Trip Report
Mount Baldy (winter/spring)
A brave foray through rain, hail and snow cleared into a beautiful summit adventure with great pictures!
Laura Ouimette
- Wed, Apr 11, 2018
- Mount Baldy (winter/spring)
- Scrambling
- Successful
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- Road recommended for high clearance only
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Kachess Dam road was well graded and passable for any vehicle but the gravel road leading to trail 1212 etc. was full of potholes and snow. We drove a ways in our high clearance AWD vehicles and then pulled off and parked and walked the final half mile to the trailhead as the conditions became too sketchy.
We met up at Issaquah transit for a leisurely 7:15 start and reached the spot where we left our cars at approx. 8:30. After a half mile road walk to the official trailhead we set off at 9:10am. We were able to follow the summer trail for a good two miles in a cleansing (soaking) rain up to the first ridge before it was covered in snow at around 3200'. We achieved full drowned-rat appearance at that point, found the geocache and then proceeded in a leisurely fashion to head through the woods practicing snow skills for those who were students. We checked in regularly as the avalanche danger was listed as considerable but agreed that it seemed like we were okay on the ridge with the low amount of snow coverage. We began to dry out as the rain ceased and arrived up at Para point at 12:45pm. We took a short lunch break and put on our snowshoes as to address postholing before setting off again. The sun poked through with a few patches of blue sky as we traversed the ridge, arriving at the true summit at 2:30pm. After a half hour of relaxing, photos and watching the view appear and disappear with the moving clouds we headed back down through variable snow hail and rain. We reached Para point at 3:45pm and were back at the cars around 6:00.
Leaders: Danielle Graham and Beth Morrigan
Mileage: 8 mi
Elevation gain: 3185ft
Moving time: 6:30, Stopping time: 2:45