Hiking Mount Kelly in Manning Park
Contents
Mount Kelly Hike Information
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 7.40Km
Elevation Gain: 570m
Highest Elevation: 1,908m
Average Gradient: 15.40%
Effort/Reward Ratio: Moderate / Low
Time Needed:
– Slow: 4 – 5 Hours
– Moderate: 3 – 4 Hours
– Fast: 2 – 3 Hours
Dogs Permitted?: Yes
Season: Year-Round (Winter Preferred)
4×4 / High Clearance Required? No
Scrambling / Exposure: None
Mount Kelly Trail
Trailhead Coordinates: 49°06’59.0″N 120°52’06.6″W
Mount Kelly Overview
Mount Kelly is a mostly forested summit in Manning Park, easily accessed from Allison Pass, that makes for a relatively popular snowshoe or ski touring outing in the winter. While a summertime ascent is no doubt feasible as well, Mount Kelly tends to be favored in the winter when snow covers the trail, making for a smooth and simple climb.
This is a mostly forested hike, with the majority of the trail in the trees. Views are few and far between, and while there are a few stops along the way with a viewpoint, they tend to be fairly low on the trail. The summit itself is mostly flat and forested, with any views largely obstructed by trees.
Mount Kelly tends to be favored by beginner snowshoers or recreationalists looking for a simple, quick outing with little technical difficulty. The trail is usually well trafficked enough that the route is obvious, and there are usually markers for much of the climb.
More adventurous hikers may want to consider extending their outing to Mount Kelly by traversing across the broad, scenic ridge towards Nordheim Peak. This ridge offers expansive views that are significantly better than Mount Kelly, and it’s a simple stroll from the summit of Mount Kelly. Nordheim Peak is approximately 5.5km along this ridge and makes for a very long and tiring outing due to the incessant ups and downs along the ridge. There is no real need to go all the way to Nordheim Peak, but it’s very worthwhile to explore some of the ridge due to the far superior views.
Thanks to the highway adjacent trailhead plus the Allison Pass work yard, which allows vehicles to park inside (as long as they are off to the side of any operations), this is a 2WD accessible hike, though in the winter you will need winter tires to drive down Highway 3. Allison Pass is at 1,342m elevation and as such sees snow for much longer than most areas. Mount Kelly is also pet friendly.
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Is Mount Kelly worthwhile?
Mount Kelly is probably an appropriate hike to take a beginner snowshoer on. It’s an easy to follow trail, technically straightforward, not that challenging and offers some reasonable views at certain points throughout. Anyone who has hiked a fair amount will likely agree that the views on Mount Kelly are quite limited as the summit, and most of the trail, is predominantly forested. An experienced hiker will probably not be very impressed with the views on Mount Kelly due to this, and will want to extend the hike along Nordheim ridge where the views are better.
How difficult is the hike to Mount Kelly?
Despite the average gradient of 15.40% Mount Kelly is a pretty straightforward hike. At just 7.40km it’s a short climb that can be completed pretty quickly. 570m elevation is a moderate amount also. Of course any physical difficulty is impacted by the condition of snow when you go. In fresh, deep powder you can expect quite the challenge, but if the trail is well packed, which it often is, it should be simple enough.
Technically this is a very straightforward hike with the only challenges really being deadfall along the trail at times. This is fairly negligible and tends to be lower down on the trail, but take care for tree wells around any fallen trees.
Mount Kelly Route Information
As noted the trailhead for Mount Kelly is at the summit of Allison Pass, the highest point on Highway 3 through Manning Park. Hikers can park their vehicle inside the Allison Pass workyard off to the side, away from any operations. Some hikers choose to park on the side of the road by the work yard also.
You’ll have to cross over Highway 3, where immediately on the other side of the road you should see an orange marker and a trail leading into the trees. After following this trail for a couple of hundred meters you’ll reach a spacious forest service road, taking a left to continue climbing.
You’ll follow this FSR for 500m or so where you’ll hit a couple of switchbacks as the climb steepens somewhat. After these switchbacks you’ll cut back on yourself and continue traversing the slope at a consistently moderate gradient. You’ll get some peek-a-boo views through the treeline looking to the southwest.
Continuing along the obvious trail you’ll soon reach one of the better viewpoints of the hike as the trail cuts left above a steep, open slope. You’ll have an expansive view looking east along the highway cutting through the valley. The trail soon traverses briefly across a somewhat steep slope where you’ll need to be careful with your footing, before sharply turning back into the forest where you’ll continue the climb.
The route now becomes slightly less obvious as you’ve departed the spacious FSR and entered a narrow trail in the forest. If it has been well trafficked it should be very straightforward nonetheless, but without tracks you may be reliant upon some simple route finding. Markers are sporadic throughout but may not be sufficient for navigation, so an offline map might be useful just in case.
The remainder of the trail is now through pretty dense forest as you continue climbing at a moderate grade. There will be sporadic, mostly obstructed views as you climb higher, with the jagged peaks of Hozomeen Mountain poking through on a clear day. It’s mostly a case of plodding along towards the summit.
After a couple of kilometers of working your way through this forest, the trees will begin to thin out slightly and the gradient starts to level off. Eventually you will reach the broad summit of Mount Kelly, which is mostly forested but does have some viewpoints through the openings in the trees. You’ll have pretty clear views out towards Three Brothers Mountain especially. You might get some views if you wander around the broad summit looking for them, but they’re still likely to be obstructed.
As suggested it is strongly recommended to follow the broad ridge leading towards Nordheim Peak for far better views. This will involve a brief descent which you will need to climb back up on the return journey, but the rewards are significantly better than those of Mount Kelly. You don’t need to go that far along the ridge to be rewarded either, perhaps just a kilometer or so, maybe even less. You can continue along this ridge as far as you like, keeping in mind you have to climb back up to Mount Kelly in order to hike out.
When should I hike Mount Kelly?
The vast majority of people hike Mount Kelly in the winter when snow covers the trail. This makes for much simpler travel on smooth snow versus a rugged forest floor. It also offers some picturesque snowy scenes on a hike with limited views otherwise. For this you’ll likely want to hike Mount Kelly between November and May.
You can still hike this trail in summer and I’m sure it’s straightforward and easy to follow, it’ll just be a bit more overgrown and less scenic.
Top Tip
Continue along the Nordheim ridge from Mount Kelly for far better views than you will have had so far. It only adds a kilometer or two and offers much better views. There is no designated trail here, but the ridge is broad and easy to follow. Some people follow it all the way to Nordheim Peak, which makes for a long and challenging outing.
