Mt. Bailey Hike/Climb
On Saturday, I hiked up Mt. Bailey with a friend, my brother-in-law, and a friend of bro-in-law's, as well as said friend's son. It had originally sounded like this might have some climbing element, or at least a few tricky sections, but in reality it was just a pure walk-up, with only one tiny notch that required use of your hands. About 6 miles round trip (we started from the upper trail-head, which cut out the flat hike in from the lower trailhead), and 2700-2800' of gain. That is, after we messed up the start...
We'd all agreed to go for starting at the upper trailhead, which cuts out the flat hike in that sounded sort of pointless. There wasn't very good beta on the upper trailhead, and I thought that I read it was at the end of Road 380. So, I found that on Google Maps, got the GPS coords, put that in my GPS for our drive. We knew it was a solid 4x4 road up there too. We met up with Matt & his son who were in a pretty long Chevy truck, Paul, Ed, and I were in my Jeep. We drove on that road until 3 larged downed trees blocked us going further. According to the GPS, we only had half a mile left, so we just parked, and headed out to find the trailhead. Well, after nearly a mile, and when the road ended, with no trailhead in sight, we knew we messed up. Looking at a real map, we realized the trailhead was not at the end of the road, but a ways back. Back to the cars, which we had to drive backwards a ways (nowhere to turn around), then found the trailhead easily, because it was right where a red SUV was parked that we'd seen on the way up, and all thought "sheesh, what'd that dork park here for?!" :-)
Anyway, from there on, it was pretty straight forward. Steep hike in spots, but overall just a really nice one. Amazing views of Mt. Thielsen which was across Diamond Lake from where we were, and is on the list of peaks to climb. I also admit that I was thinking about how runnable this route would be, as a way to get in some serious run-climbing training. It'd be a bit brutal for some of the lower sections that were quite steep, but the rest might work, aside from having a bit less air up in the 8000' range.
The weather for the day couldn't have been better. It started out seeming cold - saw 24 degrees on the car thermo on the way there, but it was about 40 by the time we started, and I think maybe in the mid-50's by the end. Completely clear, only mild wind at the top, and just so nice. We had a good lunch at the top, where we met Eric and his sons, who we were all super impressed by, given one was 4 years old!!! and the other was I think 6. Nice work kids!
This points out how workable this hike would be for a variety of folks. It's not technical (in the summer/without snow), it's relatively short when parking at the upper trailhead, and while there are definitely some steep spots, it's still all walking/hiking. There are also no crazy exposed sections where you could have a bad fall, etc. There is a cat skiing operation in the winter (how they get the cats in there I have no idea), but the slope is mild enough that I'd be able to hike/skin up and then ski it (assuming I was with folks that had avy training and all that - Matt?). Good peak to know about.
Our hiking time was about 4.5 hours (about 2.5 up, and less than 2 down). I'd say it was a solid pace, when we were hiking, but we also stopped a lot for photos, etc. We hung out at the summit for nearly an hour.
For my own notes, I'm cataloging what I ate, wore, gear, etc...
Food
- At piece of bread with peanut butter for breakfast before leaving house
- Took moka pot of coffee on the road
- Ate a Clif Mojo bar about 30 mins before started hiking
- Consumed 80oz of liquid
- 1 Gu chomps
- 1 Gu gel
- 1 Hammer gel
- PB&J sandwich
- some salted almonds
- espresso beans
Gear
- Camelbak Transalp
- down jacket
- food stuffs
- mini first aid kit, space blanket, chem hand warmers, SPOT, handkerchiefs
- iPhone - camera and video worked well, except for lack of zoom
- wallet
- poles
- gaiters (didn't use)
Clothing - which worked perfect for the day
- Icebreaker wool hat (wore this for only a short bit on first hiking part, then off when we returned to car)
- Pearli cap (wore this for about 2/3rds of the day
- REI Schoeller hiking pants
- Smartwool Adrenaline lighter hiking socks
- Keen boots
- Mtn Hardware very Wicked Lite Double t-shirt
- Icebrearker GT 180 zip long sleeve
- Pearli vest (wore this off and on during the day)
- REI shell (only wore this at the top, after lunch when got a bit cold due to wind)
- sunglasses (Smiths)
