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An Overnight near Kendall Katwalk

September 2023

By Kelsi

September 10^th, 2023

Canadian wildfires upended well-laid Labor Day plans (a couple times, actually!), but the group made the most of this Plan D.

In hindsight, maybe we should have called it Plan K on account of the spelling of our destination: Kendall Katwalk.

A few of the group had done this hike at least once before, but the rest of us were newbies.

Kendall Katwalk is one of the countless trails along I-90's around Snoqualmie Pass, and we arrived at the trailhead around 8:30am. I knew we would be walking along part of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and was eager to encounter some PCTers on their way to or from the Canadian or Mexican borders.

The climb

Some things I did not know:

1/ The Katwalk is just one feature of this 11-mile trail that climbs up and along Kendall Peak.

2/ In addition to massive amounts of gravel fields, the trail also has old-growth forests and the "Kendall Gardens," which included my latest flower obsession (thanks to the Wonderland trail): Paintbrush.

3/ The Katwalk was considered one of the most challenging pieces of trail ever built.

This 600-foot, dynamite-blasted walkway is just four feet wide. There is no guardrail and there is an 800-foot drop below. That being said, I barely noticed because the views and company were stupendous.