Kent's Court 2013-03-23

I-90 East, Exit 42.  Turn Right (south) and pass the DOT office on the right.  Take the unmarked road and drive uphill for 0.2 mile to McClellan Butte TH (0.5 mile from off ramp,Trail #1015, elevation ~1800’).  Start hiking on the McClellan Butte Trail.  At the second road junction, go Left and cross the Alice Creek.  The forest road splits.  Bear Right and go up on the old logging road.

8.67 miles, 2820ft gain.

Our destination today.  Kent's Count is an unofficial name for a point near the Dutchess of Kent (on the right).

A tent: the only one other than us.  We saw the campers' tracks going to the Duke of Kent.

Blue is encouraging us to hurry up.

Chris charging uphill.  It was very steep and we used veggie belay whenever available.  It would have been easier to hike without snowshoes in this steep section (for future reference).

Steep uphill.  We removed the shoes and changed to crampons.  Chris way up and Liz behind.

Summit finally.

Sunny peak: it was toasty with absolutely no breeze, so rare to have breeze-less summit.  We all wanted to stay up there longer.  

 Mount Kent from Kent's Court

McClellan Butte from Kent's Court - it is not accessible in winter but a busy peak in summer.

Time to go down

We glissaded part of the way down.  Next time, be sure to pack a garbage bag.  Chris said it will decrease friction and you can slide down much faster.

Power of numbers!  Thanks campers, Liz, and Chris for breaking the trail.  Packed down snow was so much easier to hike.  We enjoyed our company very much and decided to do a next hike in Teanaway.