Lovely early summer day, trail relatively uncrowded. Only encountered four other parties. Still snow pack on the first of the three gullies, no post-holing. After two and a quarter hours, I was blocked by snow at 4075', .56 miles straight line from Foggy Lake (N47 59.151, W121 27.316). This blow-down consists of a big wedge of snow with tree debris on the far side. This is shortly after the Kong showerbath coming off Del Campo Peak, so at least you get to enjoy that! Total roundtrip time with a leisurely lunch was about five hours.

One minor blowdown on the brutally steep miner's path. The first of the three gullies is full of snow...solid as of June 23. Last two gullies clear. As stated above, the trail is clear until just after King Kong's showerbath, where you hit several feet of snow on the way to the entrance to Gothic Basin. Ice axe needed. Watch out for stepping on collapsing snowbanks and postholing, especially on the steep parts of the trail. The winter approach to Del Campo is open...it's between King Kong's showerbath and the last gully/waterfall before Gothic Basin. Plenty of snow this year! Very soft in the mid-afternoon. 4 parties were on the trail today.

The trail is in pretty good shape until after the creek crossing. Then it gets a little rough. We didn’t actually make it all the way into the basin as the second snow bridge (3900 feet) had my ice axe coming up with black holes when I plunged it in to check for safe crossing. Most of our group had no ice equipment so we decided to head back down. Steady very light drizzle but quite comfortable for a steep uphill. On the way down we saw some bear tracks of varying sizes that weren’t there on the way up. Nice workout, the shower at home felt GREAT. One easily negotiated blow-down One slipery stream crossing yeilded one wet sock.

headed up to Gothic Basin via Weden creek trial on Saturday. Arrived at Barlow pass around 8:30 and found an empty parking lot. Snow/rain mix as I repacked and put on goretex. By the time I reached the gate, the rain had disappeared and it looked like winter time, fat flakes drifting slowly down. The 1 1/2 mile walk to the trail head was dream like. I haven't seen snow that dense in a long time, I loved it! Entered the trees and took the hood off. No snow on trail for the first mile +, I began to wonder if I should stash the snowshoes. Turn a sharp corner and decided it was finally time to use them. Didn't see a track at all, it looked as if no one had been there since the first snow. The trail was in perfect shape, with the exception of two trees down, which were both easy to go under. Ate lunch under a old growth cedar in the basin. Snowing hard and very foggy, so not much of the surrounding mountain views. Fast jog back down, made it back at home for most of the second half of the 'hawks game. Snowshoes taken and used Trail in great shape

A gorgeous day for snowshoeing in the Cascades! Not much snow on the trail from Barlow Pass to Monte Cristo village. It is doable even without gaiters, but I got these new REI snowshoes and I just had to use them. Both the vehicle bridge and foot bridge are out, but I crossed the river on the I-beam (see photo). No blowdowns, easy hiking. Wonderful mountain views. I am hungry to get up to Gothic Basin!