"Trailrun up the huge switchbacks of the PCT. Just hiked the steep spur trail up to Kendall Peak. Then ran out to the Kendall Katwalk to check it out. Views of the peaks deeper in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness are spectacular from up there. Mt Thomson grabs the eye as well as so many other imposing peaks stretching all the way to Mt Stuart. Alpine Lakes Wilderness is a real gem. Another Smoot done! " — scott • Jul 8, 2025

"Hiked part of the PCT NORTH TRAIL today with a stop along the way to summit Kendall Peak. The Climber’s trail to Kendall Peak is barely visible, so you have to look carefully. It’s a steep, mostly dirt and rock trail with a small scramble near the peak. The view from the peak is amazing. Beyond the Kendall Katwalk the trail is stunningly beautiful, reminding me of hiking in the Alps earlier this summer. I stopped frequently to enjoy the blueberries that were abundant everywhere along the trail. Having complete only part of the trail, I am now super stoked about tackling the whole J segment. While the mountains are are as tall as the French alps, the hike brought back good memories of hiking along the Grand Balcon in Chamonix in July with the wild flowers and views down the steep slopes into the valley below. If your goal is to get to the Kendall Katwalk and beyond more quickly, take the Old Commonwealth Trail as it intersects with the PCT more directly and eliminating a few zig zags in the PCT trail." — joeerickson • Aug 25, 2019

"From WTA Trip Report We are the Mountain Goats, Terrence (12) and Nathan (15), and today one of us (Terrence) climbed Kendall Peak. Note that the parking lot for the Commonwealth Basin/PCT is blocked and probably won't be open for some time. We parked in one of the West Summit lots. Very deep snow from the beginning - the trail is easy to follow and starts out pretty steep before flattening out. The first creek crossing is a little dicey because it is steep getting down to the log to get across. We actually figured out later that you really don't need to cross the creek, and can stay on the east side of the creek. There are lots of paths in the basin now from snowshoers and skiers that separate and intersect so GPS was helpful. We had originally thought we would try Red Mountain, but at the split with the Pacific Crest Trail, decided to try for Kendall because we thought it might have had more people on it and would be easier. That turned out to be wrong - the footpath ended pretty quickly, and we ended up making our own trail - we broke trail for about 2 1/2 miles. We slightly cut the first switchback, and then once we broke out of the trees, completely cut out the..." — BryHong8 • Mar 24, 2019

"Up the PCT, down the Commonwealth Trail. Climber's trail was exactly where trip reports had stated: 15 feet beyond the stump just after the upper switchback just below the peak." — mathiasricken • Aug 12, 2018

"We continued on after Kendall Peak past the Katwalk and up to within a mile of Alaska Mountain before being forced to turn around by the approaching darkness. PCT is in good shape with a few patches of snow that are easily passable." — KianCarson99 • Jul 19, 2018

"I climbed a winter route to the summit of Kendall Peak, basically a mile NNE on Commonwealth Creek snowshoe trail, and then straight east and up, with some switching back and forth. There is no trace of the Pacific Crest Trail itself, even at lower elevations. Where I went up, the slope varied from 20-30 degrees to 45+ degrees, then moderate and then very steep again. This landed me at 5000 ft on a moderately sloped open area at the base of the 800 ft final summit rock. It was reasonably easy to manage with the deep, soft snow. In the morning I was plunging in a foot or two to gain support, but with afternoon warming it was getting much softer. Circling around to the north, I climbed up the ridge, more or less to the top area, which was dramatically corniced on the east side cliffs that fall many hundreds of feet into the next valley. I walked south up to the summit, staying on some exposed rock and far clear of that perilous edge. The snowy mountain views were just incredible in all directions. We are having a few days of warm, very sunny weather with the temperature in Seattle getting close to 70 F, so on top it was well above freezing. I got a little sunburned with the..." — markgarrett • Mar 30, 2016

"Awesome way to spend Thanksgiving! Beautiful weather up at the Snoqualmie Pass area and very few people. Took the old Cascade Trail up to Commonwealth Basin - pretty easy to follow, but note that after you cross Commonwealth Creak over the big log, you need to stay to the right...following the path going left well take you to the south side of the Basin and to a trail that heads up to Guye Peak. Stay to the right and you will eventually get to the trail split that will take you back up to the Pacific Crest Trail. Conditions as of this posting are good - we had spikes and crampons but did not use them. Gaiters and ice axes came in handy, however. The creek crossings are a bit treacherous and there are several major blow downs over the trail that take awhile to navigate. The directions to cut over to Kendall Peak that are posted on SummitPost.org are quite accurate and worth looking at before attempting to summit Kendall. There were no tracks up the the summit, so we headed up as noted on SummitPost and made it up in fairly short order after navigating fairly deep snow and rocks. Beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and it's great to see a fair amount of snow on the mountains..." — BryHong8 • Nov 26, 2015

"Had little to no info about the peak but in the area for the summer, and this one looked the simplest to summit on my topo maps. Didn't know there was a side trail off the PCT up to the summit, so I climbed the ridge instead. Got a little precarious in places, but kinda made it all the better. Beautiful day, with Rainier out of the clouds in all of its giganticness to the south. Maybe I'll get Red Mtn next." — Mark • Jul 18, 2012

"Joel and I headed up the Commonwealth Basin trail to the PCT juction, then made it to Kendall Peak in just under an hour and a half. The scramble from the trail to the peak is solid, but very steep. Much quicker on the way up than down. The skies were beautiful, yet rather hazy in the distance. Only the top 4000 feet or so of Rainier was visible." — Jeb • Sep 9, 2011

"Headed up to Kendall and bagged the summit before heading back down the PCT and then up the Commonwealth Trail to Red Pass to bag Red Mountain. It was a hot sunny day making it feel that much more rewarding to be signing my name in the summit register." — Al-Rashid • Sep 9, 2011