Gothic Basin — Sunday, Oct. 26, 2003

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

Looking for a weather ""window"" my hiking pal, Dangerous Dean, and I head off for the Mountain Loop before dawn on a foggy Monday. The road to Barlow Pass is down to one lane in several areas and there is too much evidence of last week's flooding everywhere. There were four vehicles parked at the ever-popular Monte Cristo trailhead in spite of the glowering sky. We covered the rocky trail to the basin in a little under three hours and rested at Foggy Lake. After a hasty lunch dodging the wind and drizzle we packed up and beat our retreat over the granite and down the steep boulder strewn trail. We were thankful for our light weight daypacks because the rain slickened rocks and roots required a nimble gate on our descent back to the river.