The original plan was to head up to Kyes Peak, but my partner decided to bail on me at the last minute and I had no appetite for looking like someone caught ordering an MGD at a trail talk social should the slightest of things go wrong. I thought perhaps maybe I should hone my routefinding skills at say, Lake Serene, but alas I had already been there so Kaleetan Peak was next on the list.
You gotta love hikes where you can leave the house after 8 AM, pick up a few supplies on the way, and be on the trail before 9. It was a pleasant surprise to see volunteers from the WTA doing their part to help the Forest Service build a causeway to Denny Creek. There were a few spots on the trail where flip flops would not have sufficed, and it was reassuring to know the $30 I just spent on a new annual pass was being put to good use. I'm guessing the several tons of gravel and pressure treated logs were choppered in.
The trip up to Melakwa Lakes was uneventful. These pretty lakes did not live up to their Chinook name of Mosquito Lakes - at least not this time. I've always thought the upper lake was the prettier of the two, perhaps because it offers a little more solitude. The map in the 75 scrambles book indicates the path around the upper lake is to the left. From past experience I knew better than to follow this advice and took the boot beaten path on the right side of the lake instead. I found the remainder of the 75 scrambles instructions equally confusing and simply followed the route indicated by my 80' contour GT map - this was to travel a little more than halfway to Melakwa Pass (to the upper snowfield separating the last strand of trees from those below Melakwa Pass) and ascend a rockslide leading to a partially hidden gully and eventually the saddle at 5550'. From the saddle a trail more or less leads to the summit, which is not as far away nor is as daunting as it initially appears. The views begin at the saddle and keep getting better, culminating in views from the summit of all the major peaks and lakes aplenty - don't forget to bring some binoculars and a few extra maps to identify them all. With the naked eye I was able to see the amazing waterfall miles away cascading down from Iceberg Lake that beckons Beave & Randy to an annual pilgrimage of Burtboot Creek. With binoculars I could even see the corner of Iceberg Lake which still looks to be snowed over at this time. I spent a good hour and a half on the summit soaking it all in before signing the (very popular) summit register and heading down. No major blunders to report on this one, other than a minor incident on the way down resulting from stepping on some loose rock.
Stats: 12 miles, 4000' gain, 5 hours up, 3.5 hours down
I was right up there at melakwa pass on thurs, and definetly didn't have the guts to summit kaleetan (or the water, i definetly forgot that at melakwa lake).
Just so you know, the WTA didn't chopper all that gravel in, but they have this wheelbarrow with a small engine on it. THey load it with gravel, then walk it up the trail like a powered lawn mower. I saw them using it on the way down Sat.
Was definitely wondering how they got all that stuff up there - must have been quite a few trips up and down.
BTW, here's a couple shots from the summit.
Kaleetan Lake & [Not So Icy Or Frozen] Ice & Frozen Lakes
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