Gothic Basin — Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021

Wow. Wowowow. If you’re concerned about the scrambling, it might help you to know that I’m a 5 foot 1 inch clumsy person who gets nervous about these things, and I did just fine. I feel like I didn’t fully enjoy the hike because I was so nervous about coming back down, but it was perfectly fine, so don’t fret. I just scooted down on my butt when I needed to. I had more near falls on the ball bearing rocks in the forested section. Just bring your trekking poles and wear comfy pants. Pants with a good strong crotch, because mine ripped at some point on the way up. Whoops.

It helps to have a map if you want to go to Foggy Lake. The cairns aren’t really all that helpful in my opinion. Even with a map, I ended up accidentally following some social trails that just petered out. If this happens to you, please don’t step on vegetation. Either step on rocks to get to the actual trail, or turn around and find a different path. The meadows in these places are very fragile, and if you walk on this grass you will kill it, leaving an ever widening muddy mess. It’s already happening at Gothic Lake, see photo, and is true of any alpine/subalpine lake or meadow.

I arrived at 10:30 on a nice Wednesday, and while roadside parking was full, there were plenty of spaces at the Barlow Pass lot, plus the bathroom was stocked and relatively clean. Though the trail didn’t feel too crowded, there were plenty of people coming down from spending the night, as well as some day hikers. As far as I could tell, there was one pair and two individuals planning to spend the night on Wednesday.

I didn’t see this for myself, but I was told that the toilet in the basin is difficult to access, as though there used to be some stairs leading to it and now there aren’t, so plan accordingly.

I’m looking forward to coming back here to spend the night!