[Justus S.]

May 29, 2006 Destination: Kaleetan Peak (6259) Leaving the house at the late hour of 5:50am had me on the Denny Creek Trail by 7. The trailhead is free of snow, but I was soon hitting patches of snow. I almost decided to turn around and head elsewhere as the prospect of miles of snow hiking did not appeal to me. Everything turned out well in the end though. Snow was patchy to around 3600 and then continuous except for a few places up high. I was able to get myself to Hemlock pass in two hours using previous tracks. From here, I would have to break trail to the summit. A few minutes later I was at the snow covered Melakwa. My route to the summit was by the south ridge. Just past point 5700 I dropped down several hundred feet on the west side of the ridge to get around cliffs. I continued on to the base of the final gully. The gully was snow free and was an easy class 2-3 scramble. I reached the summit after a long and grueling 4.75 hours. To my dismay the summit was shrouded in clouds. I guess I should be used to this since 90% of my hikes up I90 are usually cloudy. I need to break this trend. At least I knew where the surrounding peaks were thanks to this handy thing.

Peak Locater

Spent some time hoping the clouds would break before giving up and heading back. Back to where I dropped down I found some boot tracks. A party had turned back here. A few minutes later I ran into a party on their way up. Following the now stomped path made life a little easier. Just before Snowshoe falls I started hitting the holiday crowd. There were lots of people up with their kids today. Overall, it was a good day in the mountains. Notes: Trip time 8hrs 20min. Ice axe used. Wore crampons for part of the way up, but booted it on the way back. The snow was solid with just 3-4inches of wet, fresh snow above 5400ft that would slough off in places. Denny Creek Trail (#1014) off exit 47.

new flowers

keekwulee falls

lower denny creek valley by keekwulee falls

waterfall

upper denny creek valley

melakwa lake and valley

melakwa lake

snow slopes on the way to the summit

looking down final gully to summt

looking back at the summit

me on summit

[gorp]

hey, saw you on our way up. bummer about the weather and it's gorgeous today...naturally.

[Jeff R]

Nice work and photos, glad you got it!

[Guiran]

Strong work! Being on the summit must have looked like you were standing on the end of the world in those clouds.

[Jamin Smitchger]

What is that peak locator thingy.

[b00]

excellent trip report. i did kaleetan a few years ago and now you got me thinkin' - nothin's worth repeatin' like a peak called kaleetan :>)

[Justus S.]

Thanks for all the relies.

[gorp]

[wildernessed]

Strong work, Melakwa Lakes seemed longer than it should have felt in the summer, maybe because of the heat and dried up creek. We will have to get together for a trip in Teanaway sometime, it was a 150 mile roundtrip for me. To bad you can't access it as the crow flies it might be a quarter of that.

[SlowWalker]

[Justus S.]

[SlowWalker]

Thanks for the correction. No Google hits for CONY Rover Crew Thanks, too, for the TR and pictures. I may head up to awkaleM Lake this weekend now that I know the conditions.