Gothic Basin — Saturday, Sep. 6, 2025

Showed up to the trailhead around noon on a Saturday. I had to park quite a way away off to the side of the road. Very busy. Road to the trailhead is all paved. The first half of the hike is through a shaded forest with plenty of switchbacks but I found them mostly moderate in grade. After you pass the waterfall, the grade increases. What made the trail difficult was going over all the rock in the last couple miles. The grade is very steep in sections and you need to watch your footing. Bring trekking poles. This hike is perfect for a weekend overnight. 4 hours at the most (with breaks) to make it to Foggy Lake. Only a couple hours to get back to my car the next morning. It was clear when I was there in the afternoon then started to get foggy in the evening. The wind picked up at night. Woke up at 6am and made coffee and the fog started moving in fast over the lake which looked very dramatic. The entire hike back to the car was through fog. Even though it was pretty busy with a lot of people camping, I would do it again. Nice trip. There are trails up to a couple peaks that I think are worth checking out. Many people at the lake were going but I decided to hunker down.