On July 26th I led a two-night trip for The Mountaineers to Gothic Basin, a beautiful alpine basin that I’d previously only visited on a day hike a few years ago. The basin is located off of the Mountain Loop Highway, a scenic highway which winds through the mountains between the towns of Granite Falls and Darrington in Washington State. It shares a trailhead with the Monte Cristo ghost town (an old mining town that was active until around 1900) before splitting off onto trail 724 which was originally used by the miners themselves.
For this particular trip the goals were to get in some astrophotography and stargazing (the trip was timed to coincide with the new moon which maximizes Milky Way visibility) as well as try to locate some long-abandoned mines (which we did – more on that later).
At the north end of Gothic Basin lies Foggy Lake which is bordered by Del Campo Peak on the north and the Towers of Hanoi-looking Gothic Peak on the west. The name Gothic comes from William Gothic, one of the first prospectors to stake a claim in the basin. Both peaks are scrambles with Del Campo being difficult (T5) and Gothic being mid-grade (T3) although I have not done either one myself.
On a clear summer day the lake as well as the mountains are absolutely jaw-dropping. Luckily our first day in the basin turned out to be one of those days so we spent the afternoon sunbathing on the rocks that jut out into the lake and watching an osprey circle for fish.
Abandoned Mines
I’ve done my fair share of caving down at Mount Saint Helens as well as a trip up to Cave Ridge at Snoqualmie – underground passages have always held a special interest for me. After reading about Monte Cristo and the oodles of abandoned mines that littered the area in the book series Discovering Washington’s Historic Mines I saw that three of the mines – Northwest Consolidated Mine, Lower Del Campo Mine, and Upper Del Campo Mine – were accessible either via the trail into Gothic Basin or were located in the basin itself.
Upper Del Campo Mine
On our second day in the basin the weather turned, raining steadily from midnight until noon. After that it remained overcast as cloud after cloud sailed through the basin so we were robbed of any views. So, I figured this would be a good opportunity to try to locate the Upper Del Campo Mine which was supposedly situated along the southern edge of the basin (the southern edge being a cliff dropping down to the shores of Weeden Lake) next to a waterfall on the outlet stream from Foggy Lake.
Starting from our campsite at the southeast corner of the basin I skirted the rim westward, looking for a ledge or trail somewhere down below. I eventually stumbled across a flat rectangular “platform” which had been carved into the rock itself just a few feet below me. Retracing my steps, I found that the easiest way to reach this platform was to start from a strange pond with several sliced-up stumps sitting in it and follow its outflow (which was dry at the time) to the southwest – this will take you right to the platform without any hassle. From here you can see a trail carved into the cliff leading west towards a waterfall. The trail isn’t all that steep but it is narrow and a slip at the top would be unpleasant so tread carefully. Just before you reach the waterfall the trail opens up to the right and you’ll see the mine entrance.
The mine is bored through solid rock which is good because it means it’s marginally more safe to enter than most other mines in the area. Sadly, it doesn’t drain water particularly well as there were a few inches of standing water on the floor. Some kind soul had set up a series of stones for you to walk on but these had a significant gap not too far in and I was reluctant to get my feet soaked so I turned around. I did manage to spot a vertical pipe in the distance and there were some metal artifacts on the ground near the entrance. Very, very cool. On a future trip I would definitely bring a pair of waterproof socks so that I could explore further.
I didn’t grab a picture of it but Weeden Lake is absolutely stunning and I made a note to try to come back and spend some time there on a future trip. It wasn’t clear if it was accessible from this point or if it would be better to bushwhack along the contours of the mountain from a point further down the trail into the basin.
Lower Del Campo Mine
Lower Del Campo Mine is (in my mind) quite a ways away from its brother. The directions I had were to pass a large waterfall on the trail up to the basin and then when the main trail turned abruptly upwards look for a faint trail continuing straight through the woods. We did locate this trail (just past the large waterfall known as King Kong’s Shower – look for an unnamed waterfall marker in Gaia) but were unable to find the mine itself. Slightly further up the trail to Gothic Basin you’ll find yourself crossing the outlet of a small pond. If you look closely you’ll see that what you’re crossing on is actually old boards and in the bushes just below the trail you’ll see the remains of an old wooden pipe with its steel wire hoops. This is the penstock pipe which used to carry water down to a Pelton wheel, causing it to turn and generate electricity for the mine’s buildings.
Northwest Consolidated Mine
We spent enough time bushwhacking looking for Lower Del Campo that we didn’t have any time left over to look for this one. Earlier on the trail up to Gothic Basin there’s an open section where you cross three creeks in a row – judging from the description in the book my guess is that it’s in this area.
Route
Gaia folder:
https://www.gaiagps.com/public/4mx0hVANNJKOrqQvH0t8FiNL
I’ve marked the approximate locations of the three mines on the map. I forgot to record our campsite locations and didn’t bother to track once we were inside the basin since we wandered all over the place. In hindsight I should have at least tracked the route to Upper Del Campo Mine.
Campsite
We found a nice group spot in the southeast corner of the basin near a stream and pond. There wasn’t room enough for six individual tents so two of us stayed on a ledge down below which was accessible by switchbacking down some rock. The southern rim of the basin also has plenty of trees, making Ursacks a viable option.
Gear
Normally before trips I clone and customize my main backpacking list so that I have a permanent snapshot to refer to. I forgot to do that before this trip so here’s an after-the-fact best guess at what I’d packed:
https://lighterpack.com/r/zixlkt
The big new piece of gear I was trying out on this trip was a Therm-A-Rest ProLite Apex self-inflating sleeping pad in size regular wide. It replaced my Big Agnes Insulated AXL Air which was often cold and had recently developed a leak, forcing me to re-inflate it 2-3 times per night. The ProLite Apex was absolutely incredible. Not only did I never feel even the least bit of cold creeping up from the ground but despite being only half the thickness of the AXL Air (two inches versus four inches) I never bottomed out or felt the ground underneath me even when side sleeping. In fact, the foam feel of the ProLite Apex was much more comfortable and “natural” feeling (at least as a person who sleeps on a memory foam mattress at home) than the balloon feel of the AXL Air. The other nice thing about the ProLite was that as a self-inflating pad it only takes 4-6 deep breaths to fully inflate once you’ve unrolled it and let it sit for a while. Compare this to the dizziness-inducing 25+ breaths of the AXL. When sleeping on my back I found that a fully-inflated ProLite was so firm that it felt uncomfortable against my calves so now I release some air after filling it up.
Downsides of the ProLite? Well, it’s much heavier (732g vs. 423g) and packs somewhat larger than the Big Agnes. Do I care? Not at all. I’ll take a pad that’s actually warm and comfortable and serves its purpose over a lousy pad that’s half the weight any day. A good night’s sleep is paramount when you’re out and about.
Since our second day was morning rain and evening drizzle I finally had a chance to see what my Sierra Designs Elite Cagoule could do in wet conditions. I was able to hike and scramble up rock and all the mechanical ventilation meant that I never once got clammy or felt like I was in a sauna. It’s actually quite refreshing to be hiking in the rain and feel the chill of a breeze wafting through your jacket. Very happy with its performance.
In tandem with the Cagoule I was also wearing my ASAP Orange Nitrile Gloves. At a few cents per pair these continue to be the ideal rain gloves and the safety orange color is fashionable to boot (it’s not).
I had ordered a Pedco Ultrapod Grip miniature tripod to replace my unbelievably heavy (in comparison) MeFoto Backpacker Classic full-size tripod. At a measly 151g for both the Ultrapod and an accompanying Neewer Fish Bone Clamp it’s about an eighth of the 1171g I was packing before. Assuming it works as intended that’s probably the most significant weight savings of any gear upgrade I’ve made, ever. Of course, when you want to try out new gear it helps if you actually remember to pack it and I did not so first impressions will have to wait.
I thought I had lost one of the hair ties that I use to keep my water bottles from falling out of my backpack on trickier sections of trail but turns out it was just folded inside the pack. In any case I made a note to myself to consider carrying a spare hair tie in my ditty bag.
I also made a note to replace the bread bags that I use as shoe liners when I’m in camp. Their durability is pretty lacking, I think I’ve had holes in each pair after every trip. It’s probably worth investing in a more durable alternative like turkey oven bags or similar.
Finally, my Vargo alcohol fuel bottle shot alcohol everywhere when I opened it upside-down for my first night’s dinner. Turns out that since it was mostly empty it had become pressurized due to the air expanding from the heat. The solution is to always open the bottle right-side up so that any pressurized air can escape before turning it over and filling your stove.
Food
I totally slacked off on this trip and neither weighed nor cataloged my food. However, I can report that Fritos bean dip and tortillas is absolutely delicious especially when you toss in some hot sauce packets and shredded cheese. Also, AlpineAire’s Three Cheese Lasanga and Santa Fe Black Beans and Rice meals are pretty darn good too.
Flora & Fauna
Without a zoom lens it would have been pointless to try to grab a shot of the osprey above Foggy Lake. However, I did manage to spot a cool flower on the way back to the trailhead:
This is a two-foot-tall pinedrops, a parasitic flower which has no chlorophyll and instead feeds off of the root system of the host tree via a fungal intermediary. Pretty fascinating stuff. Other similar flowers include sugarstick, coralroot, fringed pinesap, and broomrape. The first four are Pacific Northwest regulars and there are piles of broomrape near the Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska.
Photography
SmugMug album:
https://turigrinos.smugmug.com/Adventures/2019/Gothic-Basin/
Let’s start with a bang:
That’s probably the best photo I’ve ever taken. It was an early morning shot with zero wind so I got a nice mix of warm sunlight on the peak and background coupled with cool shadows on the rocks and then an absolutely perfect reflection. I had considered brushing out the rocks which are barely visible on the bottom of the pond but decided to leave them as-is. The only thing that’s slightly distracting is the cube-like rock along the right edge. There was actually a bright orange tent near the sunlit rocks right-of-center but I desaturated it to make it invisible. Or maybe I clone-stamped it into obvlivion. In any case, brightly colored tents are often an annoyance to photographers.
Peak Milky Way visibility should have meant some amazing astrophotography opportunities but I forgot my new tripod. The above picture was taken by resting the camera on the ground and then using a rock to prop up the lens at the right angle. It’s surprisingly decent given the situation and I’m really excited to see what my little tripod can do since it’d only be a few inches higher off the ground. Since this was a half-assed shot I didn’t bother to do a foreground exposure for blending in later.