I went up a hike to Gothic Basin with a plan to bag Gothic Peak. I arrived at Barlow Pass around 8 am and there were tons of cars parked there. There still was ample parking though.

The route up to Gothic Basin was pleasant as always, but there were tons of backpackers coming down from the night prior. I'd estimate well over a hundred. The area is pretty overused and not a place to go if you want solitude. There were enough people that parts of the trail, especially along the waterfalls, became a bottleneck.

Since I went last time, the trail builders had cut steps into the slabs that you had to scramble up prior. This sort of scarred the landscape but certainly made it easier.

Once at Upper Weeden Lake, there were a ton of social trails but the trail builders had put tiny flags in the ground to mark it. At the lake, I headed south of Upper Weeden Lake since I wanted to end up near the base of Gothic Peak. This led me to another maze of trails and a fun scramble squeezing around ledges on the lake. This route was pretty hard to follow.

I eventually arrived to Foggy Lake, and as advertised, it was foggy. I sat and ate my lunch, and then discovered my water filter was clogged. Attempts to backflush it failed, but a nice hiker let me borrow hers.

From Foggy Lake, you cross the stream and head towards the saddle between Gothic Peak and the unnamed peak to the south. I ran into a large metal object that looked like a short shipping container. It smelled of urine. I think it's actually a toilet. There were no trails or signs going there, so I hope the trail builders are eventually going to make it an official toilet. They desperately need this, as the area simply can't support the degree of backpacking traffic it receives.

You end up in a bunch of talus, but there is a bootpath. Once at the saddle, there is a nice bootpath to follow but it eventually ends at a talus field. You can follow this for a while with a handful of cairns, but eventually they too disappear. There still are a few patches of snow up there, so there was running water.

From there, it's a huge slog over talus, scree, and dirt. It's tempting to climb up to the ridge but you will quickly end up on class 4 terrain. There are some nice slabs up there that make faster travel, but you do have to drop down to prevent being cliffed out. Route finding was tedious. Essentially you want to traverse under the ridge, using the slabs to your advantage. I can see why people go up there when it's covered in snow. This would be more mountaineering-like, but it would be far faster and more pleasant.

This will dump you out at the base of the summit block, slightly north of the ridge. From here, I could not make heads or tails of the beta I read. Nearly everything posted on Summitpost is wrong. It says that if it looks hard, go there, attack it head on, and do not go left as you will end up in class 4 terrain. If you attack it head on, you will end up on class 4 / 5 terrain. Other beta advises you not to go left. You should absolutely go left.

You do not need to climb anything that is class 4 or exposed. If you find yourself doing that, you are in the wrong place. The route is solidly class 3, no more difficult than the bottom part of the Haystack. Summitpost says the scramble is 100 feet. It is substantially shorter than that.

Instead, traverse left, climbing up to the ridge over a short, low angle slab. Continue traversing left to a bit, and you will end up between the SE ridge you ascended and another SW ridge. There will be a band of trees to your left. From there, there is a very clear class 3 climb over non-exposed large steps. The hand and footholds are solid, although there are some smaller loose rocks that you could kick down. A helmet is recommended. Birb's track, video, and route description (linked below) are spot on. 

From the top, I finally got above the clouds and had a great view of Del Campo shrouded with clouds on the bottom. There was a little ridge you could easily scramble over to which had better views.

From there, I scrambled back down the class 3 section which was straightforward but did require a bit of butt scooting. I then made the miserable slog down the talus and scree and eventually back down to Foggy Lake. It finally cleared up a bit so I could see Del Campo and Gothic Peak.

After a quick break, I headed down the trail. There was again a maze of social trails but follow the flags and you're golden.

Overall, I saw 3 groups of people heading up Gothic Peak compared to dozens going up Del Campo. It's certainly a nice place to go if you want a bit of solitude, although compared to Del Campo which has a delightful approach, the approach is miserable. This really isn't a place for the casual hiker, not because the scramble is hard, but the route finding is tedious and travel is slow. You can definitely get into trouble if you aren't experienced in these things.

FOUND: bag of tent poles -- we brought them out and I can ship them to you if they are yours.  Please contact me!

Other notes -- we encountered a fair bit of poop up in the basin.  If you can't make it to one of the backcountry toliets, be prepared to carry it out.  More and more areas are requiring it now -- get use to it and have a system.  With the high use of this area, plus the rocky terrian, burrying is not a great option, plus people aren't even doing that.  I have a dog that is unfortunately good at sniffing out poop (and eating it :( , and she managed to find all sorts of piles behind rocks or barely concealed under rocks, often with accompanying TP.  Bad form, hikers!  We also picked up and carried out two bags of dog poop up in the basin.  As a hiker with a dog, I try to be a "dog ambassador" to keep other hikers happy with dog people.  Seeing plastic bags of poop on the side of the trail after a hellish grind up to a beautiful basin does not make them happy, and that's how we dog owners will end up losing access to these areas. (The bags were still there on our second day, so we grabbed them on our way out.  Since we were the only overnighters with a dog that night, clearly they had been abandoned. )  PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE-- if you aren't prepared to deal with your crap, human or dog, then stay out of the backcountry.

This trail's popularity speaks for itself -- and WTA's incredibly thorough and helpful trail description says the rest. I recommend taking screenshots for reference on the trail. A few things I'll add:

• I arrived a little after 8:00am and, despite being the only car on the road for miles, showed up to probably 50 cars in the lot and on the road. The trail register showed that 25 parties had already gotten started. When I got back around 2:30pm (2.5 hours up; a little more coming down; snack and sun at Foggy Lake), there were some 70 parties in the register and probably 100 cars on the road. Despite this, I didn't find the trail particularly packed. The most brutal stretches created some bottlenecks, but most people found their own pace, and I had significant stretches of solitude on both the ascent and descent. I wouldn't say I saw any true crowds until Foggy Lake. Of course, this many hikers in one place can quickly become unpleasant or damaging to the environment, and my positive experience was partially dependent on the fact that almost everyone seemed to be committed to leaving no trace -- please keep up the good work, Washington! 
  
  
• I'm embarrassingly prone to losing the trail, and I had two moments of confusion on the way up. First, about 2.5 miles in, there is pretty significant treefall blocking the trail. I somehow wandered around the downed trees, traversed the hill, and had to drop down on some unsuspecting hikers like Spiderman. On the way back down, it became apparent that you just need to go over, not around, the trees (duh). Second, as other reports have noted, the initial "stream crossing" after crossing into DNR land is currently a small waterfall over a narrow, but steep, gully. It turned out to be a super simple crossing, but I didn't even register the possibility at first and kept looking for another switchback. Of course, once I looked up a little and saw the trail pick up on the other side, the path was obvious. I literally said "oh" out loud, made a face, and got on with the day.
  
  
• As other reports have also noted, the area is blissfully and shockingly low on mosquitoes. I saw various biting bugs but never felt overly bothered. Without any bug spray, I managed to get out with just a bite or two. But I did get swarmed by bees or wasps on the road walk, which was rather unnerving. And between Gothic Basin and Foggy Lake, there are beautiful patches of heather in bloom, drawing out lots of similar stinging pollinators. Those seemed thoroughly uninterested in people, but there were moments when their collective buzzing created an audible hum. A gentle reminder to stay on the trail.
  
  
• This is a perfect trail for using a water filter or filtered bottle. Due to the grade and exposure on the uphill, I drank more water than I have on any other similar trail this season. But also due to the grade and exposure, I would hate to lug in all that water up front, and there are plenty of picturesque water sources along the way.

Other than that, the rumors are true. This trail is an absolute banger, but it should be approached with a little respect. While I'm in awe of what trail crews have achieved here, heading back down the rocky stretches is slow, a little stressful, and seriously grueling for the knees. In return, you get an incredible variety of ecosystems, a smidge of fun scrambling, and a great day in the Cascades.

Today's company: a flock of friendly Pacific Wrens -- potentially a family with fledglings; a quick little garter snake; grasshoppers that click when they fly; Apollo butterflies; a Douglas Squirrel; some kind of swift or swallow at Foggy Lake; possibly a lowland pika (heard but not seen); ripening thimbleberries; and lots of good smells from conifers and wildflowers. 

We always remember how awesome Gothic Basin is and forget how boring the first couple of miles of the trail are!

The parking lot and sides of the road were overflowing with cars at 8 am. However, the trail didn't seem crowded on the way in given that area services multiple trails. Once the trail started going up, it was as fun as ever .. lots of rocks to clamber over, wildflowers and berries for distraction and waterfalls to cool off. Kong's Tower is as fun and refreshing as ever. There are a couple of giant downed trees along the way but it is easy to climb over or go around them. The basin is gorgeous, tons of wildflowers - we saw avalanche lilies, asters, heather, columbines, indian paintbrush. However, the upper basin has widening braided trails, clearly a sign of excessive traffic. The lake was more crowded than I've ever seen it. Views of Monte Cristo peaks are gorgeous. We didn't attempt Gothic Peak and Del Campo this time, hoping to be back in early fall.

The amount of work done on this trail is incredible. Deep gratitude to all the work parties that have improved the way to the lower basin and placed markers in the upper basin to minimize impact on the fragile vegetation.

Like always, a 10/10 experience!

When you reach tree across trail: it is at switchback. Look left, you will see trail. No need to climb over tree. (we did, thinking trail continues, then realized trail switch backs and had to climb back over the tree, haha). Fab Views at Foggy Lake. The little flags mark the trail. (thank you, flag fairy) Continued towards saddle below del Campo for a view down onto foggy lake. Fun times.