Melakwa Lake, Denny Creek & Kaleetan Peak — Friday, Sep. 19, 2025

On this very hot September Friday, I finally managed to try another attempt on Kaleetan Peak again as a couple of weeks prior, I ran out of time to go all the way up.

I started late (again) at around 10am at the trailhead and made my way up to Melakwa Lake without any issues.

The trail up to Kaleetan was in a good enough shape. There is some scrambling involved before the first false summit is reached. The first false summit already offers nice views.

I made it to the final scramble underneath the peak by dropping over the ridge and down to climb up again across the boulder field. Be mindful to stay on the trail (as marked on Garmin's ToPo maps for example) and not get too close to the ridge line dropping off down to Melakwa Pass - you don't want to slide down that one!

The final summit scramble is easier than it looks from afar. If you're somewhat comfortable with a class 3 scramble, it's very doable. Take your time, leave clumsy packs etc. at the bottom of the climb.

The summit views are among some of the best I have seen this summer. You can frame up Big Snow Mountain, Mount Hinman, Mount Daniel, Burntboot Peak, Overcoat Peak, Chimney Rock, Lemah Mountain, Mt. Thomson, Kendall Peak with Snoqualmie Mountain and Chair Peak in the foreground. Mount Stuart thrones in the background. You're looking down on Kaleetan Lake, Snow Lake, Gem Lake and Melakwa Lake. On the day I climbed Kaleetan, the Labor Mountain Fire blew up a huge mushroom cloud, clearly visible in my image above. The horizon was covered in smoke from the two large wildfires raging then.

I made it down back to the Denny Creek trail, still enjoying a few minutes of sunset on Melakwa Lake. I had to hike the last two hours with a headlamp without daylight back to the trailhead.

This was one of the best climbs I did this summer.