Kaleetan PeakRecent Trip Reports
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Day hike
Issues:
Bugs
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Did this wonderful hike today with my brother and best friend and his brother. I am an avid hiker and...
Did this wonderful hike today with my brother and best friend and his brother. I am an avid hiker and Melakwa Lake was recommended to my by a good friend. Just joined this site today and I thought I'd share this with you... The destination was beautiful. Although, we got to our destination (Upper Melakwa Lake) and climbed a really steep ridge that looked down at both Melakwa Lakes. Then all of a sudden two helicopters flew in. One was the King County Sheriff. For about 8 minutes they were looking for somebody. The helicopter flew over to us and my best friend and I motioned for them to look behind them. There was a large crowd of about 9 people across from the ridge that we were standing on (600 yards away). King County Sheriff flew over there and dropped a rescue worker to assess the situation. They lifted a body back into the helicopter. Apparently what had happened was a 20-year-old man and his buddy were climbing a steep ridge when one of them turned around to take a picture of the view behind him and ended up falling 40 feet. He did not survive. CPR was performed for about 50 minutes but the man had suffered massive head trauma and his brain had swelled. You know, it's moments like that that reminds you safety should always be #1 priority. People go into hikes not thinking that, 'hey maybe I may die today.' It's crazy. Be safe.
Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming | Ripe berries
Issues:
Snow on trail | Bugs
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Its a bit weird to enter this trip report about an exciting and fun climb of Kaleetan, after reading about...
Its a bit weird to enter this trip report about an exciting and fun climb of Kaleetan, after reading about the tragedy that happened there the next day, not to mention the tragic death from a fall there earlier this year. Take care in the mountains!
The trail to Melakwa Lake is well maintained, varied, and went by quickly. We decided to try and follow the route in Peggy Goldman's 75 scrambles book, rather than go up the boring ridge from Melakwa Lake. First we scrambled around the west side of upper Melakwa Lake, although we later saw that there is an easier route on the east side. We then followed the stream to the upper bowl, and looked for the "white ledges" described in the Goldman book, which were not apparent. Instead we saw 2 large cairns marking a gully route to the the saddle. We started up the gully on loose steep slippery rock, glad we had helmets, then after a short distance we saw a way to get up onto solid ledges on the right side of the gully. The climb to the saddle was easy. At times it felt exposed and scary. Although there were no difficult moves, I didnt feel too secure about the solidity or slipperyness of all my hand and footholds. From the saddle there was a lovely easy ridge stroll to the summit gully, which is impressively steep, and looks impossible from a distance, but is surprisingly easy. There is a possibility of loose rockfall, and helmets are a good idea here. The summit is an indescribably lovely place with views from the Olympics and downtown Seattle to all the volcanos, Mt Stuart and the Alpine Lakes. We took the ridge route on the descent which is steep and slippery, especially in the woods on pine duff, and rather difficult. Not sure if it is any easier than the gully but probably less scary. There were an annoying number of biting flies and mosquitos at times. It was a fairly long, 9 hour day, fully satisfying. No blueberries even close to ripeness! But there are still some yummy salmonberries and thimbleberries along the Melakwa Lake trail.
Melakwa Lake, Kaleetan Peak
— Aug 27, 2011
— snowdog
Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
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The Melakwa lake trail is heavily used- and for good reason! It is lovely, not too difficult & provides...
The Melakwa lake trail is heavily used- and for good reason! It is lovely, not too difficult & provides an array of visual delights! Waterfalls, flowers, and a beautiful lake cirque.
The trail is baby-bottom smooth the 1st mile to the Denny water slide, then becomes more 'trail like' ascending up the valley to Hemlock Pass. It is shady enough that even on a warm day, it isn't oppressively hot. There was enough of a breeze that bugs ween't bad, BUT, they could have been. Once at the lake (4.5 miles) we found the bootpath leading up Kaleetan ridge. This is VERY steep & not always obvious. You quickly gain over 1000'. Once you break out of the trees into the open, you can see your objective in the distance. It looks farther than a mile and a half. It feels farther too. You have to traverse round & lose several hundred feet of elevation before the final climb up the gully. Views are tremendous- you can see SO many lakes- the entire Alpine Lakes Wilderness feels like it is at your feet! The descent is tedious if you wish to stay upright ;)- loose sandy footing and steepish rock. This is not 'just a hike'. There are several different routes up Kaleetan - we chose this one because we didn't bring helmets & knew the gully route from Melakwa pass had lots of loose rock. Next time I will bring a helmet & do it as a loop. About 12 miles & 4k+ gain. Great day in the mountains!
Kaleetan Peak, Melakwa Lake
— Aug 14, 2011
— dskendall
Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Snow on trail
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Kaleetan Peak is a true WA classic, a bright feather in the cap of anyone's trapses through Washington's mountains. ...
Kaleetan Peak is a true WA classic, a bright feather in the cap of anyone's trapses through Washington's mountains. A few snow patches to cross on the ridge and then a steep downclimb on snow. For full trip report and photos, please see http://peakery.com/Kaleetan-Peak/
Melakwa Lake, Kaleetan Peak
— Aug 12, 2011
— mOuNtAiNeEr51
Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Blowdowns | Water on trail | Snow on trail | Bugs
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Trail to the lake is 100% snow free. From the lake, we hiked up the toilet trail onto the hill...
Trail to the lake is 100% snow free. From the lake, we hiked up the toilet trail onto the hill but at a branch we went right (a small sign on a tree says the toilet is to the left). From here the trail is very steep. We slowly made our way up to the top of the 5700ft. hill. Lots of little flies, but no mosquitoes. From the hill, the trail drops down the other side into the basin before the summit. It was here we encountered some steep patches of pretty hard snow. Crampons would be a very good idea. Ice axe is needed for sure.
Once the trail started to head uphill to the summit from the basin, it was much better, but still very steep. The summit is a fun class high class 2 to low class 3 scramble. Some loose rocks here and there so be careful. The summit is pretty cool, as we sat above some pretty high cliffs, looking down on various lakes, and out to many mountains near and far. Look for the metal Mountaineers summit register, too. We went down the east gully. When in the gully, make sure to yell really loudly, because the echo is amazing! But the gully was quite a challenge. It still had a lot of snow, with moats on either side. This was a killer down-climb without crampons. Would've been pretty easy with crampons, but since he didn't bring any, it was by far the hardest down-climb I've ever done on snow. To get a secure grip in the hard snow, we had to slam the picks of our ice axes into the snow instead of the spikes. It took a long time and kicking into the snow was hard. At the bottom of the gully we followed the valley back down the lakes, and hiked the trail out. Very strenuous, but fun outing. If you want to go up Kaleetan, bring crampons!!! |
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