Kendall Katwalk

What a great hike. 10 or so miles on the storied Pacific Crest Trail. Over 2,700 miles from Mexico to Canada, and we hiked roughly 5 miles of it each way. The trail’s rich history is humbling. It’s an old trail, parts of which date back to 1930 or before. Rocks on the trail are polished by thousands of boots over the years.



Our destination was the ‘Kendall Katwalk’. A result of the dilemma ‘this is a great route for a trail except for that sheer cliff right there’. But with lots of dynamite, anything is possible. A trail was blasted right through a near vertical cliff. And that was our destination.

The trail began near Alpental at roughly 3100 feet. The PCT logo was there as well as an old sign marking ‘Snoqualmie Pass’, but the ‘P’ was missing.



The trail wound through forest and slowly climbed. Eventually we’d gain roughly 3500 feet of elevation (with ups and downs) but the first part was a nice even pace.

The forest held some ‘peak a boo’ views of Guye Peak and aptly named Red Mountain and a modest waterfall.

Once we exited the forest after about 4 miles the views and the wild flowers really opened up.

With hikes in previous weeks we’ve seen many of the same mountains, but from the west, and from a lower elevation. This week we were east of those mountains and at 5600 feet. The views were spectacular.

The Katwalk itself is fairly short. It’s really impressive only after you stop to think how difficult it must have been to create.

All and all a great hike. The total experience was great. Historic trail through the forest, great alpine views, and a pretty cool engineering feat.

Nice day.