That’s (from l-r) Mark Garrett, Christopher Gronbeck and Jamil Haque on the summit of Mount Kent.
What a hike! This was an off-trail, bushwhacking rocky scramble. We were not sure we were near the summit until we were actually on the summit.
We started on the McClellan Butte trail. McClellan is immediately west of Mount Kent. You can see Kent from a few points on the McClellan trail but there is no trail to Kent.
Based on Christopher and Jamil’s experience (they summited Kent before, but via a different route) and on maps we have seen in trip reports we found what appeared to be the beginning of a faint trail on the Butte trail just as it turns west, at 4,700 feet.
That “trail” disappeared almost immediately, but we headed down a scree field to an old road. We took the road for a little ways, then headed up a scree field and bushwhacked through a very thick patch of trees and bushes. It was slow going.
Along the way we skirted the two Alice Lakes:
With time more or less running out, there we were. Suddenly, the summit. After signing the summit register I took a few snaps. This is a great summit, it is right in the heart of mountain country and has 360-views:
A thousand thanks to Mark, Christopher and Jamil for letting an old man tag along. No way I would have gotten anywhere near that peak by myself.
I would like to try it again, and I would like to get its two neighbors, the Duke and Duchess of Kent.
Here is a link to a visualization of the hike:
http://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/djhiker/mount-kent-6-12-2016/#.V16_FpXltD9
Just under 10 hours, 4,674 feet of elevation gain, 13.1 miles. And that doesn’t count the 3.86 mile pre-hike hike I did along IHT while waiting for the rest of the group to show up.
A fun Sunday.
How is it that having the others along made it possible for you to make it to the summit? Did they carry you?
Without them I would never have found a route to the top. Christopher and Jamil had been up there before but they approached it and descended via a different route. They described their Kent experience as ‘sub-optimal’. They got us up and down yesterday with minimum damage and maximum fun.