Kendall Katwalk

On Saturday, Anya and I did our first all-day hike of the season.

The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is one of the major long-distance hiking trails in the country (it's the Western equivalent to the Appalachian Trail). It starts at the Mexican border, follows the Sierra Nevada through California and then the Cascades through Oregon and Washington before ending at the Canadian border. It crosses Interstate 90 about 50 miles east of Seattle at Snoqualmie Pass.

We hopped on the northbound PCT near the Pass amongst a forest of giant trees. From there, the trail steadily climbs for 6 miles (and ~2800 vertical feet) through thinning alpine forest, meadows, boulder gardens, and exposed scree slopes to a steep ridge near Kendall Peak. It passes from one side of the ridge to the other at a saddle (~5800 feet above sea level), so for a short time you're walking on an 8-foot wide trail with nothing but sheer drops on either side. That feature, called the Kendall Katwalk (sorry - the misspelling of "catwalk," however annoying, is the official name) was the destination for our day hike.

The pictures and captions speak for themselves, so here I'll just say that it was a spectacular hike - amongst the most scenic alpine trails I've ever been on.