Kelly Butte — Tuesday, Jun. 19, 2018

We took the wrong ‘trail’ initially, although I’d use the word trail lightly. We missed the small trial sign pointing towards the Kelly butte trail, instead we walked 50 more feet because we were distracted by the amazing views of Rainer (this hike gives you a constant shot of the mountain) and took a 80 degree incline with a rope that looked like the trail. This trail was poorly maintained and difficult to follow. That part was miserable, but at one point it met up with the intended trail. We ran into a few people and whenever we mentioned how difficult the ascent was and how we couldn’t believe small children make this trek, they all seemed a little confused... maybe they thought we were just inexperienced! We didn’t realize that we had taken the wrong route until our trail back looked less dangerous and more maintained. Highly recommended hike, beautiful and worth it despite the detour.