I read about this trail on the WTA website as being a little known and used trail. Well, for a Saturday it wasn’t as busy as most other popular trails in the area, but its in excellent shape and clearly well maintained for a little used trail.
The trailhead is about 1/4 mile prior to the Pacific Coast Trail on FS road 9070, about 4.4 miles from the start of the road at Hyak Ski area. There is room for a number of cars on the side of the road, and there were 2 others parked when I got there at 11am. I briefly spoke with one hiker with a dog that had just come back down. He asked me if this was my first time there and said this was his favorite because its lesser known and so rewarding for relatively little effort. He said there was one other family up there as I was starting out and they were probably on their way down. Which meant I would have the top to myself.
The trail descriptions I’d read about were correct, it was pretty steep and I counted 18 switchbacks in the first 3/4 mile. It then eased a bit to a more normal forest trail before steepening again for the final bit. I ran into the family about 1/4 mile from the top.
It only took me an hour, I was at the top at 12:00 high. The last 30 feet were a scramble up a 45 degree bank, but fortunately someone years ago had placed a heavy wire cable there to pull yourself up with. And to let yourself down too.
But boy the view on top was a wonderful 360 degrees. And the sky was clear and the breeze was cool and the sun was warm. Can’t beat it. Mt Catherine was not as high as some of the other peaks in the area, but that doesn’t detract from its views in any way.
One of my favorite other hikes, and usually very crowed is Granite Mtn with its fire lookout on top. A little hard to see here.
The Hyak and Snoqualmie ski areas are easily seen from on top.
I was alone for about 45 minutes, until three teens showed up. They were probably 15 or so, and very loud. They took some photos then were gone and another lady showed up, then more started coming. Well, that was enough for me at that point, 6-7 people on that small summit makes for a crowd, so at 1:20 I packed up and headed down.
Back at the truck in 50 minutes, and I took the time to explore Rd 9070 as I headed back down. What a great day!