Kelly Butte — Monday, Jun. 16, 2025

Our hiking group made their annual trek to Kelly Butte today.   The last 5 miles of the drive, on unpaved road, has a little bit of everything from large pot holes you need to drive around to washboard and loads of dust.  We were the only car at the trailhead when we pulled in at 9:45.  There are not toilet facilities at the TH and TP was scattered about in the underbrush.  Plan to stop at Federation Forest or somewhere else on your drive in for a bathroom.  It was mostly sunny skies with, clouds forming at the base of Mt Rainier and 51 degrees when we arrived.  The entire trail is now hard packed dry soil with a coating of loose dust and pebbles on the switched backed south facing slope of the climb up.  Very easy to lose your footing, hiking poles were super helpful.  We feel fortunate not to have anyone go down after reading several recent trip reports on WTA and All Trails.  Wildflowers are blooming in all their glory.  They start on the drive in with 5’ high Cow Parsnip and Goat’s beard lining the road.  Many of the rogue campsites along the Greenwater River were teeming with tents, RV’s and large groups.  People were target shooting at a few spots along the drive as well.  On the trail itself the wildflowers start showing once you leave the tree canopy.  We saw several varieties of penstemon, paint brush, bear grass, lupine, columbine, Oregon grape, lousewort, star Solomon seal, phlox, groundswell, saxifrage, vanilla leaf and more.  Trail traffic was super light we only saw 3 other people the entire time we were out.  The fire lookout was not manned so we sat on the decking out of the wind and enjoyed a leisurely lunch rest break taking in the view.  Wildlife sightings were limited to a few bird species, a couple chipmunks and an alerting marmot that we couldn’t spot.  Another fantastic day out in nature with friends.