. Eventually we broke out of the trees and came to a small waterfall in an open area, the first of several. The trail started to get rougher and rockier, but also much more scenic. I really liked how there were plenty of things to see along the whole trail's length, not just at the end. We saw: giant trees, moss gardens, rocky waterfalls, deep valleys, surrounding peaks dusted with new snow, and some fall colors.

Then the fun begins, as the trail starts up a rocky gully with many scrambly places. Each time we came to a really tough-looking spot, we found a decent way up using cracks in the rock and/or veggie belays. None of them were as bad as they first looked, but were still an impediment. After that section is some more plain-old steep and rocky trail, and then we reached heaven.

At the first entry into Gothic basin we were entranced. Polished granite slabs were everywhere in all directions. Small reflecting pools made for some great pictures, and there was plenty to explore. After a lunchbreak, one of about five ""lunches"" we ate that day, we headed to the left off the trail into the basin and got a nice look down on emerald Weden lake nestled in it's rocky cleft, thousands of feet deep. Nice camps over thataway. Then we checked out the waterfall running through a deep rocky gorge over there. Next it was up and over a series of rocky high points to Foggy lake. It just kept getting better and better.

We sat for a while, maybe an hour, on a high point overlooking the lake and part of Gothic basin, and partook of some hot buttered rum, not from a thermos but made fresh using my campstove. We needed it, for the weather, while mostly pretty nice, was occasionally misty, windy and brisk. We bundled up pretty good during the rest breaks. But then the sun would come out, and it would OK again.

At 6 pm, after five hours of delightful surroundings and explorations in the basin, we bailed down the trail, so that the tough parts would be done in the fading daylight. By 7 pm were on the traversing section safe and sound, so we took a break to let it get nice and dark for the headlamps. We got back to the bikes at 8:30 and made quick work of the mile back to the car. I've always avoided this hike due to the toughness factor, and it was pretty tough, around 8 miles of hiking (plus 2 of biking) and my estimate of 3,400 ft gain/loss round trip plus explorations. But the rewards far outweighed the effort.

Read full report with photos

Personal tools

Sections

Foggy Lake - Foggy Pass

Recent Trip Reports

Document Actions