Avoiding Katwalk Crowds on Kendall Peak Summit

Disclaimer

All pictures were taken by Magellan and were used with his consent.

The Trip Report

Well it was Saturday and the weather forecast wasn't looking too great, but Magellan and I wanted to knock down yet another summit. For me it would be the fourth new summit in (at the time) this young month. Both Magellan and I are in probably our best shape of the year so this 9 mile trip was going to be a walk in the park, especially the PCT section.

Heading out the weather did not look so hot. The forecast was calling for rain so we were not excepting much on this trip. All the mountains were socked in with clouds and at times it looked like it could rain. Magellan told me to be prepared for rain and I was but I was hoping for at least peek-a-boo views. Magellan was just hoping that we would summit this peak and get down without getting drenched. But we both had summit fever so we decided to give this mountain a go.



The trip up the PTC section was ather uneventful except for the Boy Scout troop that brought lawn chairs up the trail. With it's simple great this section took no time going up and before long we were right at bootpath heading to the summit of Kendall Peak. We passed by a couple nice huckleberry fields but the huckleberry fields were not ready quite yet. At about 4 miles after two switchbacks we turned off on an unmarked boot path that headed up the to summit of Kendall Peak

The bootpath from the PCT here is Class 2 and barely at that. It headed up through a steeper hillside up a heather field. The bootpath here is easy to follow and has some switchbacking up the steep hillside. Poles up this section do help and I wish I brought them. Magellan pciked the way through the route and in 20 minutes. On the boot path some peek-a-boo views began to to open up of Snoqualmie Mountain and Red Mountain.

By the time we reached the top there were some occasional descent views of the area. It was cool watching all the people passing by the true summit of Kendall Peak and heading of to the Katwalk. You could actually see the armies walk right on by. Magellan and I sat on the summit for a while to wait and see if more views open up. We had the summit all to ourselves and sat on the peak to enjoy the summit. The views were peek-a-boo but it was decent and without a doubt on a clear day Kendall Peak probaly has nice 360 degree views. Overall this summit was well worth the trip and the weather was better than Magellan and I excepted.




After an hour on the summit it was time to head on down. Magellan cruised down the bootpath while I was a little more cautious. I was really missing my pokes for balance here and probably would have been quite quicker going down this section.

Soon though we were of the bootpath and on our way down the PCT. We passed by a ton of people heading to the Katwalk. I could only imagine the amount of people just sitting there taking pictures on the Katwalk. I wasn't surprised to see a lot of hiker use this aream but I was shocked to see them all out this weekend. And I didn't realize how well known the Katwalk is to the average hiker. Maybe when I go for Red Mountain I will stop back at the Katwalk to see what it is like.



It only took us 1 1/2 hours to get down from Kendall to our car. There were some cool flowers to see on the way down. We ran into even more people heading to the Katwalk and almost all of them asked us about the view. They were dissappointed when we told them we went to the peak instead. Surprisingly none of them asked about the peak option. THat actually is a good thing.

Once back at the trailhead we enjoyed some premium root beer and headed back to Seattle. Magellan decided to take a wonderful picture of me passed out with a root beer in my hand but I decided not to put that on this site because it isn't hiking related. Overall it was a great time and both of us are greatful to be in the mountain for another day.

Images

View Avoiding Katwalk Crowds on Kendall Peak Summit Image Gallery - 5 Images