[frankm3]

Sunday morning Quark, Zoe, and I headed out to the Mountain Loop outside Granite Falls past Verlot to the Walt Bailey trail. Barring one other car (who we met up with and were overnighting), we were the only car there at 9:30 Sunday morning. The hike is about 4 miles each way to get to the Cutthroat Lakes, which are at about 4,000' in elevation. The trail is in the Mt. Pilchuck NRCA (Natural Resources Conservation Area), the area is anomolous for the high amount of rain and snowfall, and the predominance of subalpine plants at unusually low elevations. The trail starts off climbing moderately through the woods for about a mile and a half; and proceeds through a HUGE picturesque meadow which would be fun to explore in it's own right. After passing through the meadow, it's back into the woods a bit; and then across a talus slope and up some more to the high heather meadows and scenery of the Cutthroat Lakes. The trail was generally snow-free through the first couple miles, what little snow remained was pretty easy traveling. We ate lunch, wandered around a bit, and headed back to the car, making it back by about 5:30. I really enjoyed this hike immensely; the alpine scenery and the views were pretty amazing for someplace so close to home.

Scenery of Cutthroat Lakes area

One of the Cutthroat Lakes

Scenic Tarn

Famous NW Hiker Quark

[Quark]

It's the best bang for the buck in the scenery department! The books talk about the amateur trail work and that it takes un-necessary meaders and elevation losses. So what? It wanders through some pretty darn gorgeous meadows. I thought it was very well constructed! Lots of mudholes and such, but that occurs after the fact, and what trail doesn't have mudholes in it?

[pequod]

Nice pics and report. The Walt Bailey Trail is one of my all-time favorites..

[Tsolo]

It's amazing how little snow there is up there. It looks more like normal July levels. I did this hike once in the late autumn, and didn't really have a lot of time to explore around, but I remember that there were some interesting rocks in the area (big chunks of quartz), and LOTS of bear scat. Apparently there's also a trail (maybe only a route) into the area from the east side. Has anyone ever done it that way? What's it like?

[Snowshoe Hare]

[Tsolo]

Snowshoe -- Thanks for the update. I guess I can cross that route off my to-do list. I assume that's the same access road that used to let you climb Vesper and Sperry Peaks from the Spada Lake side.