Little Bald Mountain

Monday, May 27, 2024

Our last hike of Labor Day Weekend was up Little Bald Mountain.

We started at the Coalmine Hill Trailhead. Little Bald Mountain is part of a longer loop hike, but we didn’t do that whole loop.

We started out on an old roadbed:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Then we crossed Smith Ditch on a footbridge. This ditch was a 1930s CCC project that diverted water from Ditch Creek to Willow Creek for irrigation water:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

We skirted the edge of Herren Meadow. I didn’t get a photo of them, but we saw several elk out there:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Standing water and flowers:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

We hiked through pretty forest:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Then we reached the side trail for Gibson Cave:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

At the cave are the broken remains of a long-gone interpretive panel:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

This cave got its name when a man named Gibson lived here during the Great depression. He even built a door with a wall and a window. All evidence of that is gone now:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

View from the cave mouth:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

We headed back to the main trail and continued on. We were too early for most wildflowers, but we saw some:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Unlike Madison Butte the day before this trail had not yet seen any maintenance:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Greg stayed behind taking photos and I kept hiking. I reached an open meadow area below the summit where balsamroot and other flowers were starting to bloom:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Looking up towards the false summit (the true summit is just beyond):

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Looking back behind me:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

In the distance I could see Mt. Hood:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

And Mt. Adams:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Almost to the summit:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Made it!

Little Bald Mountain Hike

It’s a wide open area with one lone tree:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

The tree has a mailbox on it which contains a bunch of old logbooks, most of which were in very poor condition:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Looking over to Bald Mountain:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Black Mountain in the distance:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Little Bald Mountain Hike

We decided to head back down to the false summit and have a break there. The view to the west is actually better from there:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

After our break we headed back down:

Little Bald Mountain Hike

Nice hike! It will probably be quite pretty in a few weeks when more wildflowers get going. I’d like to do the whole loop sometime.

Gaia stats: 4 miles, 840′ elevation tain