The trail is log-free the whole way. Also snow-free 99.5% except the very last hundred feet before the basin. But the basin is 80% snow-covered. While in the neighborhood we tagged Tyler Peak. Our grande traverse plans to Silvertip Peak cancelled due to misty foggy weather. Bugs starting to emerge.

The maintained trail is snow-free, but about 1/2 mile before entering the basin there is deep packed snow with holes appearing over the streams. The lakes are starting to thaw, but the first basin is full of snow. Great trip. Very few bugs. Scenery outstanding.

I drove down the mountain loop expecting to be stopped by snow sometime before the Monte Cristo road, but luckily it was still driveable all the way. On the way there the amount of new snow up on the peaks was substantial. After messing around down by the river for a while I decided to hike up the Gothic Basin trail a little to check out the snow. I soon encountered 18 inches of fresh powder, but the going was still ok. After about an hour and a half, I reached the first gully at about 4000 ft. where the trees open up to views. The snow was about 2-3 feet deep, and the views were awesome! All the surrounding peaks were covered in a thick blanket of new snow. I had some hot chocolate, relaxed a little, then headed back into the forest, which was extremely beautiful too! See some pictures of my trip: www.cascadesgallery.com

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.

Left Barlow pass via bikes at 1030am, reached TH at 1040am. Trail is in good shape all the way up past the 3 gullies that you traverse. Then there are roots, rocks, boulders and other obstacles you must climb, stem, and pull your way over. There is plenty of ice onthe trail as well as some spots do not see any sunlight. Reached the basin and saw one guy camping at Weden Lake. Headed up the climbers path and goat trails to Foggy Lake and had lunch where we dropped alot of our gear, as we brought crampons and ice axes since last time I came up back in October of 2001, we only had axes and there was alot of snow and ice so we had to bail, this time we were overprepared as there is snow dusting on north faces, etc. Headed up the right side of Foggy Lake and caught the climbers trail that leads up the ramp towards the base of the scramble. Once at the base alisondid not want to boulder hop anymore and bathed in the sun as I decided to ascend what I thought was the correct gully, but i wound up going a gulley that was rock and ice with some icy 3rd class moves. I got to the notch and saw that I was unable to gain the summit from where I was so I had to downclimb the icy rock which was no fun. Once halfway down I caught some ledges that looked like they might gain the summit, but before long our turnaround time had come so we headed back down to the TH, got our bikes (nice!) and headed for home. Another day! BTW - there has been some great work done on the trail recently, with great drainage in many places www.nwog.org scott@nwog.org