MARYSVILLE — They headed east along the Mountain Loop Highway, passing the Verlot Ranger Station. Miles later, they turned onto one forest road and then another.
The passenger, well into his 90s, wanted to wander the beloved trail, even for just a bit.
His family once called him “The Old Goat” for his stamina, sure-but-nimble feet and knowledge of the back country.
On this day a few years ago, he couldn’t go all that far, perhaps a hundred feet or so, before heading back.
At the trail head, they encountered a hiker who enthusiastically described the wilderness he’d savored along the Walt Bailey Trail.
Ken Cage, president of the Marysville Historical Society, smiled and introduced the stranger to his companion, Walt Bailey.
The hiker studied the wiry figure before him, the friendly, bespectacled fellow whose dream had been to build the 3.5-mile trail so others could soak in the rustic scenery he’d enjoyed since the 1930s. It took five years, help from three generations of his family, permission from the U.S. Forest Service and state Department of Natural Resources and an army of volunteers to blaze the trail to Cutthroat Lakes from the west side. Bailey was well into his 70s when the work was completed in the 1990s.
The hiker who chanced to meet him that day understood the commitment.
“He was amazed,” Cage said.
And grateful.
Bailey died May 27. He was 96. His legacy extended well beyond the trail.
As a young man during the Great Depression, he joined the Civil Conversation Corps where for two years he cut trails, built shelters and fought fires in the Cascade Range. He’d send his mother $25 of the $30 he’d make each month.
By 1941, Bailey was an Army private tending the flower beds outside his barracks near Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked Dec. 7. He fired seven rifle shots at an enemy plane before it disappeared from the horizon. He spent much of World War II in Hawaii, first training German shepherds as guard dogs and then operating searchlight and radar equipment.
In 1944, his unit was sent to Leyte Island in the Philippines as part of the liberation of the islands from Japanese forces, which continued their bombing runs. A shipment of food was delayed. There was little to eat and he contracted dengue fever from the mosquitoes. Shortly after he shipped out, several members of his unit were bayoneted in their sleep.
After the war, Bailey married Verla Johnson, who also grew up on Whiskey Ridge outside of Marysville. They raised three boys and were married for more than six decades. She died in 2013.
Walt Bailey was a machinist at the Weyerhaeuser Mill in Everett for 34 years. He often worked six-day weeks.
In the early 1960s, he and others established Snohomish County Fire District 22 in Getchell east of Marysville. Bailey volunteered for the department for 27 years, sometimes bringing his sons when there were fires to put out. His boys got to help put the roof on the firehouse when it was built.
Tim Bailey spent 16 years volunteering for the department with his dad. These days he’s a fire commissioner.
The hiking trail was a testament to his dad’s determination, Tim Bailey said.
Walt Bailey longed for the mountains. He’d had claims in the Silverton mines that never yielded him any money to speak of, but gave him one more reason to head out for a hike.
“I used to have to crawl on my hands and knees to get through the brush to keep up with him,” Tim said.
Before he could begin working on the trail, Walt Bailey had some convincing to do.
“He basically harassed us until someone would listen,” one state Department of Natural Resources official recalled shortly after it was completed.
He found plenty of help, but Walt Bailey spent many hours on the trail accompanied only by Kire, his German shepherd. There were bridges to build and land to tame. He often used shears on the brush, chainsaws on logs and stumps and his trusty Pulaski to pull and hew roots. Walt Bailey looked back fondly to Fathers Day 1988. All three of his grown sons spent the day with him working on the trail.
Their father wanted others to enjoy the old-growth Western hemlock, the Pacific Silver Fir, the Alaska cedar, the wildflowers springing up around snowfields, the wild blueberries, the fish, the reflections from the alpine lakes, the beauty everywhere.
In the woods and close to home, Walt Bailey proudly wore a blue cap with “Pearl Harbor Survivor” stitched in yellow letters. Bailey was the last member of a local chapter of Pearl Harbor survivors. They’d meet at the Golden Corral restaurant in Marysville. He continued showing up to spend time with their wives. Tim and his wife, Cathy, now go in his stead.
Tim had planned to take his dad to the Memorial Day ceremony at the Marysville Cemetery last month. Walt Bailey died the Friday before.
“I hated to see Dad go, but he lived a good life,” Tim said.
Walt Bailey’s final years were spent living in Tim’s home. He had plenty of family nearby. On adjacent properties were grandchildren, great grandchildren and a great-great grandson who’d visit him often.
Cathy washed her father-in-law’s Pearl Harbor cap after he died. He rarely let it out of his sight. Today, it hangs prominently in the Bailey’s living room.
Services are planned for 11 a.m. Saturday at the 92nd Street Church, 4226 92nd St. NE, Marysville.
Walt Bailey will be buried next to his wife at the Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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