The Kettle Crest South begins at the White Mountain Trailhead and extends to Sherman Pass, passing by White Mountain, Barnaby Butte, Bald Mountain, Snow Peak, and Sherman Peak along the way (13.3 miles). Cross the highway, and the Kettle Crest North continues 30.2 miles to Deer Creek/Boulder Summit. Do the whole thing in a day? Piece of cake...so a few years ago, someone decided to name it the Cake Walk. I call it the best way to boost Hike-a-Thon Mileage! Here's how to pull this one off: go to Deer Creek/Boulder to leave a car. Pay for 2 nights camping and set up your tent because believe me, you won't want to have to do that when you finish. It's only $5 per night to camp there, and we were the only ones there this weekend. Then either drive to the White Mountain TH to carcamp (free camping but no facilities) or if you're lucky enough to have helpful shuttle people like I did, carcamp at Jungle Hill (also free and quite nice). On Saturday we got an early start and were shuttled to White Mountain TH to start. One friend intended to do just the southern portion of the trail with me; another intended to go to the end but fell near Barnaby Butte and needed to be done at the Pass. It's important to have a bailout option for just such emergencies on this route! Once past Sherman Pass, I was on my own. I saw several other people at the Pass, and only two people once on the trail (both near Columbia Mountain). From there on out, I had the trail to myself. The trail is in fantastic condition right now. There were only a few downed trees, and these were small and easy to step over. There is a trail crew working on the final portion of the trail (I started seeing post-it notes on the trees for drainage, puncheon, and turnpike locations at 8.8 miles from Deer Creek/Boulder; I saw the trail excavator at approximately 4 miles from the end). The trail is in rougher condition here, but it was still okay (and I hit this section after dark). This is far more mentally difficult than it is physically difficult! Still, it's fun. I promise. And I'm no longer experiencing hallucinations (I think).

This hike is fabulous, but poor hiker planning leads to lots of road hiking (and that doesn't count for hike-a-thon!), so learn from my mistake: if you intend to follow my route, bring a shuttle bike and save yourself the approximately three mile hike between trailheads. Here's how I would do it differently next time: I would drive my car to the Old Stagecoach Trailhead on the Albian Hill Road. I'd grab my pack, my helmet, my bike, and my bikelock, and ride to the Wapaloosie Trailhead. Then I'd chain my bike in the woods until I was done. Too bad I didn't think about all of that beforehand! Of course, the only reason I didn't think of all that was because I got an earlier start than I anticipated and I didn't want to come home so soon. I hit the trail a little before 7am, and I hiked the 2.7 miles from the trailhead to the Kettle Crest by 8am. From there I planned to wander out along the Kettle Crest (south) to the old sheepherder camp by the Jungle Hill trail. This is one of the prettiest segments of the trail, but I did it and was back to the Wapaloosie Trail by 9:30am; it was way too early to head home. That's when I remembered that the last time I hiked Wapaloosie, I bagged Scar Peak then continued over to Copper Butte and exited via the Old Stagecoach Road. I had plenty of time, so that's what I decided to do for today, too. The lupines are still in full bloom on Wapaloosie, but are almost finished on Copper Butte. I encountered NO downfall on my entire route; this is almost unheard of since the trail crosses though so many old burns, but it's true and it was fabulous! I saw several mule deer, was spooked by several grouse (they always wait until I'm about to step on them before they fly), and was serenaded by more songbirds than I could name. The thunderstorms held off until I was safely off Copper Butte (two rumbles before I got there, then silence until I was on the Stage Coach Road...then it was a little scary but at least I was off the highpoint). I only saw three people on horseback during the entire hike.

Sherman peak loop: great trail that took me about 3 hours. Clockwise hiking of the loop seems easier -- so I went counter clockwise. Had a severe snowstorm that lasted about an hour. On the south side of the loop, there was a lot of trees blown across the trail. It was cold and wet today. But a great hike.

A short trail off a main highway, to a lookout site with great views...and nobody there? We chose to hike Columbia mountian, a hike right off Sherman Pass (hwy 20). Although used by horsemen and mountain bikers, all the times we've hiked the crest we've been the only ones on the trail. For Columbia mountain (#25) take the Kettle Crest trail north from the picnic/campground at the top of Sherman Pass. After hiking a ways on the crest trail. you will come to an intersection and a trail sign for Columbia mountain loop & Columbia Peak. There is some old fencing and the remnants of a spring for stock. Take that. You will see what looks like a established trail forking off to the left. That is a game trail, stick to the main trail on your right. Continue on this until you come to another intersection with a trail sign for Columbia loop to the right and Columbia peak to the left. Unless you want to go all the way around before going to the lookout, take the left trail switchbacking sharply to the left. When you come to a signpost with no sign, take a sharp right and go up to the lookout site. There is ruins of an old cabin, and a new lookout cabin being refurbished. The view are great of nearby Sherman Peak and the surounding area, with distant vies of the North Cascades. We saw deer tracks, lots of deer tracks, everywhere. Wear bright orange in hunting season. Stay overnight in Rebublic and hike this area, it's a beautiful area although different from the Cascades. We've hiked this area in early summer too, and the wildflowers are great. Maps of this area are hard to find, we had a Xeroxed hand done map we picked up a few years ago when stopped in town.