This little-used trail to Bedal Basin below Sloan Peak is one to try out if you want to get away from some of the crowded trails in the North Cascades. The 4096 road off of the Mountain Loop Highway is rough in places as you drive to the trail head where there is parking for 5 or 6 vehicles. The trail goes up through old growth forest and some slide alder areas. Under the big trees the trail is covered in Western Hemlock cones since this trail sees a very small number of boots during a year. A few parts of the trail have gotten very brushy and lots of dead limbs lay on it (I threw alot of them out of the way on the way up). You get to use some of your off trail route finding skills on this trip. After crossing the first large creek on some rocks, the trail seems to disappear about 100 yards ahead. It looks like the trail should go the the right and down hill, but it doesn't. It turns sharply to the left and goes up hill for 200 feet, then right again, contouring the hill side. A large limby dead tree is covering up the trail at this point, so it is hard to see what directioning you need to go. After crossing a second stream you have to climb over some fallen trees and the trail comes the the edge of the same second stream. I followed this stream bank where rock cairnes showed the way. There was some snow on the trail in a few spots and the creeks were roaring. Only saw two other hikers on the day I was hiking. It is a nice area to explore where you will have the forest to youself.

Climbed Sloan Peak corkscrew route via lower shelf/SE ramp. Trail to Bedal Basin had been cleared of brush for first two avalanche tracks, but pretty brushy in other places higher up. Nice rock cairns and orange tree flags made a big difference when trail became a little difficult to follow through Bedal Creek bed. All in all, pretty decent going up to a nice, heathery basin. Lack of snow on lower shelf made for difficult granite climbing. Rest of way was pure ecstasy to the top! Great scramble, but not for the faint of heart.

The Mallardy Ridge trail is the one sane way to get to Cutthroat Lakes, and Bald Mountain. It is about 4.5 miles to the lakes, with a 600 ft. total gain, but includes numerous ups and downs, so it can be strenuous in both directions. The DNR road from the Sultan side was locked, so we went to the ranger station at Verlot, who handed us a flyer describing this hike. We had thought about the Bald Mtn. trail, but it is over 10 miles one way. This is a gorgeous hike, with dozens of lakes at the end of the trip. The first 2 miles are an easy walk. It gets a bit harder at 2 miles, as it starts to climb. The lakes are beautiful, with numerous camp sites. Bald Mtn. is an easy climb above the lakes. The flies were pretty bad, and they went away as we applied bug repellant, then the mosquitos found us. It urged us to keep moving. There was almost no snow on the trail. This was a great day hike, and we will do it again.

We wanted to hike in to Cutthroat Lakes the easy way, by Road P5000 as described in Best Hikes With Children, but when we called DNR, we learned that road is permanently gated and locked, because there has been so much vandalism and garbage there. So I guess we'll have to do it the hard way again, by way of the Walt Bailey Trail.

This trail trailhead is at the end of FS Rd #4030, 7 mi east of Verlot (Mountain loop dr). The first 1 1/2 mi are snow free and in good condition. Solid snow is encountered at the first meadows at about 3800 ft. The snow is relatively easy to walk on, but I still pooped out and couldn't make it to the end. This area will probably be better around mid june. The road to the trailhead has several nice views.