A Little Bit of Alpine

September 3, 2021

I don’t remember much, but I remember dragging and praying my body could carry me up to the saddle above the lake. I was sweating profusely and breathing heavily, embarrassed of how out of shape I felt.

I hadn’t been hiking in a long time, but this cute guy from work said he would take me and another one of our coworkers up to Melakwa Lake. I remember being excited because I loved hiking as a child. It had felt so easy to fly up ridge lines and visit alpine lakes back then. I thought maybe this would feel much the same.

But it did not feel the same and no part of the hike felt even remotely easy. Even though I refused to give up, I felt absolutely ashamed of my slowness and sweaty body as we made the long climb up to the saddle. Eventually, we all make it to the lake. I soaked up its beauty in my exhaustion trying to be in the moment.

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A little over nine years on the nose, Michael and I were back in Washington visiting family and taking some time to just enjoy the simple pleasures of being home. 

Since then that cute guy from work became my best friend. Michael watched me as I felt so low but unwilling to give up. He always believed in me and pushed me to be greater even when I had my doubts. He shared his love of hiking and the outdoors which slowly grew on me and became my love of hiking and the outdoors.

He is my favorite person to go on an adventure with. I spent so much time on this hike reminiscing and feeling so thankful for the changes that time can bring. How we can grow so close to people who were once strangers and how different an experience can feel when your life has changed so much. It’s pretty awesome to be married to someone as supportive as he is and am consistently amazed at how much has changed in nine years. 

I had Friday off before Labor Day weekend so I had traveled home to Washington on Thursday. Friday provided the perfect day to knock a long hike off the bucket list Michael had created so long ago before we left Washington. Family had to work so we felt the hike would be best done Friday as to not miss out on too much time together.

The list lead us to a few options, but the one that made the most sense was Kaleetan Peak. This spire of rock looms above Melakwa Lake and towers above most other mountains in the Snoqualmie Pass corridor. I hadn’t been back to Melakwa since the first time Michael took me a little over nine years ago. 

The 12 to 13 mile hike with over 4,500 feet of elevation gain would have been unfathomable at that time. Even as I got in hiking shape from our first couple of years together that long and challenging of a hike seemed out of reach.

I was still a little nervous as we got to the trailhead at Denny Creek. Has all my trail running training made me capable enough to do a long summit attempt like this? Would hiking to Melakwa feel any better than it had those nine years ago? Or would it just feel the same since I haven’t been able to do any climbs like this in a long time?

We got a much later start than I would usually like, but we were both tired from long days traveling the day before so we felt sleep would be necessary. I didn’t sleep too well the night before worrying that a sore spot that popped up in my foot was actually a weekend crushing injury. Though, I was just sore from doing box step ups a few days earlier and was giving myself anxiety.

It’s always important to still listen and not ignore your body so I was careful to see what my foot was trying to tell me. It felt fine when I finally rolled out of bed that morning and got ready to go.

We left the trailhead and walked to where the now gated off old Melakwa/Denny Slide trailhead used to be. The one we parked at nine years ago. It was such a small parking area in a wildly popular area, no wonder they had to close it off.

We quickly made it to the actual trail and started making our way upwards. We had so many miles of uphill travel. The trail felt new though. I had vague memories of how I felt and some of the views from nine years ago, but couldn’t remember how the trail went for the most part.

It climbed steadily in the trees away from the parking lot, across the river and up the other side. We crossed under the marvel of I-90 west which towered above us and the trees. I remember thinking how cool and amazing it was and felt the same way as we crossed under again.

We continued to climb in the trees away from the freeway. The consistent drone of cars quickly got washed away by the sounds of nature. Soon we were at Denny Slide, a popular place to play and slide down the rocks along the river. A great place to quickly hike to and eat lunch.

We crossed over the river again and started heading up the other side. The grade was gentle but relentless. I felt strong and capable as I followed Michael up the trail. I kept my speed so I was working but not entirely out of breath. We still had a long way to go and I needed to conserve my energy.

The trail winds up through the forest and back across a talus slope with views of a towering cascade. The water flowed over the edges gently. I remembered this waterfall and view and I am sure I have pictures of it from nine years ago somewhere. Just getting to this point at the time felt like a feat. I was naive to the climb that lay ahead.

Even on this morning I couldn’t distinctly remember the length and the amount of uphill that we still had to do not only to make it to Melakwa Lake, but to also climb high above the lake.

We kept moving at a solid pace in and out of trees and talus slopes as the trail switched back up the mountain valley. I layered down to my tank top to get more airflow as the long sleeve was just too warm in the steadily warming sunny morning. Michael was barely glistening as I changed my sweaty shirt.

I felt strong, but will never evade the amount that I sweat. I used to be so embarrassed about how much I sweat, but I can’t change it if I am putting in the work. Sure we could go slow enough that I wouldn’t sweat, but we had a long distance to cover. It is what it is and it’s mostly out of my control. Being smart and layering down at opportune times helps.

My sweaty body continued to carry me up the hill at a moderate pace as we made it to the first moderately flat area and crossed to the other side of the creek again. The trail climbed away to the saddle we needed to get to before dropping down to Melakwa Lake.

It was steeper and rockier here. The heat of the day was coming in waves as we left trees for talus slopes. A slight hint of smoke filled the air as well as our moderately heavy breathing took us upward still. A few pikas called warnings to each other in the talus, but I saw no movement from the small alpine creatures.

A few more switchbacks and we arrived at that saddle. A short downhill section would bring us to the lake. Roots, mud, and rocks covered the section. It had been a while since I had seen honest to goodness mud. I didn’t trust my feet to not fall out from under me and took short steps.

Quickly we turned the corner and the lake valley opened up in front of us. The gorgeous turquoise lake sat still in the moderately tight valley bowl. The view felt familiar and new all at once. We jumped logs across the outlet of the lake and sat on a large rock overlooking the lake. 

Michael took his shoes off to relax and we sat in the early afternoon sun to eat some snacks and take a break. I filtered water into our water bottles to prepare for the even more difficult challenge that lay ahead.

We could see the summit of Kaleetan from the lake. It looked steep and formidable, possibly unclimbable without a rope. The description said it was a scramble to the top, so until we got there we wouldn’t know for sure.

“We could just stay here,” one of us said.

“We could…”

But we wouldn’t. We headed up the trail toward the alpine toilet, stopped to pee and continued upwards. The trail was a narrow single track that is not maintained by any entity now. 

Blue dots appeared out of the corner of my eye.

“Huckleberries!!!” I exclaimed and we went to town eating every fat berry in sight. Now that I saw one I saw them all, and was shoveling them into my mouth for trail snacks.

They burst into my mouth and released serotonin. Every berry tasted similar, yet entirely unique. I propelled up the trail in berry happiness, but the trail met me with ever increasing steepness.

Though the trail isn’t maintained, it is well used and mostly easy to follow. In confusing places I pulled out AllTrails to make sure we were still on the right track. We climbed steeply upwards toward our eventual destination that we still barely had any clear view of.

Again the trail went into and out of trees and talus. It was steep and unforgiving in places. Rocks changed out with soft dirt and duff under the alpine trees. In some parts I just put my head down and walked relentlessly upwards.

My legs were burning a little more now as we took some breaks periodically to catch our breath. Eventually we made it up to the ridge line. A cairn marked the summit here, but this was not our destination. We could see Kaleetan clearly. Her steep, rocky prominence looming in the distance.

To the south, we squinted into the hazy, smoky air in the distance. Mount Rainier, Tahoma, suddenly appeared to our eyes for the first time on the hike. Now that we made out her outline she seemed so obvious, always there. I smiled at the sight and reassurance of a familiar backdrop.

“Are you sure we can scramble up there?” I asked, turning to look at Kaleetan. The answer did not seem clear from here, but we kept moving along the top of the ridge line for a while. A short break from all the climbing we just did, but somehow still so much climbing lay before us. 

We walked along the ridge and then it stretched out before us looking rocky and technical. Not somewhere a normal trail would go. We looked to our left and saw the trail steeply drop off the ridge line down to the talus slope below the rock face that was before us.

Steep is a slight understatement for the way down off the ridge. We even wondered if we should keep going. But keeping three points of contact we slowly made our way down the muddy, blueberry lined “trail” down to the talus below.

A few pikas squeaked as we followed the contour line across to the other side of the talus and the ridge line. Still no sign of the little pikas though. I hoped I would see one eventually.

As we got to the other side of the talus a few other hikers were making their way down from the summit above. I confirmed with them that the scramble to the top was doable and they calmed my anxiety with reassurance that the scramble was not very technical.

With the newly instilled confidence we climbed our way back up to the ridge line we had dropped off of. We were now on the final approach to Kaleetan. It had been a long morning already and we were feeling tired but accomplished as we approached the last scramble to the top.

The closer we got, the less the angle of the scramble seemed. Sure we would still need to do some three and four points of contact to safely get up, but it looked more than doable. 

We started up the scramble moving slow and careful. Making sure to avoid each other and not send rocks flying. We took our time to find the easiest and least technical approach to the top. I got nervous thinking about coming down, but tried not to let those thoughts manifest.

Slow, steady, and carefully we scrambled to the top using our hands and feet. Before we knew it we had crested to the summit and celebrated completing a bucket list hike. We had finally made it.

The 360 degree views opened up all around us. We could see back down to Melakwa Lakes and over into lake valleys beyond. We could see Snow and Gem Lakes and the tallest of the mountains in the Snoqualmie Pass corridor, Snoqualmie Mountain. 

I was so excited to reach the top I clumsily scrambled up to the highest point to make sure it was a true summit before finding a flat rock to rest on. Conditions were perfect. Hardly any wind, no blaring sun, and a pretty impressive visibility range for a smoky summer. Some flying ants were pesky, but not enough to bring us down as we ate our earned peanut butter and jelly sandwiches looking off into the distance.

I squinted into the distant haze and managed to make out the outlines of Glacier Peak and Mount Baker in the smoky distance. The Alpine Lakes Wilderness stretched out before us reminding me there was still so much to see and so many places yet to go. I could have cried from the beauty in front of me and the contentment I felt. 

I missed Washington. Not just for the beauty, but for family and friends. Every day spent made me so thankful for my life spent here and how it still fills my soul just to be near everyone and everything that I love. I forgot all my fear standing high above everything on the tall rocky outcropping that was Kaleetan Peak. 

Though we could have stayed for hours we knew we had to get back. I put my long sleeve shirt back on for sun protection (though I would find out later I was a bit too late on that…) and took in the views one last time before scrambling over the rocks back to where we first climbed to the top.

The view down the valley to Melakwa was unobstructed from here and seemed so close, but so far down all at once. It was time to leave.

We spread out as we scrambled down from the summit of Kaleetan to be sure no rocks would fall onto one another. Slowly and carefully we found our footing and handholds and crawled down the slide of the steep rock. It wasn’t as scary as I imagined when we were coming up. I felt confident and in control.

Finally, we were off the scramble and ready to be upright. The trail was steep and littered with loose rocks. I gingerly made my way down, grabbing onto tree branches and other rocks to make sure I didn’t end up on my butt. We lost elevation quickly as we headed back down to the talus slope.

This time we heard some screaming. Or was it whistling. It definitely wasn’t human. I scanned the rocky slope looking and eventually spotted two marmots running away from us making quick work of the rocky slope. One marmot was very lightly colored and the other was brown. 

I was pleased to see marmots. I hadn’t seen one in a while. One stopped to pose on a rock and watched us make our way across the talus slopes. Surely the marmot was wondering why we were so slow.

Now we had to climb straight up the steep “trail” to the ridgeline. I picked blueberries along the trail to keep myself motivated and tried not to think about the steep uphill or the many miles that we still had left to cover. I still felt good, but was definitely getting tired. The hours were starting to add up.

We crested the ridgeline once more and made our way back toward the cairn. There we spotted the little pika. The cutest alpine creature was playing around the cairn as I tried to get a good picture of it with my phone. I eventually caught a good one while talking to the cutie. I felt pleased with our animal sightings.

The downhill was steep as we changed between rocky outcrops and forested duff. We descended relatively quickly despite our bodies starting to protest and complain. I ate huckleberries when I could as we neared the end of our summit approach and arrived back at Melakwa Lake.

Again we rested at the rock by the lake. Michael took his shoes off again to relax as I filtered a bit more water to make sure I had enough to get back. It was important to keep hydrated at this point.

Eventually we pulled ourselves away from the lake back to the trail. One last section of uphill to the saddle and it would truly be all downhill from there. Huckleberries we had not noticed on the way in were now being seen everywhere.

We picked and shoveled them into our mouths like we hadn’t had any food all day. One bush was producing particularly delicious berries that we almost picked clean. This buffet slowed us down but was completely worth it.

We quickly approached the saddle and were now headed back down. The trail felt like a highway compared to the approach to Kaleetan. We continued down the familiar trail. People were still making their way up to the lake in the afternoon of the holiday weekend.

The sun was warm and kept us sweating on the way down. The trail seemed endless and relentlessly rocky in places, but we used gravity to keep us moving down the hill. My legs and mind were tired now, craving the sweet relief the seat of the car, air conditioning, a warm meal, and a shower would bring.

I tried not to let my tired mind wander since I wanted to soak up every bit of the beauty I was in and feel all the feelings my body was putting forth. The tall trees covered us in shade as we returned to the mostly dirt trail after crossing over the river at Denny Slide.

The roar of I-90 towering above filled our ears again. Almost back. My body hurt and was begging for rest, but I wasn’t ready for it to be over.

It was just a taste of all that Washington has to offer and I felt both satisfied and full of a craving for more. I smiled as we finally approached the car. I felt strong and emboldened by the long hike we just did and how resilient I felt along the way. A lot had changed in nine years.

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are” – Theodore Roosevelt