Kelly Butte — Friday, Jul. 8, 2022

We hiked this for a sunset view, starting the trailhead just before 8pm. The trail starts out easy through the woods, then goes through the most beautiful area of bear grass, rocks, and switchbacks. The air was filled with a very aromatic scent! It levels out before you get to the top. We were eager to get to the lookout and made it just in time to see the sun set…the clouds were sweeping in which made it feel really magical. Then we started down while we still had a little light, and pulled out the headlamps about the time we got to the rocky switchbacks. Fortunately, those lights are bright! We made it back to the car and started driving at exactly 10pm.

The road has some very deep potholes, especially near the beginning. I was a little nervous coming back in the dark because there are about four turnoffs from the main drag and I didn’t want to miss them. I had made sure to look back at each one when we were ascending which really helped coming back down. The road is not marked at all, and we had to rely on the gps system going up. I would suggest downloading a map if you aren’t good spatially or plan to come back in the dark. It took almost an hour to get down to Hwy 410, but I did take it slower than someone might in a big truck. I drove a RAV4 and didn’t want to pop a tire on either the shape rocks or a pothole!

There were only four other people on the trail. If you are willing to tackle that road for some solitude and magical views, this hike is for you. It wasn’t a long hike, but we did it with a 6 year old so the 3+miles was just right. 

The trail through the switchbacks with the beargrass was amazing! Just so beautiful, smelled wonderful, and felt like we had the trail to ourselves.