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Gothic Peak Trip Report Sept 2008
This last weekend marked my thirty third trip of the year and it was with that omen I should of taken heed. But what do I know? I’m a glutton for punishment.
I accompanied the Washington Mineral Council folks to their yearly trip up to this remote dig site known as “Gothic Peak"
The trail to the site has been mentioned by many Washington state hikers as one of the worst and hardest non technical trails in the state. You’ll either love it or hate it they say. After reading many trip reports and finally making the journey myself, I can personally attest to their statements. Simply put, this trail will kick your ass. The mineral council website mentions this hike only with an asterisk and a note "5 mile strenuous hike". That is an understatement to say the least. :)
Gothic Basin is located approx 40 miles east of Granite Falls which is in turn 20 miles east of Everett. The trail is called the “Weden Creek Trail #724”. I highly recommend anyone interested at all in this trip google the trail and read one of the hundreds of trip reports from climbers and hikers who love to torture themselves on it.
The drive for me was a quick 250 miles each way. I took off from work early Friday afternoon to head up early. I thought that it would be easier to just sleep at the parking lot at Barlow Pass and that way I would be right there in the morning ready to meet everyone and being the trek. What I didn’t take into account was the nasty Seattle-Tacoma Friday evening rush hour, and the hellish night cramped up in my small sports car. I finally make it to the pass right at about 10pm and was greeted by the lovely signs at the gate to the trail.
The trail is about a mile down this road, which is the road to Monte Cristo. For those of you who have never heard of Monte Cristo, it is a very interesting story. Here is an excerpt for a local group.
“Monte Cristo became Washington state's most famous gold and silver mining town of the 1890s. Located in the rugged Cascade Mountains of Washington State in eastern Snohomish County, its mineral resources first were located in 1889. With investment in the mines by a New York syndicate backed by John D. Rockefeller, a railroad was constructed to bring down ore for smelting at the new city of Everett, also a Rockefeller development. Hit by financial disasters during the panics of 1893 and 1907, active mining ended shortly before World War I. In the years since, the site has become a popular destination for thousands of hikers, mountain bikers, climbers, and families fascinated both by the history of the town and its spectacular setting, surrounded by peaks up to 7000' high in the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness area” http://www.mcpa.us/
The road has been totally washed out about three quarters of a mile down. The road used to be about 4 miles to Monte Cristo or so I’m told. I didn’t sleep all that well Friday night but was awake and ready to go in the morning. In my excitement I did manage to leave one of my most important articles in my car, my flashlight. I met a new group of rock hounds and we went on our way. Excitement was very high in the group at this point.
The trail is something else let me tell you. I was nervous before going after I had read the reports of the “trail from hell” but my lust for quartz crystals not being fulfilled drove me to explore new heights to my ability to withstand pain. Most of this trip report won’t be about collecting stones because in all, the sad truth is, the weather came in on us the moment we reached the basin which cut our trip down to a hike in, camp and hike out.
We finally reached the trail about a mile down the road then turned river. The washed out bridge is a signal that the trail is close.
Luckily for us we didn’t have to cross the log and bridge. If you are up for another hike to Monte Cristo, its right over that bridge about 3 miles.
I hear its one neat place, now as far as stones I have no idea what there might be.
I did always look at the ground as i was walking and I didnt see any obvious agates or much other than the scrap quartz piece here or there.
As we ascended the trail it started off very simple and straight forward as if it was saying sorry for the punishment it would deal later on.
There was a very places like the picture above where creek crossings would be needed.
Once rain has hit the area these places can become muddy pits of hell.
If you come here bring waterproof boots it’s a MUST!
The technical length of the trail is 3.8 miles but that’s only from the road to the basin. From the Car to the dig site is all and all about 5 miles. 1 of that on a road/riverbed, 3.8 of that on this wicked killer trail, and the rest on the basin and scramble to the peak. After the first half mile of this trail you hit a clay slide where the entire trail is gone and you’re “walking” on very unstable clay, don’t fall! Shortly after this sticky place you hit the dense forest and the trail begins to pick up elevation. It was very foggy on the beginning of the trip, an omen of the bad weather to come.
After a mile or so of these unrelenting steep switchbacks you come across your first real hurdle on the journey.
There are three gully crossings on this trail that you must make in order to complete the trip.
Usually by this time of year these are snow free. We were lucky enough to have the first gully be still snow covered and impassible
so down and around we went.
We had to scramble around the snow pile back to the trail. It was fun!
The water was very cold and tasted as fresh as could be. I got a chance to new my new clean water device called SteriPen.
I highly recommend you google it if you like to hike.
This picture is of Bob Johnson from the Mineral Council just reaching the gully. He is realizing that “this wasn’t like this when I was here last” :-)
It was at this point the trail left the comfort of the switchbacks and went to its roots. This trail is an old mining trail from a hundred years ago. Back then they didn’t have comfort in mind and this puppy goes straight up the mountain. The above picture tells the story pretty much. It’s a constant grade until you hit the basin, it gets harder and harder before finally letting you have a moment to rest at the first of three lakes, Weden lake.
Once you get up to this point on the trail you will start to see visible quartz seams running in the rock beneath your feat.
Their visible on the picture above and the one with us climbing the rock (on the left)
Up the trail you will hit a wall. If there is no snow in the three gullies then this is your first real upper body strength test. There are five or six of these type of mini-scramble hoist yourself up kind of walls you must conquer to get to the basin. Don’t worry, by the time you get up to the top you will have blocked out most of the bad memories.
My first look into the basin was one of a shrouded craggily landscape that frankly looked quick inviting. It was so very quite here you could hear the wind blow and your heart beat. Now my heart was beating really fast by this point because of the climb. It was to my amazement that this would only be the start of the real effort of the weekend. By this point our group had separated into two main groups. Some of us were just too amped and wouldn’t slow down for the rest. We all paid the same price in the end however.
When you enter the basin the first lake you see will be Weden Lake. Most people who have never been here before (myself included) mistake this for Foggy Lake. That is actually to the right of this picture up the hill. This place will take your breath away, well if it doesn’t the trail will so it’s a good bet to say by the time you get here you your breath will be taken away. :-)
After a quick lunch and waiting for the group to all meet up we headed up towards the peak. What I didn’t realize until now but was told in email was the actual dig site wasn’t at the basin but rather on a peak on the basin which involved some scrambling to get to.
The scramble up the peak was nothing less than wickedly hard on my body. From a distance the peak looked ominous and didn’t frankly look anything less than near straight up. A death sentence for someone out of shape such as myself. In reality when you got close it was a hand over foot climb. You could take breaks and as long as you didn’t lose your balance and you would be ok. This is not the place to get hurt though as you’re very far away from people and there is no place I saw for a helicopter to land.. Now it was totally foggy so I don’t know really. 9 of us left the parking lot, 7 of us made it up the scramble. The other two camped below. Hindsight being what it is, if you ever go here, a word of advice; Camp at foggy lake and scramble to dig and then come back, taking my pack up and down that scramble was something that probably wasn’t all too safe. If you are in great shape and can do it then there is places to camp up there. Unfortunately for us it was about the time we made the scramble to the peak that mother nature decided she would let us know who’s running the show. She was going to make it hard on us to get at her treasures this time.
We left the parking lot at 8am sharp. I arrived at the top of the scramble, 200 years from the crystal beds at 530pm. My butt was wet and my hands cold.
When you get up the scramble there is two more peaks one on each side. The crystals are on the right. I decided to set up my tent on the upper of the peaks on the left. It provided a little more shelter with a gnarly view but was about a 20 minute walk/boulder dash away from the crystals, but still on top of the ridge. I wish I could say I had tons of pictures of the ridge or the crystal beds, and frankly it pains me to say, but the weather got to my camera. The wind and rain only grew from this point on and by the time my camp was up and my belly full I had only 20-30 minutes to hit the crystal beds before daylight ran out. I would of hunted all night if it wasn’t for my flashlight being left in the car. DOAH! In my rush from my tent I allowed my camera and mp3 player to get wet. Fearing for its lack of use I promptly took out the batteries and put her to rest until it could be cleaned out properly. I made it back to my tent with only a few minutes of daylight left. I was pretty much forced to stay in my tent because of lack of light and the face that 5 feet from me in one direction was a cliff some hundreds of feet down. Wouldn’t want to fall in the middle of the dark .. wife might be a little mad on that one.
I wish I could say the next day it was blue skies and sunny but that was only in my dreams. The night was cold and wet. I was at least dry, but I was very cold. Next time I will bring more of those chemical hard warmer pads. I had two of them and I can't say enough about how well they kept me warm on top of that ridge in the weather. I woke up Sunday morning with the weirdest feeling. I heard the rain drops, and I had a feeling that I had done something stupid. I leaned outside my tent and looked down the cliff, then over to the scramble on the left. It was a feeling of oh crap, I have to go down that today. I can’t explain in words how that felt it was something I’ll take with me for the rest of my life. Everyone in the group including me was cold and not really in any hunting mood Sunday morning. The plan was to wake up early and hit the beds and then hike home. We all hit the trail by 10am however. I did manage to get an hour or so rushing around and picking up anything of interest. The night before I didn’t really get to the good place on top of the ridge so I had picked up a bunch of broken surface scraps. I was going to go home with something! This time I had a little more time, albeit not much, to survey the land.
I need more time in this place.
I managed to make it off the mountain with a few lbs of very small quartz clusters. Nothing amazing but it was enough to tell me there is amazing stuff right beneath my feet and all I need is time. The trek down to the car downright was hell on my legs. It’s two full days later and as I write this my legs are still jello. I actually didn’t make it into work today because I cant really walk safe. My coworkers did get a good laugh at my expense yesterday as I tried to walk to get coffee and repeatedly fell over.
Bob and Ken who were the two of the guys who have been on this trip before were test best possible guides I could ask for. They really stepped up in the face of crappy weather and not perfect moods by people myself included towards the end. I can’t say enough about their positive attitudes and willingness to make it the best trip possible. In conclusion, I highly recommend that if you enjoy a challenge, are in decent shape, not afraid of heights and you love collecting crystals, then this location may be just the trip you are looking for. It helps if you’re crazy too! I will be going again next year, preferably with better weather and an extra day to dig.
-Jake
One crazy ass rockhound.
I accompanied the Washington Mineral Council folks to their yearly trip up to this remote dig site known as “Gothic Peak"
The trail to the site has been mentioned by many Washington state hikers as one of the worst and hardest non technical trails in the state. You’ll either love it or hate it they say. After reading many trip reports and finally making the journey myself, I can personally attest to their statements. Simply put, this trail will kick your ass. The mineral council website mentions this hike only with an asterisk and a note "5 mile strenuous hike". That is an understatement to say the least. :)
Gothic Basin is located approx 40 miles east of Granite Falls which is in turn 20 miles east of Everett. The trail is called the “Weden Creek Trail #724”. I highly recommend anyone interested at all in this trip google the trail and read one of the hundreds of trip reports from climbers and hikers who love to torture themselves on it.
The drive for me was a quick 250 miles each way. I took off from work early Friday afternoon to head up early. I thought that it would be easier to just sleep at the parking lot at Barlow Pass and that way I would be right there in the morning ready to meet everyone and being the trek. What I didn’t take into account was the nasty Seattle-Tacoma Friday evening rush hour, and the hellish night cramped up in my small sports car. I finally make it to the pass right at about 10pm and was greeted by the lovely signs at the gate to the trail.
The trail is about a mile down this road, which is the road to Monte Cristo. For those of you who have never heard of Monte Cristo, it is a very interesting story. Here is an excerpt for a local group.
“Monte Cristo became Washington state's most famous gold and silver mining town of the 1890s. Located in the rugged Cascade Mountains of Washington State in eastern Snohomish County, its mineral resources first were located in 1889. With investment in the mines by a New York syndicate backed by John D. Rockefeller, a railroad was constructed to bring down ore for smelting at the new city of Everett, also a Rockefeller development. Hit by financial disasters during the panics of 1893 and 1907, active mining ended shortly before World War I. In the years since, the site has become a popular destination for thousands of hikers, mountain bikers, climbers, and families fascinated both by the history of the town and its spectacular setting, surrounded by peaks up to 7000' high in the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness area” http://www.mcpa.us/
The road has been totally washed out about three quarters of a mile down. The road used to be about 4 miles to Monte Cristo or so I’m told. I didn’t sleep all that well Friday night but was awake and ready to go in the morning. In my excitement I did manage to leave one of my most important articles in my car, my flashlight. I met a new group of rock hounds and we went on our way. Excitement was very high in the group at this point.
The trail is something else let me tell you. I was nervous before going after I had read the reports of the “trail from hell” but my lust for quartz crystals not being fulfilled drove me to explore new heights to my ability to withstand pain. Most of this trip report won’t be about collecting stones because in all, the sad truth is, the weather came in on us the moment we reached the basin which cut our trip down to a hike in, camp and hike out.
We finally reached the trail about a mile down the road then turned river. The washed out bridge is a signal that the trail is close.
Luckily for us we didn’t have to cross the log and bridge. If you are up for another hike to Monte Cristo, its right over that bridge about 3 miles.
I hear its one neat place, now as far as stones I have no idea what there might be.
I did always look at the ground as i was walking and I didnt see any obvious agates or much other than the scrap quartz piece here or there.
As we ascended the trail it started off very simple and straight forward as if it was saying sorry for the punishment it would deal later on.
There was a very places like the picture above where creek crossings would be needed.
Once rain has hit the area these places can become muddy pits of hell.
If you come here bring waterproof boots it’s a MUST!
The technical length of the trail is 3.8 miles but that’s only from the road to the basin. From the Car to the dig site is all and all about 5 miles. 1 of that on a road/riverbed, 3.8 of that on this wicked killer trail, and the rest on the basin and scramble to the peak. After the first half mile of this trail you hit a clay slide where the entire trail is gone and you’re “walking” on very unstable clay, don’t fall! Shortly after this sticky place you hit the dense forest and the trail begins to pick up elevation. It was very foggy on the beginning of the trip, an omen of the bad weather to come.
After a mile or so of these unrelenting steep switchbacks you come across your first real hurdle on the journey.
There are three gully crossings on this trail that you must make in order to complete the trip.
Usually by this time of year these are snow free. We were lucky enough to have the first gully be still snow covered and impassible
so down and around we went.
We had to scramble around the snow pile back to the trail. It was fun!
The water was very cold and tasted as fresh as could be. I got a chance to new my new clean water device called SteriPen.
I highly recommend you google it if you like to hike.
This picture is of Bob Johnson from the Mineral Council just reaching the gully. He is realizing that “this wasn’t like this when I was here last” :-)
It was at this point the trail left the comfort of the switchbacks and went to its roots. This trail is an old mining trail from a hundred years ago. Back then they didn’t have comfort in mind and this puppy goes straight up the mountain. The above picture tells the story pretty much. It’s a constant grade until you hit the basin, it gets harder and harder before finally letting you have a moment to rest at the first of three lakes, Weden lake.
Once you get up to this point on the trail you will start to see visible quartz seams running in the rock beneath your feat.
Their visible on the picture above and the one with us climbing the rock (on the left)
Up the trail you will hit a wall. If there is no snow in the three gullies then this is your first real upper body strength test. There are five or six of these type of mini-scramble hoist yourself up kind of walls you must conquer to get to the basin. Don’t worry, by the time you get up to the top you will have blocked out most of the bad memories.
My first look into the basin was one of a shrouded craggily landscape that frankly looked quick inviting. It was so very quite here you could hear the wind blow and your heart beat. Now my heart was beating really fast by this point because of the climb. It was to my amazement that this would only be the start of the real effort of the weekend. By this point our group had separated into two main groups. Some of us were just too amped and wouldn’t slow down for the rest. We all paid the same price in the end however.
When you enter the basin the first lake you see will be Weden Lake. Most people who have never been here before (myself included) mistake this for Foggy Lake. That is actually to the right of this picture up the hill. This place will take your breath away, well if it doesn’t the trail will so it’s a good bet to say by the time you get here you your breath will be taken away. :-)
After a quick lunch and waiting for the group to all meet up we headed up towards the peak. What I didn’t realize until now but was told in email was the actual dig site wasn’t at the basin but rather on a peak on the basin which involved some scrambling to get to.The scramble up the peak was nothing less than wickedly hard on my body. From a distance the peak looked ominous and didn’t frankly look anything less than near straight up. A death sentence for someone out of shape such as myself. In reality when you got close it was a hand over foot climb. You could take breaks and as long as you didn’t lose your balance and you would be ok. This is not the place to get hurt though as you’re very far away from people and there is no place I saw for a helicopter to land.. Now it was totally foggy so I don’t know really. 9 of us left the parking lot, 7 of us made it up the scramble. The other two camped below. Hindsight being what it is, if you ever go here, a word of advice; Camp at foggy lake and scramble to dig and then come back, taking my pack up and down that scramble was something that probably wasn’t all too safe. If you are in great shape and can do it then there is places to camp up there. Unfortunately for us it was about the time we made the scramble to the peak that mother nature decided she would let us know who’s running the show. She was going to make it hard on us to get at her treasures this time.
We left the parking lot at 8am sharp. I arrived at the top of the scramble, 200 years from the crystal beds at 530pm. My butt was wet and my hands cold.
When you get up the scramble there is two more peaks one on each side. The crystals are on the right. I decided to set up my tent on the upper of the peaks on the left. It provided a little more shelter with a gnarly view but was about a 20 minute walk/boulder dash away from the crystals, but still on top of the ridge. I wish I could say I had tons of pictures of the ridge or the crystal beds, and frankly it pains me to say, but the weather got to my camera. The wind and rain only grew from this point on and by the time my camp was up and my belly full I had only 20-30 minutes to hit the crystal beds before daylight ran out. I would of hunted all night if it wasn’t for my flashlight being left in the car. DOAH! In my rush from my tent I allowed my camera and mp3 player to get wet. Fearing for its lack of use I promptly took out the batteries and put her to rest until it could be cleaned out properly. I made it back to my tent with only a few minutes of daylight left. I was pretty much forced to stay in my tent because of lack of light and the face that 5 feet from me in one direction was a cliff some hundreds of feet down. Wouldn’t want to fall in the middle of the dark .. wife might be a little mad on that one.
I wish I could say the next day it was blue skies and sunny but that was only in my dreams. The night was cold and wet. I was at least dry, but I was very cold. Next time I will bring more of those chemical hard warmer pads. I had two of them and I can't say enough about how well they kept me warm on top of that ridge in the weather. I woke up Sunday morning with the weirdest feeling. I heard the rain drops, and I had a feeling that I had done something stupid. I leaned outside my tent and looked down the cliff, then over to the scramble on the left. It was a feeling of oh crap, I have to go down that today. I can’t explain in words how that felt it was something I’ll take with me for the rest of my life. Everyone in the group including me was cold and not really in any hunting mood Sunday morning. The plan was to wake up early and hit the beds and then hike home. We all hit the trail by 10am however. I did manage to get an hour or so rushing around and picking up anything of interest. The night before I didn’t really get to the good place on top of the ridge so I had picked up a bunch of broken surface scraps. I was going to go home with something! This time I had a little more time, albeit not much, to survey the land.
I need more time in this place.
I managed to make it off the mountain with a few lbs of very small quartz clusters. Nothing amazing but it was enough to tell me there is amazing stuff right beneath my feet and all I need is time. The trek down to the car downright was hell on my legs. It’s two full days later and as I write this my legs are still jello. I actually didn’t make it into work today because I cant really walk safe. My coworkers did get a good laugh at my expense yesterday as I tried to walk to get coffee and repeatedly fell over.
Bob and Ken who were the two of the guys who have been on this trip before were test best possible guides I could ask for. They really stepped up in the face of crappy weather and not perfect moods by people myself included towards the end. I can’t say enough about their positive attitudes and willingness to make it the best trip possible. In conclusion, I highly recommend that if you enjoy a challenge, are in decent shape, not afraid of heights and you love collecting crystals, then this location may be just the trip you are looking for. It helps if you’re crazy too! I will be going again next year, preferably with better weather and an extra day to dig.
-Jake
One crazy ass rockhound.
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