Drove out to the Walt Bailey Trail to visit the good ol' Cutthroat Lakes & Bald Mountain. The road is not too bad, but many of the potholes are deep enough that I'd recommend at least 7 inches of clearance just to be on the safe side. I got to the trailhead at 10 am and was the 4th car to arrive.
The trail up is snow free the entire way. There are a few blowdowns to negotiate, most of them in the first half mile from the trailhead. I passed three other parties on the way up and nobody on the way back! If you want a place to escape the crowds, this is it. Wildflowers are blooming everywhere in the meadows and along the streams. Frogs and pikas abound. There are three or four small streams and the lakes for water; Bald Mountain is dry. Many of the smaller tarns are stagnant and full of breeding insects. Thirsty, anyone? Bugs are a nuisance at the lakes and on Bald's summit. The mosquitoes were mild but the ants, gnats and biting flies came to join the party. There are several sites to pitch a solo tent including a few small group sites (room for about 3 2-person tents).
Past the lakes, the trail becomes somewhat overgrown and difficult to follow in places. Social trails meander all over the basin and ridge, making things even more bewildering. The trick is to follow the western shore of Upper Cutthroat Lake (the one w/the island) toward the ridge east of Bald Mtn's summit. You can easily see the summit and ridge from here. You know you are going the right way once you start climbing up and away from the lakes. Oh, and you will be heading the opposite direction from the mountain, if you weren't already confused enough. The trail is narrow and choked with overgrowth in places. You will have to push through tree branches and berry bushes. It will feel like you're getting yourself lost on some abandoned path but you are going the right way. After cresting the ridge, the trail turns back toward Bald Mtn and comes to an easy-to-miss junction. Right leads to the summit, straight leads down an abandoned trail for two miles to the old parking lot for the Cutthroat Lakes. There is an old, busted sign on the ground that marks the turnoff but that's also easy to miss. If you suddenly find yourself hiking down the east side of the ridge, you've gone too far. Once past the junction the trail passes through meadows strewn with white boulders. The approach to the summit is steep, rocky and exposed. Some hikers may not be comfortable with the trail conditions past this point. For those who persevere, the views from the top are excellent.
I scrambled up Bald and found the geocache. The Mountaineers register looks like it got destroyed as I found a few pieces of the PVC housing. I added a bauble to the geocollection and put an entry in the notebook. Nobody else seems to have found it since my last entry November of 2019. Lame! Here's a hint: first, scramble to the very tippy top of Bald. Once there, make like you are starting to go back down and just... look to the left. There may or may not be a small plastic box under a rock. I also can neither confirm nor deny the presence of a nice little grassy spot under any such rock where the alleged box might reside.
I hiked back to my car in the evening, seemingly the only one left out on the trail as I didn't pass anyone else. Got back to the trailhead at 7pm, drove home and whipped up some post-hike chili.
Summary: RT ~10mi w/~3000ft of gain to Bald Mtn. 2-3 hours each way plus hangout time.
"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."
-Lao Tzu
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