Decided to hike gothic basin this time. It was a very very hot day. I wanted to start early to avoid the heat, but ended up around 11 AM at the fully packed trailhead. Inspite of so many cars, i would have just seen around 10-20 hikers the whole day.
This trail is definitely a challenging one after the initial 1.5 miles. Its very steep for about a mile. Then it becomes very very rocky. To add to the fun are many snow gullies which need to be crossed very carefully. Saw a few moats and saw that every hiker was sensible to not cross it but instead work around it. There were many steep crossings in snow. Hiking poles or axe definitely a good thing to have.
The conditons are still very snowy in the basin. Its almost september but conditions looked like mid of july last year. In fact even last year's snow-pack had a very late melt, so this time its really crazy snow.
The basin was absolutely gorgeous. It was covered entirely in snow. The first pond looked awesome. Took the trail to foggy lake. As expected, the lake was completely frozen, and gothic peak was looking awesome. Not many bugs in the basin, but there were a few in the lower elevations.
With a little bit of caution crossing the snow gullies, this is a great time to do the hike. The basin looks awesome and the foggy lake is strikingly beautiful.
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