Mt Baldy (#1308)Recent Trip Reports
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Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Blowdowns | Overgrown | Snow on trail | Bugs
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Beautiful day with the sun shining, just right for a hike to a summit. Today, I chose to drive...
Beautiful day with the sun shining, just right for a hike to a summit. Today, I chose to drive to Easton and check out Easton and/or Kachess ridge, with no particular goal, but to attain some altitude, with some views. Of course this hike would be loaded with bugs. Glad I had bug spray. I did not use sun screen, since the trail was in and out of the sun.
Both the Kachess and Easton Ridge trails begin at the same trailhead. A short distance from the trailhead, the trail for Kachess bends left and begins to climb, while Easton drops down on the right, and follows a creek for a short distance, before crossing at a bridge. The trail climbs 1100 feet in a little over a mile in loose dirt. The trail to Easton turns right while Domerie Divide trail (1308.2) continues straight. I had thought the first leg of the trail was steep, but after another ½ mile the Domerie Divide trail gets very steep, climbing about 1500 feet in the next mile. This segment opens to even greater views of lake Easton, Kachess Lake, Mt Rainier, Kachess Ridge, Easton Ridge, Mt Baldy, and even a water falls. Once reaching the summit, the trail to Mt Baldy, and Mt Domerie turned right, though I did not see the trial. I continued on and began to descend on the North leading to Thomas Mountain. Up to this point the trail was in very good shape though it was steep with loose dirt. The trail was now overgrown and not maintained. There were many down trees that had to be maneuvered around or over. The trail was sometimes difficult to see, but not really too hard to follow. The trail first dropped a few hundred feet then gradually climbed as it traversed the mountain. The trail came close to the top of Thomas Mt, but I still needed to hike up to the summit. The views from the top of Thomas Mountain, was spectacular, covering about 180 degrees of unobstructed views of Mt. Stuart, Cle Elum Lake, and sights east. I even spotted the wind turbines near Ellensburg. Special sights included birds of prey, an abundance of wild flowers, and even a small amount of snow. Directions: Exit I-90 in Easton at exit 70, going to the north side of the freeway, and taking the frontage road toward Kachess Dam. The Kachess Dam road turns right after ½ mile. Follow the dirt road for almost 1 mile, then bending right onto a narrow one lane road for another ½ mile to the trail head. Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Bugs | No water source
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I will start by saying, I am nowhere near a hard core hiker. I enjoy hiking and I enjoy being...
I will start by saying, I am nowhere near a hard core hiker. I enjoy hiking and I enjoy being outdoors. That said, I probably make it up into the Cascades 5-10 times/season. I'll be honest that I'm a bit disappointed I made Mt. Baldy and the Domerie Divide Trail one of those hikes this year. And in all fairness, we realized upon running into another hiker on the way down, we didn't made it all of the way to Mt. Baldy-- mistook a false summit for the top, so we likely missed "the best part" by turning around when we did.
Pros: Nobody else was out there. And that seems consistent from other folks posts. A great way to get some solitude. Great views of Mount Rainier for most of the hike down (or if you turn around on the way up). This trail must run primarily the south edge of the mountain, so you get great photo opportunities and pretty sights on a clear day. The trail is close to I-90 so you don't feel like you're wasting 1/2 of your day getting there. Probably 5-10 minutes from exit 70. There's great directions in another trip report earlier this month. The only thing I'd add-- 1/3 the way up the trail splits-- take the Domerie Divide to get to Mt. Baldy. Cons: Not for the weak of knees and there's no way I'd take kids on this hike. The majority of the hike is straight up on a ton of loose gravely rock. There are very few switchbacks. So you do efficiently make it to the top, but I probably skidded 1/2 way back down the mountain-- was pretty impressed I only slipped all the way to my butt once. Finally: mosquitos! According to a post earlier this month, there were just mosquitos at the first section. Today they were everywhere! We got eaten alive despite multiple rounds of bug juice. I don't usually get "bugged" by mosquitoes, but considering the scarcity of water on this route, we were amazed by how many there were. Other folks seemed to like this route more than I did. Perhaps it's just a difference in mosquito population or hiking styles. But know what you're headed for. A few more switchbacks and a few thousand less mosquitos and my reviews might be more positive. Day hike
Issues:
Bugs | No water source
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Fantastic day hike, no snow, and no crowds! Because Mount Baldy isn't listed in many trail books, it isn't well...
Fantastic day hike, no snow, and no crowds! Because Mount Baldy isn't listed in many trail books, it isn't well known, but it's a real gem! The trail is quite steep in spots, but well-maintained with all blowdowns cleared. Even though it was a sunny Saturday on the 4th of July weekend, we saw only two other hikers.
Directions to trailhead: I-90 exit 70. Turn north and cross over I-90. Left onto Sparks Road. After about 1/2 mile, right onto Kachess Dam Road. After about 1/2 mile, pass under power lines. After another 1/4 mile, as the road curves left, turn right on a one-lane dirt road. It isn't marked except for a small red diamond on a tree. Follow this straight back 1/2 mile to the parking lot. There's no privy at the trailhead. We stopped at Traveler's Rest at exit 53. In the first 100 yards of the trail, just before the Kachees Ridge trail sign, the unmarked trail splits off right, downhill to the creek. After crossing the creek on the bridge, the trail's easy to follow. The first section switchbacks through the woods. We had to keep moving or be eaten by mosquitoes. Once on the ridge, the views of Cle Elum Lake, Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and the Stuart range are spectacular. The breeze on the ridge and summit kept the skeets away. A few sections of the trail are steeper than normal, and they're tricky because the fine dirt acts like tiny ball bearings under your boots. It took us about 4 hours up, 2 1/2 hours down, but we rest a lot! We highly recommend this hike. Bring bug repellent and plenty of water! Day hike
Issues:
Blowdowns | Snow on trail | No water source
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Flickr: http://bit.ly/mt-baldy
My thighs are still burning from climbing Eightmile Mountain yesterday, so today I opted for some place low-key to...
Flickr: http://bit.ly/mt-baldy
My thighs are still burning from climbing Eightmile Mountain yesterday, so today I opted for some place low-key to take the dogs on their weekly major exercise. I looked at the Teanaway 20 list for inspiration, Mount Baldy had the lowest elevation with a gorgeous view atop. The dogs and I started hiking shortly after we arrived at 9:30. There were about 10 cars in the lot, with one guy and his dog taking off right before me. The bridge over Silver Creek was somewhat hidden, and I almost crossed the creek barefoot before seeing it to the left after coming down the inconspicuous trailhead. This trail was not as popular as I had anticipated, which was a good thing. We only ran into one couple at the beginning of the hike and another couple just below the ridge of Thomas Mountain/Baldy Mountain junction. Patches of snow on the ridge between the junction and Baldy, but not enough to deter anyone from going forward. We followed the ridge line all the way to the top; pretty straightforward. The peak could be reached directly from the west ridge and there was no need to go around below the peak to come up from the east. The guy with the dog and another guy who came up later did just that. The views were awesome and I could see quite a few of the Teanaway peaks I've been on. The dogs were happy, although a little overheated. They jumped right into Silver Creek to cool off when we got back to the bottom. Coincidentally, on the way down we ran into The Seattle Gay Hiking Group again, first time being on the way down from Green Mountain. The group was on its way back from Easton Ridge. Yet another gorgeous day for a gorgeous hike! Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Blowdowns | Snow on trail
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The sun was gone and it looked like rain was coming, so I headed east of the mountains. Today's destination...
The sun was gone and it looked like rain was coming, so I headed east of the mountains. Today's destination was Mt. Baldy. Getting on the correct trail is a bit tricky. The Kachess Ridge and Easton Ridge trails share a trail head. About 100 yards up the trail you come to a sign saying Kachess Ridge Trail and giving some distances. If you continue past this sign, you are on the wrong trail. Look for a faint path on the right toward the creek. It's very easy to miss.
The trail is in great shape until 3400 ft where the Easton Ridge trail turns right, and the Domerie Divide trail goes left. Take the Domerie divide trail. There are a number of blow downs on this trail. Snow patches start soon after splitting from the Easton Ridge trail, but the trail is easy to follow all the way to about 4200 ft. There the trail plunges underneath the snow for good. Route finding is not a problem though. Just continue up to the top of the ridge. The snow conditions were good. It was soft enough that I wasn't worried about sliding, but firm enough that I didn't post-hole. Once on the ridge, I turned east toward Baldy. It was a nice ridge walk with good views. The ridge is sill about 99% snow covered. The summit of baldy is snow free though. The clouds were rolling in, so after a brief stay at the summit, I headed back. The rain held off until I was about a mile from the car. I saw only one group of people on the whole hike. |
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