Gothic Basin

Aug. 27, 2005
9.4 miles round trip, 3,000ft altitude gain to reach Gothic Basin
Reached the beautiful Foggy Lake and the ridge between Del Campo Peak and Gothic Peak (Another 600ft and 2 miles?) .

Charlie, Zhong and I began the hike at 11:30am. The climb in the forest was streneous. Because it is a dry summer, we did not saw that much water/water-falls along the way, which we saw and liked very much in last year's hike here. On the other hand, whether was good and view was great. Moreover, there were a LOT really tasty blue berries. We had lunch near a wather fall. We kept climb and probably reached the Basin around 2:30. Zhong and I continued to the Foggy lake, which is gorgerious. Once we were in Foggy lake, the ridge in the west side seemed very close and tempting. We decided to climb. Wow, the views were just incredible. After that, we took a shortcut and came down the steep slope directly. We left the basin at 5:00 and was back at trailhead at 7:00pm.

Gothic Basin is just beatiful. One should camp there for one night if he can carry 40-50 pounds up.