Kendall Dog walk TLDR summary:

The road to the trail has a large washout right at the turn onto it, "watch out for wash out"! You can drive around it, but it's hard to see at first.

The first 4 miles of the trail have patchy snow and multiple stream crossings. Mountaineering Goretex shoes were perfect with some hiking poles. We saw lots of folks with wet feet, wading thru.

The last 2 miles have deep snow - over the knee, so gaters were a life saver here! It feels somewhat exposed.

We ended up turning around about half mile from the katwalk ridge because the snow got too deep for my border collie. He couldn't jump thru it any more with snow balls turning into ice and stuck on his fluffy tush. Got to take care of our team mates! 

All and all, we got some nice views once it stopped snowing and another beautiful day in the mountains! 

Arrived at the trailhead on a sunny Tuesday a little bit after 9am.  There were a few cars parked in the lower lot but my car was the only one parked in the upper lot.  The restroom in the upper lot was clean and well-stocked.  To shorten the hike a bit, I decided to take the Old Commonwealth trail to access the PCT.  The trail through the Commonwealth Basin was snow-free but frozen solid and it was chilly enough for a fleece and some thin gloves.  The water levels in Commonwealth Creek are very low so the two creek crossings are not a problem.

After 1.5 miles, the Old Commonwealth trail connected with the PCT and in another mile or so, consistent snow and ice made its appearance on the trail, but no microspikes were needed to navigate through the woods and reach the beginning of the open talus fields.  The fall colors - along with the white snow and the cloudless blue sky - provided excellent views of Red Mountain, Guye Peak, Snoqualmie Mountain and Mount Rainier during the ascent to the Katwalk.  About one mile before the Katwalk, the snow and ice on the trail became a little bit more treacherous and trekking poles and microspikes were super helpful.  However, the Katwalk itself is still snow-free and the views of Alaska Mountain, Mount Stuart, and Alta Mountain were awesome!

11 miles, 5.5 hours, 2,700 feet of elevation gain

The Katwalk never fails to deliver a good workout with great views. tl;dr - Sweeping views, fun cloud action, fall color and berries at higher elevation.

There were a handful of cars at the parking lot, I was expecting to see more given ease of access to the trail. The restrooms are in great shape and well stocked.

I intended to run the trail but ended up with a run/hike combo - the first few miles were wet and slick in places after the morning rain. The trail is in great condition with a couple of small water crossings before the first open talus slope. The blueberries bushes past this area are past prime for color and berries. The sumacs and ferns are still in peak color. You can hear water but there are no stream crossings as the trail goes back into old growth forest. I didn't see any deer today but the pikas and chipmunks were out everywhere. Kendall Gardens is lush with fall colors, backed by Lundin Peak and Red Mountain. The sumacs are resplendent here and there is plenty of blueberries for the picking. Looking back, the clouds obscured views of Rainier but the inversion layer made for some fun photos.

The Katwalk area trail is dry and solid, opening up to great views of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. However, it got pretty smoky by this point and the views just got hazier further along. I was hoping to get to the lakes but the smoke and several instances of fresh bear scat convinced me to turn around about 3/4 mile past the Katwalk.

The trail was unusually quiet and empty, I saw all of 6 people the entire time. It was great to get another fall hike in before the rain rolls in tomorrow.

Beautiful day on Kendall Katwalk. A little hazy and smokey in the morning, but this quickly dissapated, and the afternoon was very pleasant.  Grateful grateful grateful to live in WA state.

Amazing hike! We arrived in the parking lot at 7:30am and there were about 10 other cars there. The bike was beautifully maintained and pretty wide throughout most of the hike, making it easy to bring dogs (we had 3 with us). The trail was just a steady incline most of the way- I wouldn’t consider it steep at any point - just a gradual slow and steady incline the whole way.

We only went to Kendall Katwalk, but it was worth it. Beware: it was rockier than I thought for long stretches and our feet were very sore at the end of the 12.7 miles hike!