Bald Mountain via Ashland Lakes — Sunday, Jul. 20, 2025

Road to trailhead: It's on the longer side and has some fairly large potholes. Some of the road is very narrow and you might have to pull over into some bushes. Low cars may have to turn around, but for anyone else it's going to take a while, especially when you turn on to Forest Road 4021. I drive a slightly lifted 4Runner so I had zero issues.

Arrival time: 8:30am on a Sunday. No issues getting there, including the rough roads.

Parking: It's small, but it was almost completely empty at 8:30am.

Trailhead features: Closed bathroom as of this trail report.

Exposure: Very little exposure. This is one of the nice features of the hike.

Unique features of the hike: There are a lot of boardwalks as this hike goes through some marshes and it's possibly the most quiet hike I've ever been on. I did not see another person while on the trail. Once you split from the Ashland Lakes trail, the blowdowns and unmaintained trail begins and it starts very quickly. 

I only went as far as the West Peak, but Gaia was helpful because I lost the trail a few times. Right now, there will be walking through thorny bushes and navigating downed trees.

Perceived difficulty: Not difficult with a downloaded map and the ability to climb over or get under blowdowns. There were orange, red, and pink trail markers to help navigation. I'm not sure if a downloaded map is completely necessary, but I was happy to have it. Vegetation can cause you to lose the trail so if you go when things die off, that could help.

Special gear to bring: A bug net for now and pants. If you forget the bug net like I did, you might now want to stop often. I was glad I wore pants for all the plants with thorns.

Gaia stats: 7.79 miles with 1,636ft of elevation gain in 4h 22m which is pretty slow and 5hr 32m with stopped time included.

I stopped to do some minor trail maintenance with a hand saw on a handful of occasions but this trail needs a chainsaw or three and several people to move some of these large blowdowns which may never happen sadly.

There was no peak or "viewpoint" along this trail and the only reasons I can see doing this hike are to escape the city and people, wanting someplace to do trail maintenance, or to work on trail navigation skills. 

The traverse might be fun too, but I cannot imagine how many more blowdowns you'd face and how hard the trail might be to follow.