Gothic Basin — Friday, Nov. 22, 2002

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

we first stopped at the ranger station to check on conditions at elevation, and where told to expect a little snow on top. with that in mind, we left our snowshoes and crampons in the car. that was a mistake. at about 4000 feet the snow started to get deeper than we where led to believe,and in the afternoon where post holing in about 4 feet of snow. we decided to set up camp just below foggy lake at 4500 feet because the snow was to soft to proceed any further without snowshoes. the next morning after a hard night freeze we proceeded with our ice axes to make our way to foggy lake, with gothic peak and del campo towering over. it was a beatiful sight with the snow covering the mountains and the lake nearly frozen over. be prepared to have snowshoes,crampons, and ice axes depending on temp., also ice is prevailant on the trail in many areas below the snow level.