After a full day of climbing on Saturday, we slept in a little and started on the trail towards Mt. Bailey just after 8:00 AM on October 8, 2023. We were sad to say goodbye to Liz and Kori the night before, but otherwise the rest of the Thielsen crew stayed on for Bailey - 10 climbers in total. It was much cooler on Sunday (Jeff E’s truck said 34 degrees) but the air warmed fairly quickly over the course of the morning. We lucked out with another beautiful, sunny day with clear skies, and the views of Thielsen across Diamond Lake were great.
Again, looking to lighten the weight of packs, some stashed water at the upper trailhead (~2 miles in). We saw a few small groups of hikers over the course of the trail, but it wasn’t too busy at all. It was a comfortable hike through the trees, and the group’s excitement grew as we reached some of the more interesting features of the climb - the giant pit of doom to the right of the trail (don’t fall in there!!!), the multicolored rocks making up the stegosaurus spine on the ridge, and the mysterious hole in the wall perfectly framing Thielsen across the lake. Upon reaching the hole in the wall, we were dismayed to see that someone had stuck a sticker on one of the rocks - Jeff E. was a hero and used his pocketknife to lift the edge and remove it.
As we approached the crux - the only point on the whole climb where you need your hands - Kaitlin ran ahead to take action shots of our bold and brave group. From there, we finished the hike across the ridge, reaching the very windy summit at about 11:40 AM. Luckily for us, there was a couple on the summit willing to take our group photo. Around half of the climbers decided to venture off the summit on the trail that continues onward, to see what they could see, while the rest backtracked to a spot on some boulders with less wind to eat lunch. Before long, the scouts rejoined the rest of the group. We lounged around for a while, and then we finished up our break, and began to head down.
One member of our group, Olivia, was experiencing some pain in one of her legs, and she decided to get a head start so as to not slow down the group. Olivia definitely earned the toughest climber award for the day. The team was supportive of Olivia - Jeff E. carried her pack, and John M. and Cathy each took one of her water bottles in an effort to lighten her load. Olivia stayed at the front of the group for the descent, and despite her injury, the group kept a comfortable pace the whole way down. We took a quick break at the upper trailhead to grab stashed water bottles and eat snacks and made it back to the parking lot just after 3:00 PM. Special congratulations to the first time summiters of Bailey, listed below
First Bailey Summit: Geoff Barstow, Jeff Easter, John Mandrafina, Laurie Muhlbauer, Olivia Ong, and Tony Sprauer
Full Team Roster: Geoff Barstow, John Conley, Jeff Easter, Ellen Gradison, Cathy Lazarus, John Mandrafina, Laurie Muhlbauer, Olivia Ong, Kaitlin Sommerfeld, Tony Sprauer
Leader: Cathy Lazarus
Assistant: Ellen Gradison
Report prepared by Kaitlin Sommerfeld.
Photos from both the Thielsen and Bailey climbs can be found here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/sPHRnkofoQ8reZ4K9