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Alpine Scramble - Mount Kent

Successful navigation and summit of Mount Kent and then a side trip to McClellan Butte.

Joe Osowski Joe Osowski
October 28, 2018
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • I would not recommend attempting Mount Kent with recent rain or snow.  If snow is consolidating in the spring, you might have an easier time than we did.  In winter there are numerous avalanche chutes you must go through.  

    The talus slopes while stable would be treacherous if wet.  Also the steep treed slopes would be very slippery if rained on recently.  

Left the trail head at 9am on a sunny but chilly day

Took the McClellan Butte trail to about 4700 ft.  From there we descended a boot path on the South East ridge line.  We descended the ridge and then down a talus field to forest road 5020.  Walked along the road for maybe 10 yards before the road turns south.  Our route took us over the base of a few steep talus slopes bushwhacking to get the the Alice Creek drainage.  Following the west side of the drainage up to the lakes.  

Once there we saw a steep talus slope taking us right up the west face of Mount Kent.  We trended North on the talus and after some steep trees / veggie belays ended up on the Northwest Ridgeline.  From here the route is pretty straight forward.  The summit area is really nice with plenty of i90 views and has a trail register.  

Descended the same way, going down through steep trees was a little precarious so we utilized a rope as a hand-line anchoring it to trees.  Once back on the stable talus it was straight forward.  Returned to the lakes and then back to the McClellan Butte trail.  Utilized the trail to the McClellan Butte summit block / scramble.  We had both summits entirely to ourselves.  Descended to the McClellan Butte trail head, North Bend Bar and Grille and a great day!

Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/joeosowski/albums/72157699453387892