Parking outside of gate was crowded on Sunday afternoon but we found a spot. Apparently if you join the Monte Cristo Preservation Association, you can get a key to the gate and drive the extra two miles to the trailhead; I saw a couple people do this; it seems worthwhile. Trail in great shape. Moderate blueberries. A few bugs but not too many. No snow in Foggy Lake. We camped Sunday night; there were two other groups camping. I suspect it might be crowded camping on Saturday night.

Since the Monte Cristo area is one of my favorite places I decided a trip to Gothic Basin was in order. Words don't do this trail justice. It's definitely a good one for practicing your rest steps. Gothic Basin is free of snow now, but definitely not free of annoying bugs. The mosquitoes are out and biting something ferocious. Foggy Lake is probably 80% snow free. I lacked the motivation to scurry up Gothic or Del Campo but those routes seemed to be marked by only a few small snow fields. Being something of a mining buff, I decided to visit the Upper Del Campo Mine. Even though they didn't find any good ore, they couldn't have picked a prettier location. For those interested you visit the mine by heading left as you enter the basin. After passing a few small tarns and you've reached the cliff, head right(west) and follow the boot track to the stream rushing down the steep gully. You'll come to a broad notch which held the mine buildings and a narrow trail that leads to the adit, right beside a nice waterfall.

It was a nice sunny and warm day. The trail starts off a little brushy, but once you start the big climb up, the trail is in great shape and the creek crossings are not a problem. (I always forget how steep this trail is; I certainly felt it coming down.) The basin is snow free and Foggy Lake has just a tiny bit of snow/ice still on it. Plus I only saw one mosquito! The scramble up to Del Campo is mostly snow free also. Great views from Rainier to Baker to Olympus. This is a great hike, especially on such a nice day.

Now I know why someone has rated this hike as 'most difficult'. After the easy first mile walking along the Monte Cristo road (past bulldozers, dump trucks, and campers !), you reach the sign that says 'Gothic Basin - 3 Miles' - must have been put there by an alien that can fly! The next mile follows the river through several brushy areas. Then, the next hour is swithbacks through woods with no water. The trail then levels out for 20 seconds, crosses 3 streams with beautiful waterfalls, and fantastic views across the valley. Now starts the alien adventure, with a steep climb to the top of a seemingly topless ridge where you then enter the Gothic Basin area. There's still a lot of snow in the basin, the smaller lake is about 1/2 thawed and the larger lake is still frozen except around the outlet. The upper area is still mostly snow covered, huge boulders, and very little vegetation (is that what Gothic means?), and stark. Stayed for about 1 hour wandering the area and got run out when clouds began decending into the basin. Basin was bug free but bring your swatter for the trail. Oh, and the interesting thing is that I saw more than one squirrel on the ridge with mouths full of grass/straw - must be expecting winter soon up there???

Weden Creek Trail 10 miles RT, 2600’ gain from the Monte Cristo gate. I have wanted to go to Gothic Basin for a year now and this three day weekend seemed like a great opportunity for a backpack. I met my new friends Roy, Bev and Mike Friday morning at the Verlot Ranger Station and we headed to Barlow Pass at about 10:30am. When we arrived the area was buzzing with activity. We heaved on our backpacks and headed down the Monte Cristo road. We walked about .8 miles then arrived at the Weden Creek trail head. The first part of the trail is smooth and flat running through a forested area, after just under a mile the trail starts to climb steeply on switchbacks up and up. Then after about two miles the trail turns into somewhat of a rock scramble but soon it leveled out and we arrived at the first of three waterfalls and easy creek crossings. The most impressive one is called King Kong’s showerbath, luckily King Kong was not in the area at the time. After the waterfalls the trail stays very rocky and starts to climb again. On our way up we heard reports of snow and cold wind conditions at the basin so we decided to set camp just before entering into the basin at a campsite, there we had a warm well deserved sleep. We woke Saturday morning to slight fog and very light rain so we waited a few hours and then headed up to Gothic Basin when the weather broke. On the last few hundred feet of the trail before the basin the snow started and continued, covering most of the area with a few rocks and hills without. There we explored for a few hours. Foggy Pond and Foggy Lake are still mostly frozen but Weden Lake which is 800 feet below is snow free. In the sun were the awesome views of Gothic Peak to the west and Del Campo to the north. Both seemly snow free. We headed back to our campsite amazed by the incredible views of the appropriately name basin to find some gifts left by an acquaintance we passed earlier. Thanks Rob. There we spent a second night with good company and great views. The bugs were a little buggy but tolerable. Sunday morning we headed back early stopping at the bridge by the trail head to take a swim in the river. It was FFFFFREEEZZING but it was nice to get the sweat and insect repellent washed off. It was a great weekend.