The new construction done on the first mile or so of the trail is fabulous. It's so much better than walking through the continuos muck-holes and root wads that were there before. There's now lots of nice puncheon, turnpikes and drainage structures. Only a few slightly muddy spots remain in areas were the drainage was probably hard to read. I really liked what the did with the only major stream crossing. Getting across the stream is now as easy as stepping from one rock pillar to the next. The pillars are composed of large river rocks held together with a little concrete. The three major snow gullies are all still choked with snow. Crossing them is easy, but make sure you carry an ice ax and now how to use it - the run out is bad on each. Beyond the third gully, the trail is difficult to follow. It's a mixture of dirty snow and brush. I tried following the true trail as best I could, but the snow kept disappearing into tangled brush. A better choice would probably have been to stay high on the continuos snow. I thought I was on target to reach King-Kong's Showerbath, but wound up at the base of the falls beneath. The gully was too deep to cross and I was trapped between cliff bands above and below me so I worked my way back and up. Soon I found myself high up on steep snow slopes at the top of the falls leading to the third snow gully. I didn't like being there so much so I backtracked again, back down to third snow gully crossing. By this time I was pretty battered and losing my enthusiasm so I decided to call it a day. I stopped back at the twin bridges crossing of the Sauk and napped in the sun for a while. This was a nice alternative. The first of the two bridges has been replaced, but the second is still collapsed and impassable to cars.

It was raining in Seattle, it was raining in Bellevue, it was raining in Everett, it was raining in Granite Falls, it was raining at Barlow Pass. It was raining everywhere except the Monte Christo Road and Gothic Basin Trail, which were beautiful and dry with high clouds and great views. (Okay, so I'm gloating about the weather.) This is a nice hike. Even the road walk is pretty. The lower trail is muddy in spots, but not bad. We hit snow starting at 3500 ft. and the snow was about 2 feet deep by the time we got to Gothic Basin. The trail was easy to follow under the snow; it's a continuous rising south traverse, when in doubt head that way. It was great to be out on snow again. Yay snowshoeing season!

I'm somewhat addicted to this hike, so invited afriend to go explore some mines in the area. We gotlucky and found one, but the bushwack to get thereis only for the true mine afficiando! The newly-built trail for the first half is holdingup ok to the rains (did I mention it rained all day'). Someis going to wash away, but most sections look ok.Once past 3700', the old trail takes over, and itis under either 2"" of snow or 2"" of water. Snow starts in earnest at 4000' el. Naturally,we got totally soaked. I think my boots weigh 45 lbs eachPerhaps it's time to waterproof again'

This is an El Viejo (aka La Nina) winter which will be characterized by an earlier and longer winter season, as opposed to El Nino which is accompanied by an earlier and longer winter season. The first mile of the trail after it leaves the Monte Cristo Road has been reconstructed but is still quite steep, but not as steep as the old trail. It intersects the old trail at 3700 feet, after which there are some windfalls and some brushy spots. The snow fell as low as 3600 feet last night and snow covers the trail above 4000 feet. The snow is continuous above 4500 feet. I lost the trail under a foot of snow at 4800 feet. Snow was falling heavily above 4650 feet.

This was my first time hiking to Gothic Basin, a trail I had avoided previously because it sounded so rough in hiking book descriptions. However, the trail has received quite a bit of attention recently, and although it still needs some work, I understand it's much better than it used to be. My hiking buddy and I found it to be a moderately strenous, but not technically difficult, hike. Be warned though--it's surprisingly steep in sections, and in other parts exceedingly muddy. The beginning is flat and easy since you're on the Monte Cristo road for a while. When you get to the bridge, don't cross it, but instead turn off to the right to the trail marked ""Weden Creek"" with a subtitle of ""Gothic Basin 3."" The trail is mostly flat and very muddy for the next mile or so. After a creek crossing, the way steepens considerably, but also becomes much less muddy. The trail goes through some lovely forest, and progresses up some incredibly steep switchbacks to a clearing with a water crossing. From here the trail traverses a subalpine hillside, staying just under the ridge, and the terrain changes from a mostly flat dirt trail to a rocky, root covered trail. It continues up over rocks and roots steeply for a couple of miles, slow going, but the views of the peaks across the valley were getting better the higher we went. Finally the trail curls over the edge of the ridge into Gothic Basin, and fabulous scenery. Next time I do this trail, I'm going to make it a 3-day backpack. We just didn't have enough time to explore the basin and all its offerings. What we did see was beautiful: huge mounds of polished rocks to scramble over, lakes, ponds, small trickling streams, a nice double waterfall, and Weden Lake, far down in the basin below. Not to mention the surrounding peaks and passes, some of which looked like easy scrambles from the basin. This is a great hike for anyone who enjoys doing some scrambling around and exploring when they reach their hiking destination. To the folks working on the trail maintenance and rebuilding, great work on a tough project!