My family used to camp on the Entiat River and lately I've been looking for an excuse to make the long drive for some hiking in the area. With clouds and precipitation in the forecast for most of the Cascades and Olympics on Saturday the best chance to climb a mountain in the sunshine was near Lake Chelan and that was good enough for me. I started over Snoqualmie Pass at 4 am in an attempt to make the most of the morning sun. Thanks to the WSDOT website I chose to drive the long way (through Vantage) to avoid several inches of compact snow and ice on Blewett Pass. Mud Creek Road 5300 was covered in ice on the drive up, and snow appeared before the turn onto road 8410. I parked around 3200' below a shady stretch of steep icy road.

I headed up the road with the dogs in tow before 9 am, passing a hunting camp in the first mile. There were 2-3 inches of snow on the road which had been broken through by a few vehicles, a few of which we encountered along the way. Early on I could see the stormy weather to the West blocking views into the Enchantments. I noticed what I thought to be Baldy Mountain when I started up 8410, but the summit was over the hill until I crested a small peak about halfway up. Lake Chelan became visible as we entered the site of a wildfire filled with silver snags, many of them blown down by the high winds that frequent the area. That wind steadily increased as we gained elevation. We avoided it at times when it was possible to drop slightly below the ridge on the NW side.

We alternated between the road and open country, sometimes ending up on old roads that had long-since grown over. The final 500 feet below the rocky summit was complicated by tons of blown down silver snags. The snow was up to 1 foot deep here, but remained firm enough that there was no need to break out the snowshoes that I carried all day. At the top I found a summit register with a geocache. The ridge up to Stormy Mountain could be seen, it's summit hidden above a ceiling of dark clouds. I had planned to continue on, but the weather was not encouraging. After a snack out of the wind we headed back down, hoping to make it over the mountain passes before the temperature began to drop.

The hike down went quickly, thanks to a few route improvements around wildfire debris and some cut switchbacks. Much of the snowy road had melted out, but some ice still remained on shady Mud Creek Road. I returned via Highway 97, which was bare and dry and showered in sunshine by the time I reached it. Some of the Enchantments peeked out of the clouds on my way through Cashmere. It snowed lightly over Snoqualmie Pass, a few dozen people had the slopes to themselves.

9 miles round trip
3300' gain
5 hours car to car

Pictures and route map @ http://www.jebsjourneys.com/2013/11/a-bald-spot-of-sunshine-baldy-mountain.html