[ragman and rodman]

A 1.4 mile road walk got us to the summer trailhead parking area for the Kachess Ridge (Trail 1315) and Easton Ridge (Trail 1212) trails... where we continued a short distance from the parking area over to Silver Creek... then followed the creek upstream for 100 yards to a dam and bridge crossing. After crossing Silver Creek we switch-backed up to Easton Ridge (~3500')... where we connected with the Domerie Divide Trail #1308.2... using it to reach Point 4942 (aka Para Point) on very steep terrain... then following the Domerie Peak Trail #1308 over to Mount Baldy (5107'). Outstanding views on this gorgeous day... a bit windy on the ridge from Para Point to Baldy... but who cares, we were in sunshine. Lots of up and down terrain from Para Point to Baldy and then back again. Snowshoes and/or spikes/crampons were used at times... and while we did not use our ice axes, it would be smart to have one on this trip. 10 miles roundtrip, gaining 3657 feet of elevation. Do this hike later in the year and shave a total of 2.8 miles off of the walking distance. Sorry, but this will not help in reducing the elevation gain. Para Point and Mount Baldy are unranked peaks on the "Home Court" Top 100 List... which, in my mind, means that they really aren't on the list. Mt. Baldy is also on the "Mountaineers Teanaway Twenty List"... which begs the question, is Baldy really even in the Teanaway??... oh well, we don't make the lists... we just climb the peaks. While BarbE, rodman and iraman were Baldy virgins, I climbed it in 2008... and Snowdog climbed it more times than there are crooked letters in the word Mississippi. GPS track, maps and photos of our snowshoe trip to Mount Baldy. ..

[BarbE]

Other than the road walk this is my favorite kind of trail. No messing around with elevation gain and a sweet pay-off in form of a open ridge walk to the summit. Views of Lake Kachess on one side and Cle Elum Lake on the other. Finally, the perfect sunny day we've been waiting for!

Ragman & Ira above Kachess Lake

Spiking up

steep

steeper

finally on flat ground

first view of Cle Elum Lake

ridge walk to Mt. Baldy

Ira, Elle & Izzy on summit

Cle Elum Lake

Mt. Baldy lunch spot

summit of Mt. Baldy

shadow people

Ira battles the elements

fun cornices along the ridge

sastrugi and spindrift

Rainier through spindrift

cornice above Lake CleElum

cornice walk

Ira snowshoe skiing

[DarkHelmet]

Nice pictures! I hiked up Baldy last weekend. Any chance you found one micro-spike? One was lost on our trip. Pics from that hike: http://www.meetup.com/ePeaks/photos/13476962/

[olymountainman]

Beautiful photos! Would you happen to know if anyone ever skis or snowboards this? I'm thinking of going out tomorrow solo and would enjoy hitting something like this

[Snowdog]

Oly: the skiers in our group were commenting that the terrain was quite skiable-

[ragman and rodman]

DarkHelmet... sorry, but we did not find your microspike.

[olymountainman]

Awesome, thanks!

[ira]

It's definitely skiable, particularly the upper part. The part down low through the trees u might have to carry down.