"The bridge over Denny Creek was closed so we had to park at the Franklin Falls trailhead and start from there. The day was cloudy and overcast for a good part of the day. My son and I started about 9:30 am this morning. We got some clearing when we got to the summit several hours later.. Overall, this is a great hike with a relatively easy final scramble to the summit. While one could argue that the elevation gain of over 5,000’ is the biggest challenge, for the fit hiker/climber I found the trickiest part of the hike is the descent just beyond Point 5700 down a steep (and wet today) dirt trail. Definitely use tree branches and heather where possible to prevent slipping. The ascent of this area on the return trip was much quicker and then the descent and we did not have any issues with slipping. The other potentially challenging part is crossing several rocky talus slopes which can move when you step on them - choose your rocks carefully. The entire trail is full of rocks and rock fields/slopes so this definitely adds to the fun. On a clear day, there is a lot to see with Mt Roosevelt, Chair Peak, Granite Mountain, Mount Baker, Rainier and McClelland Butte to name a ..." — joeerickson • Sep 11, 2019

"From Terrence's trip report on WTA We are the Mountain Goats, Nathan (15) and Terrence (13) and today one of us headed up to Kaleetan Peak through Melakwa Lake. There are plenty of trip reports on both, so we will try and just add some key points. The Denny Creek trailhead is closed, so you have to park on the road or at Franklin Falls parking lot. This adds about 1/3 of a mile each way. The trail up to the Denny Creek crossing is easy and flat. The creek itself is flowing pretty good, but easy to cross. Lots of people up there with kids in the afternoon on our way down. After the creek crossing, it gets steeper, and the nice dirt trail turns to a more rocky trail. After crossing a couple of boulder fields, the trail gets steepest heading up to Hemlock Pass. Note that you drop a few hundred feet to get down to Melakwa Lake. Lots of mud here - people in sneakers were struggling a bit. From the lake, after a 10 minute rest, we followed the "Toilet" signs to continue up the climbers trail. At this point the trail is very steep (like Old Mailbox or Snoqualmie). Eventually you get to about 5,650 feet or so. At this point, you are only 600 vertical feet from the summ..." — BryHong8 • Jun 29, 2019

"Wonderful Labor Day hike up Kaleetan Peak! Seen this pointy peak from many different perspectives and expected it to be steeper than it was. Never felt too exposed, great little scramble!" — Happyjoecappy • Sep 3, 2018

"I did a scramble with the Mountaineers up to Kaleetan Peak. Of the three possible routes, we took one called the "white ledges", which ascends late from the scree-strewn valley above Upper Melakwa Lake. The other two are the "outhouse route", which goes from Melakwa Lake NW up to the ridge, and the "gully route", which goes up to about 5000 ft and then turns west up a steep gully. The White Ledges route goes almost up to Melakwa Pass, then west and around to the south a bit, before ascending up to the ridge on a series of narrow white ledges on a very steep slope. It was a cool scramble. 3970 ft gain, 10.2 miles, 10:15 hours" — markgarrett • Aug 27, 2018

"We decided to take advantage of the great weather to get up to Melawka Lake and attempt Kaleetan Peak before the pending bugs and crowds that are inevitable with the mild winter turning into a warm spring. The trail up to Melawka Lake is almost totally snow free now, and it seems unlikely that any more snow will fall this year. By starting at 8:00 we were able to park in the main parking lot, which is a rare occurrence. No real trouble passing Denny Creek, and the falls are beautiful now as snow is melting rapidly. We had a few maps and trail reports to use as resources to find our way to the southern approach to Kaleetan and intended on using the Point 5,700 route. However, rather than follow the instructions from a couple of previous trail reports, Summit Post.org and the Mountaineers website, we decided to try and follow a trail that was marked on a map we had, which basically takes you along west side of the lake and up NNW, I presume, towards Point 5,700. So, please note, for the standard route to Point 5,700 and beyond, cross the logjam at the lake, stay to the left of the "toilet" sign, and follow the climbers trail straight up. As we found when we came down, the trail is fa..." — BryHong8 • May 2, 2015

"We set out to ascend via the White Ledges after a failed attempt in July. Sadly, it had just snowed the day before, and much more than anticipated, making for beautiful scenery but an impossible ascent via this route. We decided to alter the plan and climb up the east gully, which proved to be extremely sketchy with only a few inches of snowfall. After a harrowing and creative scramble hugging snow-laden trees on tractionless and highly exposed ground, we finally exited the gully to meet the standard bootpath to the summit. It was a brilliantly clear day and the views were phenomenal. Our descent was also met with a challenge, as we lost the trail and again forged a creative and death-defying veggie belay situation to traverse under the cliffs before finally catching the trail again. In all, we lost a pole and a hat, broke a pole, and had a nose bleed. Exciting day." — diana • Oct 17, 2012

"The trip reports that I have researched describe two routes from Melakwa lake to Kaleetan peak: one approaches from the south, following a trail up and over point 5700; the other follows the valley beyond upper Upper Melakwa Lake to Melakwa Pass. The faint bootpath here ends about 1200 feet below Kaleetan's east face. I wanted to explore both routes, and decided scrambling up the east face would be safer and easier than going down it. I took the trail on the west side of Melakwa Lake, then crossed over to the east side of Upper Melakwa Lake. Several paths come and go, but stay steady to the north to Melakwa Pass at the saddle between Kaleetan and Chair Peaks. From here I followed the ridge, occasionally dropping down on the south side to avoid thick vegetation, which is eventually released by crumbling rock a the south face becomes the steep east face of Kaleetan Peak. At first i planned on traversing to a sharp SE ridge with trees all the way to the saddle above to avoid exposure, but scrambling up the wide open rock face was way too fun. I rounded over the ridge at about 5800ft and turned North , the steepness ever increasing to the summit. This is by far the most satisfying..." — Jeb • Sep 15, 2012

"Kaleetan Peak is a true WA classic, a bright feather in the cap of anyone's trapses through Washington's mountains. A 4.5 mile hike up over Hemlock Pass brings you 2200 vert ft up to classic alpine Lake Melakwa. From here, it's a haul and a very steep climber's path up the ridge. Views from the 5700 ft point on the ridge are worthy of an end destination themselves, but although the route to the top involves a few more hurdles, the views from the summit blow this away. A few snow patches to cross on the ridge and then a steep downclimb on snow and dirt brings you into the high basin of Kaleetan. The climber's path always continues, sometimes a bit tough to find, but generally stays on the right side of the basin and climbs steeply all the way to the final Class 3 summit gulley. Bursting up the final few steps reveals the truth of this place: Kaleetan's summit is an incredible, airy perch, dropping off on the north in staggering sheerness. As the fog burned off, we soaked in ridic views of Chair Peak, Snowy Lake, Mount Stuart, and the heart of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Scanning the pano, I realized that downtown Seattle was visible directly above the Haystack of Mount Si! A mon..." — scott • Aug 14, 2011