Showed up to the trailhead around noon on a Saturday. I had to park quite a way away off to the side of the road. Very busy. Road to the trailhead is all paved. The first half of the hike is through a shaded forest with plenty of switchbacks but I found them mostly moderate in grade. After you pass the waterfall, the grade increases. What made the trail difficult was going over all the rock in the last couple miles. The grade is very steep in sections and you need to watch your footing. Bring trekking poles. This hike is perfect for a weekend overnight. 4 hours at the most (with breaks) to make it to Foggy Lake. Only a couple hours to get back to my car the next morning. It was clear when I was there in the afternoon then started to get foggy in the evening. The wind picked up at night. Woke up at 6am and made coffee and the fog started moving in fast over the lake which looked very dramatic. The entire hike back to the car was through fog. Even though it was pretty busy with a lot of people camping, I would do it again. Nice trip. There are trails up to a couple peaks that I think are worth checking out. Many people at the lake were going but I decided to hunker down.

I've been wanting to do Gothic Basin for a while but I usually only get weekends off. I was lucky to have a weekday off this week so my friend and I decided to venture out to this popular area for an overnight trip.

Road to the TH

No forest road at all. You can either park at the Barlow Pass trailhead or the small lot next to the actual trail that leads you to Monte Cristo/Gothic Basin. I opted to park at the Barlow Pass TH because there was shade. I was thankful because my car wasn't overheating when I got back Wednesday night. There is a pit toilet and picnic table here. Toilet was stocked with TP.

Trail

Yeah, this was a hard hike. I've been hiking more this year but this one still kicked me in the butt. The first 1.4 miles until Weeden Creek was easy. A little bit of up and down. Then the last 3 miles up to the basin were absolutely brutal for me. My dog had a lot of fun though. We saw a DNR trail crew working on adding more steps to the slabby portion of the trail. Thanks for all the hard work!

When it's dry, it's totally doable. But when it's wet or early season, I could see this being tricky. There were a few spots to take a long break along the trail. First being Weeden Creek, second being another creek once the trail begins to open up and the third being the waterfall. I was thankful for all these spots to fill up water because both Tuesday and Wednesday were hot and humid. And of course, my dog appreciated it too.

Camping & Toilets

We went on a Tuesday night and I suppose this is considered later in the season. We didn't see anyone else camp in the basin itself and assumed everyone was probably at Foggy Lake. There were many campsites available but I'm sure they fill out on the weekends.

There were ponds and pockets of water in the basin but nothing was flowing. More streams were available at Foggy Lake. DNR must be really working on maintaining this area - there were flags for the various campsites and even flags to mark the trail up to Foggy Lake and yet, we saw a few day hikers the next day seemingly confused about where to go. 

There are two toilets at Gothic Basin now. There were no signs but one of them is clearly marked on the maps. The first toilet is to the left right when you enter Gothic Basin. There's a campsite numbered Campsite #1 - you take a left and continue on. It's huge so it's hard to miss. The second toilet is further along a trail towards Foggy Lake. Here are the coordinates for it: 47.97950, -121.46251. See the toilets? Use them. I've seen trip reports where this has become a problem at Gothic Basin. These toilets have great views and seem to be so much cleaner! There is a vent for better ventilation.

We day hiked up to Foggy Lake the next day. We followed the official marked trail up. We went further up towards Del Campo and found more water and views. We turned around and took the other way back to camp. This trail was also marked on the maps and if you take this route, you will see the second toilet.

Overall, other trip reports covered everything! All I wanted to really say is use the toilets. Might take a bit of work to find them but it's better than digging a hole! So much more comfortable really. And coming here on a Tuesday/Wednesday was definitely the way to go!

Trailhead:
Arrived at the trailhead around 7:45 the morning of Saturday 8/30 to begin an overnight backpacking trip. The trailhead itself is small and was full by the time we got there. We parked along the road not too far away.

Hiking up:
The hike up starts flat for the first couple of miles, and then begins to sharply ascend shortly after crossing a stream. Once reaching the ascent, the trail (which was mostly dirt and loose rock) switchbacks through the forest. A while later the trail becomes a bit more rocky, but still climbs through patches of trees and the occasional exposed section. Only in the last 0.75 miles did the trail begin to feel more exposed. With our overnight packs it was slow going. With plenty of breaks for rest, water and snacks, it took us approximately 5 hours to reach Foggy lake. We found trekking poles to be helpful on the way up.

Backpacking sites:
With it being a beautiful Labor Day weekend, we were fully expecting the area to be packed with overnighters (and it was!) On our way up we chatted with a few folks returning from their overnight trips who mentioned that quite a few backpacking groups had set out and arrived very early in the morning. Sure enough, when we arrived at Foggy Lake around 1:30pm, nearly all of the established campsites around the lake were already claimed. Though all of the sites to the right of the main trail were taken, we were still able to snag one up on a small ridge to the left of the main trail. There were still plenty of established sites available in the lower area of Gothic Basin.

Hiking down:
We left Gothic Basin around 9:30am and made it back to the trailhead around 1pm (around 3.5 hours), with only a few short breaks. There are plenty of opportunities to slip, trip or fall on the steep trail heading downward, so consider building in time to take it slow if needed. Trekking poles were yet again helpful. We only passed ~6-8 groups of backpackers heading up, so it seems as though Sunday night may have been slightly less busy than Saturday night despite the holiday weekend.

A friend and I camped in one of the dispersed campsites north of the trailhead on Saturday night, and made it to the trailhead around 9am. Lots of cars already there, but we found a spot and headed in.

This hike was gorgeous and brutal, and I probably don’t need to repeat the experience but I’m glad I did it! I brought my adventure dog Douglas, who navigated the rocky climbs surprisingly well on our way to Foggy Lake. Once we made it to the lake he was intent upon swimming, but his level of fatigue made me worry he wouldn’t be able to keep his head above water for long. Luckily he has good recall. 😅

I’d say if you’re looking for a day hike similar to Mount Si, reconsider this one - in my opinion it was much more strenuous and you need to keep your eyes on the trail almost the entire time due to the rocky ground cover. I’d also make sure your dogs are used to covering this much mileage and this kind of terrain - there weren’t many dogs on this hike and the ones who were on trail all looked pretty athletic. Bring lots of water (though there are a fair amount of stream crossings) and lots of high calorie treats. 🐾

GETTING TO TRAILHEAD: easy paved road, bathroom at trailhead

PARKING: very limited but people park down the side of the roads. Not super flat when you do this but fine. Got there at 8:30 am on Saturday and line down the road for parking had already started.

TRAIL MILEAGE AND TIME
We were carrying 30 lb packs so moving slower than normal. It took us 7 hour active hiking time for 10.8 miles and 3,300 ft elevation gain (plus 45 min lunch break)

-9:00 am- 12:00pm (3 hr) trailhead to basin where campsites start, 4.75 mi, 2600 ft elevation gain
-12:00-12:40 (40 min) basin to foggy lake, 300 ft elevation gain over a little over half mile (total = 5.38 mi from trailhead). This section is marked with little flags so you can see where the trail to follow is. This is the section that has the rockies/steepest section in my opinion, but it’s quite short.
-12:40 - 1:25 pm - lunch for 45 min
-1:25 - 4:40pm (3 hr 15 min) - descent from foggy lake to trailhead, 3000 ft descent + 300 ft ascent, 5.38 miles)

TRAIL CONDITIONS:
Not very busy at 9 am on a Saturday morning going up, but lots of people at foggy lake by the time we got there. This trail is steep and rocky but no scrambling required - even the steepest sections you can climb up without using your hands, though hiking poles are helpful. There is no scrambling over big boulders where you might fall between boulders or anything like that (and not too close to the side of the mountain drop off either at any point).

I drank 3L of water and would recommend bringing that amount minimum. No bugs or snow at end of August.