Kelly Butte — Thursday, Sep. 27, 2012

Mount Rainier Area > Chinook Pass - Hwy 410

Brad and Susie and I headed up to Kelly to look for berries and visit my old friend. The vine maples are really red and lovely contrasted against the volcanic rock. We saw a frog hopping around the trail on the south side!!! ( wonder if it was lost as there's no water anywhere near where he was....) The lookout was open and we had lunch up there...no views except when the fog briefly parted for a look down towards Lester. The lookout is in good shape as is the trail ( except it's pretty dusty from lack of rain...) there's a schedule in the lookout and it appears that Kelly has been well staffed with volunteers this summer. That's great!!! We wanted huckleberries but they are past prime, small this year, and mostly wrinkled and fading. I found a pair of binoculars off trail there so if you lost them, contact me ( cr421@q.com) and discribe them and we'll hook up to get them back to you...) Where's the lost and found on this site?? We cruised back down, had a nice cold beer at the trail head and went home. Kelly is a great short destination. Go now for fall color... enjoy the great trail work that WTA has done there....