Gothic Basin
North Cascades
Gothic Basin conditions as of May 4, 2026, are challenging due to significant snow.
A report from May 2nd indicates winter conditions persist in the basin. Snow became a major obstacle halfway up the trail, with deep, wet snow causing slow and difficult travel. The trail is not visible, making a GPS essential. While crampons were not needed due to the wetness, poles and good footwear are highly recommended.
The Mountain Loop Highway is open to the Gothic Basin trailhead from Granite Falls, but closed beyond this point towards Darrington. Parking is available. The reporter suggests waiting a month or two unless experienced in snow travel and pathfinding.
generated from 48 reports
Sources
Started at 8AM and got back to my car 3PM. The mountain loop highway section to Gothic Basin (travelling from Granite Falls towards the East) is open, but the rest of the highway is closed towards Dar...
Sick hike, started hiking at 2 am for the sunrise, i think it helped with not being super tired on the way up.
Today we hiked the Gothic Basin trail to Foggy Lake. Plenty of parking when we left the trailhead at 8am.The trail was wet with flowing streams and muddy sections. This made for beautiful waterfalls a...
I’ve been wanting to do this trail for a while and I would say that in general, it did not disappoint. The views start to open up after a few miles but you don’t get up into the basin until the last h...
The hike here is every bit as formidable as the visuals on display. After the mild opening act, you will be tested with a tangle of roots, bare rock, mud, and loose rock at an imperious incline until ...
Showed up to the trailhead around noon on a Saturday. I had to park quite a way away off to the side of the road. Very busy. Road to the trailhead is all paved. The first half of the hike is through a...
I've been wanting to do Gothic Basin for a while but I usually only get weekends off. I was lucky to have a weekday off this week so my friend and I decided to venture out to this popular area for an ...
A friend and I camped in one of the dispersed campsites north of the trailhead on Saturday night, and made it to the trailhead around 9am. Lots of cars already there, but we found a spot and headed in...
Trailhead:Arrived at the trailhead around 7:45 the morning of Saturday 8/30 to begin an overnight backpacking trip. The trailhead itself is small and was full by the time we got there. We parked along...
Forgot to add photos to my last review
Want to ask something specific about Gothic Basin?
Use AI-powered search to dig into trip reports for this trail.
Search Gothic Basin