Gothic Basin near Glacier Peak (photos)

The following pictures are from Gothic Basin yesterday. It’s a rough hike, in fact, a lot of it isn’t what most people would even call trail. It’s more like a rock garden. It’s steep and there are deathly sharp drops in a few places — drops that get pretty close to the trail. That said, there was an endless supply of ladies aged 60+ out there blowing everyone else’s doors off. You just have to be as tough as they are.

Or maybe it’s the view. This is a look across a canyon on the trail up to the basin.

This hike is in Mount Baker – Snoqualmie National Forest, not far from Glacier Peak in the Northern Cascades in Washington State. This is about forty miles from Seattle as the crow flies. The “1” on the map marks the trailhead location.

It has a beautiful series of waterfalls, which feed into the Sauk River — part of an important watershed for salmon and steelhead, among others. While there is a lot of water in the Pacific Northwest, when precipitation falls is as important as how much. Streams need to be running full at the right times of year, and snow needs to fall on the mountaintops all winter. Climate change will make wet times of year wetter and dry times of year drier, which upsets the delicate balance even when the annual averages look okay.

This fall looks beautiful. We need to protect it not only for its beauty — but in order to protect the watersheds we depend on.