Bailey Range Traverse

Approach & Route

There are multiple ways to get started, and one typical route is to begin from Sol Duc trail head. The route traverses from the High Divide towards Cat Peak and then more or less follows the ridgeline of the Bailey range down to Bear Pass and down into the Queets basin.  One can exit at this point down through the Elwah snow finger (melts out earlier every year) to make it a true traverse, or loop back around towards Olympus and trek out creating a loop. 

It is a rugged alpine adventure and can include, hiking along exposed ridges, climbing steep snow (up to 35-40 degrees), rappelling down steep dirty walls, glacier travel (over snow and ice), ascending and descending talus and scree slopes, rock scrambling on crumbling rock, bushwhacking, peak bagging with some roped rock climbing and rappelling, and lots of fun navigational route finding challenges. On the plus side, there are amazing views at almost every turn, water is plentiful, and lots of great campsites along the way.  It is also easy to extend it to include climbing several local peaks (scrambles and roped climbing). Depending on the routes chosen, rappelling may be required to navigate some sections.  If you travel by Camp Pan I highly recommend spending a night there, it was definitely a top 3 campsite of all time for me.

 The loop route is about 60 miles and variations can be done in one to several days (trading off food weight for days on the trail), with many teams choosing to do it in around 5 days.  The beginning and ends of the route are on good trails. When we did it, we averaged 15+ miles a day on trail and around 7+ miles a day in the off trail sections. 

 Here is a sample 5 day Itinerary:

Recommended Gear:

• The Ten Essentials
• Gear for travel far from civilization
  • Stoves, water purification (consider duplicates across the group)
• Prepare for variable Weather 
• Bear Canisters Required
• Personal Communications Device (e.g. in reach) as there is very limited cell service on the route.
• Climbing Gear
  • Rope, harness, ice axe, crampons and helmet for glacier travel, scrambling, and rock climbing.  
  • Climbing protection (cams and nuts for rock, pickets and ice screws for glacier), anchor materials, and rescue kit for rock climbing, rappelling, and glacier depending on route.
• Lightweight Mountaineering Boots, Approach Shoes, or Trail Runners (make sure that your footwear works with your crampons)
• Camera

• Suitable Activities: Backpacking, Climbing, Scrambling, Trail Running
• Climbing Category: Basic Alpine
• Seasons: June, July, August, September
• Weather: View weather forecast

• Difficulty: Technical 3, Strenuous 4, Basic Glacier Climb
• Length: 60.0 mi
• Elevation Gain: 22,500 ft
• High Point: 7,965 ft

• Land Manager: Olympic National Park
• Parking Permit Required: National Park Entrance Fee
• Recommended Party Size: 4
• Maximum Party Size: 12
• Maximum Route/Place Capacity: 12