November 11, 2016
In an effort to shake off that sense of foreboding due to the events of the week Andy and I took Friday off and decided to spend a night in Gothic Basin located in the North Cascades. It's one of the many hikes to choose from on Mountain Loop Highway.
We parked our car on the road across from Barlow Pass parking lot which was full at 11:00 am. From there, we followed WTA's directions up to the outhouse. This is where we got a bit confused. Were we supposed to hike past the Weeden Creek Trail sign, past the outhouse and cross the river, or follow the Weeden Creek Trail which turned and headed up away from the river? We decided to hike past the trail sign and outhouse since neither of us remembered reading anything specific about following the Weeden Creek Trail. In any case we were in no hurry so it wouldn't be an issue to backtrack.
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| Start of our "detour" ;) |
Past the outhouse we followed some pink ribbon to two logs downed across the river. We actually just hopped over a few rocks in the shallow end instead of balancing on slick logs over the deep areas. Past the river we continued on the trail, expecting a steady elevation gain shortly after. A mile in we came across a "Weeden House" sign and info board. I already had an inexplicable creepy feeling hiking down this trail and reading about the history didn't help. Well, we kept walking and noticed the trail remained flat for as far as we could see. Finally, we came to the conclusion that we were likely on the Monte Cristo trail and should have followed the Weeden Creek Trail. At least it was an easy two mile detour/warm up. On our way back we ran in to a couple groups going to visit the haunted town.
Once we were back on track, the hike up to Gothic Basin was unrelenting in its elevation. The first mile follows the water and winds around some caution tape for washed out areas. Nearly all the elevation gain is in the last 3 miles. This trail is very well maintained and cares little for switchbacks. I can't believe how much I was sweating thanks to the humidity. Needless to say, we took plenty of water breaks. It took us three hours to reach the Basin. Definitely a beautiful and challenging hike up through forest and waterfalls. Definitely had lots moments where I had my head down, concentrating on getting through an incline only to look up to see there was more to come and no break in sight.
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| Hiking up the nice, dry trail |
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| Climbing up past the waterfall. Note the trail ahead. It was seriously nonstop up. |
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| ..and up. |
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| The last push. This is the exact moment I knew that once I got over this hill, the view would take my panting breath away. |
We arrived at the basin around 3:10 pm. Sunset was around 4:30 pm which gave us some time to explore, find an established area to set up, and snap some pictures. We could not find a suitable site
that wouldn't end up with us waking up in a waterbed. Taking in to consideration the 0.8" rain expected that evening and also dreading a morning hike down in the rain on slippery rocks and steep declines, we decided to make this a day trip fully aware we'd be hiking the last half with our headlamps. With a view of Gothic Lake, we inhaled our sandwiches knowing there was only 45 minutes of precious daylight left to fast hike though the challenging sections. If we stayed the night, however, we would have had the basin all to ourselves*. The last group we ran in to was descending as we were about 20 minutes from reaching the top.
Took some pictures around the basin as we were scoping out a campsite:
that wouldn't end up with us waking up in a waterbed. Taking in to consideration the 0.8" rain expected that evening and also dreading a morning hike down in the rain on slippery rocks and steep declines, we decided to make this a day trip fully aware we'd be hiking the last half with our headlamps. With a view of Gothic Lake, we inhaled our sandwiches knowing there was only 45 minutes of precious daylight left to fast hike though the challenging sections. If we stayed the night, however, we would have had the basin all to ourselves*. The last group we ran in to was descending as we were about 20 minutes from reaching the top.
Took some pictures around the basin as we were scoping out a campsite:
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| Lots of little tarns and ponds |
To our relief, we were able to traverse the most tricky sections as the sun was setting and used our headlamps for the last 3 miles of the hike. Hiking in the dark and fog wasn't so bad, but as I mentioned earlier this was a very well maintained trail so we were comfortable with our decision to hike down in the dark and I felt safe with Andy leading the way. We also had our overnight packs so would be able to set up in an emergency.
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| Lunch spot |
To our relief, we were able to traverse the most tricky sections as the sun was setting and used our headlamps for the last 3 miles of the hike. Hiking in the dark and fog wasn't so bad, but as I mentioned earlier this was a very well maintained trail so we were comfortable with our decision to hike down in the dark and I felt safe with Andy leading the way. We also had our overnight packs so would be able to set up in an emergency.
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| Shadow of my phone from headlamp. Was concentrating too hard to take a better picture. |
As we were approaching the last mile we saw a few lights in the distance. Were those people attempting to hike up in the dark?! It ended up being the last group we saw descending earlier in the day. They were lost and hudled together by a signboard with their iPhone flashlights. Luckily we were headed to the same parking lot so they followed us out. Good thing Andy and I decided to make this a day trip. Not sure what those poor kids would have done as they were lost in the area where all the washouts and detours were.
Overall we ended up hiking approximately 11.5 miles in 7 hours which includes the time spent wandering around the basin. After stopping by Granite Falls for some BBQ we went home and iced our achy knees. I believe this is our longest day hike to date.
Overall we ended up hiking approximately 11.5 miles in 7 hours which includes the time spent wandering around the basin. After stopping by Granite Falls for some BBQ we went home and iced our achy knees. I believe this is our longest day hike to date.
*So glad we didn't stay the night. I read a Saturday trip report and apparently much of the trail was a creek. The trip reporter wasn't able to make it to the top as crossing the waterfall section would have been too dangerous.