Gothic Basin — Friday, Sep. 25, 1998

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

This was my first time hiking to Gothic Basin, a trail I had avoided previously because it sounded so rough in hiking book descriptions. However, the trail has received quite a bit of attention recently, and although it still needs some work, I understand it's much better than it used to be. My hiking buddy and I found it to be a moderately strenous, but not technically difficult, hike. Be warned though--it's surprisingly steep in sections, and in other parts exceedingly muddy. The beginning is flat and easy since you're on the Monte Cristo road for a while. When you get to the bridge, don't cross it, but instead turn off to the right to the trail marked ""Weden Creek"" with a subtitle of ""Gothic Basin 3."" The trail is mostly flat and very muddy for the next mile or so. After a creek crossing, the way steepens considerably, but also becomes much less muddy. The trail goes through some lovely forest, and progresses up some incredibly steep switchbacks to a clearing with a water crossing. From here the trail traverses a subalpine hillside, staying just under the ridge, and the terrain changes from a mostly flat dirt trail to a rocky, root covered trail. It continues up over rocks and roots steeply for a couple of miles, slow going, but the views of the peaks across the valley were getting better the higher we went. Finally the trail curls over the edge of the ridge into Gothic Basin, and fabulous scenery. Next time I do this trail, I'm going to make it a 3-day backpack. We just didn't have enough time to explore the basin and all its offerings. What we did see was beautiful: huge mounds of polished rocks to scramble over, lakes, ponds, small trickling streams, a nice double waterfall, and Weden Lake, far down in the basin below. Not to mention the surrounding peaks and passes, some of which looked like easy scrambles from the basin. This is a great hike for anyone who enjoys doing some scrambling around and exploring when they reach their hiking destination. To the folks working on the trail maintenance and rebuilding, great work on a tough project!