Cutthroat Lakes via Walt Bailey Trail — Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025

The road up was snow free until about the last mile. There's been quite a bit of blow down across the road but all of it has been cleared mostly out of the way - just a few larger branches to maneuver around. There was an occasional pot hole here and there but otherwise pretty good condition. There were a few fresh vehicle tracks in the snow but they ended part way up and we were the only ones at the trailhead all day.

We started hiking just before noon. The trail started with a bunch of mud and a creek running down the middle of it. By about half a mile in, we were up to about a foot of fresh snow on the trail, so we switched to snowshoes. By 3/4 of a mile we reached the creek crossing and were walking on several feet of snow. It was quiet and beautiful at the field by the creek crossing. We didn't see an easy way across the creek that was flowing pretty good, so we decided to make it a short hike and head back.