diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/etcd/etcd_helper.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/etcd/etcd_helper.go
index 7c6c675a073..e2282ddeacc 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/etcd/etcd_helper.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/etcd/etcd_helper.go
@@ -380,11 +380,12 @@ func (h *etcdHelper) decodeNodeList(nodes []*etcd.Node, filter storage.FilterFun
 	}
 	for _, node := range nodes {
 		if node.Dir {
-			trace.Step("Decoding dir " + node.Key + " START")
+			// IMPORTANT: do not log each key as a discrete step in the trace log
+			// as it produces an immense amount of log spam when there is a large
+			// amount of content in the list.
 			if err := h.decodeNodeList(node.Nodes, filter, slicePtr); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
-			trace.Step("Decoding dir " + node.Key + " END")
 			continue
 		}
 		if obj, found := h.getFromCache(node.ModifiedIndex, filter); found {
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/trace/trace.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/trace/trace.go
index b228aa1bff9..5262b74ccb0 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/trace/trace.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/trace/trace.go
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ func (t *Trace) Log() {
 		buffer.WriteString(fmt.Sprintf("[%v] [%v] %v\n", step.stepTime.Sub(t.startTime), step.stepTime.Sub(lastStepTime), step.msg))
 		lastStepTime = step.stepTime
 	}
-	buffer.WriteString(fmt.Sprintf("[%v] [%v] END\n", endTime.Sub(t.startTime), endTime.Sub(lastStepTime)))
+	buffer.WriteString(fmt.Sprintf("%q [%v] [%v] END\n", t.name, endTime.Sub(t.startTime), endTime.Sub(lastStepTime)))
 	glog.Info(buffer.String())
 }