Climbing Old Baldy and Ghost Mountain

When we stopped in the Visitor Center in Chetwynd, BC, our host recommended we try a hike up Old Baldy, which leads to a loop involving a further climb up Ghost Mountain, an old woods road around the back of Ghost Mountain, and a primitive connector trail back to where we started.  It would be about 5.5 miles, with lots of up and down.  That sounds like just the ticket!

Our trail started in a thick, young aspen forest.  Monday, May 20, 2019, was clear, bright and warm -- a perfect hiking day:

The sky was a deeper blue than we've seen for a while, and it formed a perfect backdrop for the white aspen trunks and their fresh, new spring wardrobe:

Partway up Old Baldy Trail, we came across a hewn log bench that had lost its back, which carried the legend, "Trails for Tomorrow."  David couldn't resist trying to put the bench back together:

It wasn't long before we reached the summit of Old Baldy --

-- which gave us expansive views of Chetwynd to the east, and the Rocky Mountains beyond Tumbler Ridge in the background.  Somewhere out there, we fished Moose Lake the other day:

Turning back to our trail, we didn't lack for signs to point us the way to Ghost Mountain:

The trail to Ghost Mountain was unique because it ran sidehill just parallel to a climbing ridge that formed a col between the two peaks.  If you look very closely at the top of the trail in this photo, you'll see little Kathy opposite that fir tree, quite a climb above:

From our open sidehill trail, the peak of Ghost Mountain beckoned.  We were warned that that final stretch beyond the aspen stand would be a very steep climb:

Here, Kathy makes the final push up to the summit of Ghost Mountain:

Here's a video from the top of Ghost Mountain, showing Kathy as she finishes her steep ascent.

Yahoo!

There weren't too many wildflowers along the trail; we don't know whether that was because it was too early in the spring or too late.  But this one was a beauty:

From the Ghost Mountain summit, a connector trail took us along the top if the peak toward the Muskwa Trail --

-- and a huge sign told us we had arrived at the junction.

While the front slopes of Old Baldy and Ghost Mountain were dominated by aspen trees, the top and back were dominated by fir trees, along with what we believed to be ash trees.  Rains from a few days ago still hadn't dried on the trail, making it muddy and very wet in places.  The fact that a trail maintenance ATV had been through since the rain didn't help matters, because the ATV tires chewed up the mucky trail:

We saw some interesting fungi in the wet parts of the forest, including this unique little fellow:

Our hike along the back of the mountains and down topo lines to the viewpoint back on the Chetwynd side was a beautiful but muddy hike up and down ridges, and through and around drainages.  At the lookout, we were pleasantly surprised to find an informal hammock that someone had carefully constructed out of wood, rope and twine.  It was falling apart, but it still had enough life in it to give David a little rest:

Thus refreshed, we finished our circle back across the front of Old Baldy, found the trail back to the parking lot, and finished without incident -- other than meeting and socializing with many locals who were taking advantage of the glorious weather of the last day of their long Victoria Day weekend.  It was a cheery way to end our own outing.