Gothic Basin — Monday, Oct. 8, 2012

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

I opted to tackle the trek up to Gothic Basin this day, after hiking down from an overnight atop Pilchuck – see that trip report for a beautiful photo of the moon & aurora over the North Cascades. I had never done this hike before, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Many rate this trail as difficult, and I would say that is appropriate. My goal was to get up to Foggy Lake, and sit down to have an early dinner / late lunch, but since I didn't set out on the trail until a little after noon, I didn't get to the Basin until something like 4:30 in the afternoon – I don't hike terribly fast, and I stop to shoot a lot of photos & video along the way. By the time I cooked a bit of food & scarfed it down, daylight was becoming scarce, and it would have been even more so if I climbed the rest of the way to Foggy, so that was scratched off the list for this day's hike. There was enough daylight to let me get down the more difficult part of the trail, but the headlamp was needed once I hit the thick trees about half way back. Nevertheless, the trek up Weeden Creek Trail to the Basin is still pretty damn amazing, and I highly recommend it to others who want some great views, and are okay with a bit of a workout. I can easily see this being a difficult trail to do when there is snow on it. As this was just about the last weekend of a long & dry summer, there was no snow to be found anywhere near the trail on this trip.