Mount Catherine, Abiel Peak, Silver Peak & Tinkham Peak — Saturday, Jul. 11, 2015

Overall 11.75mi RT 1700m ascent Mt Catherine, Tinkham Peak, Abiel Peak, Silver Peak After three weeks of 90F weather, it seemed appropriate to attack Snoqualmie Pass, if nothing else to have the train tunnel as a backup plan. The plan was to visit Catherine (for the first time) and then proceed via the PCT to Tinkham. The remaining portion of the hike was considered "possible but not necessary". The weather and energy permitted, so four summits were visited. The achievement is slightly cheap given the proximity of some of the peaks. By comparison, quadrupling Pratt through Putrid would be 17.4mi and 2750m of ascent. The summit of Catherine appeared sooner than expected. Early morning was actually slightly warmer; with everything covered by clouds, visibility of the surroundings was better in the 3000-4000ft elevation band. The descent was uneventful and rather quick. I would recommend Mt Catherine as a short jaunt before other hikes in the surrounding area; if one intends to save Catherine for the end of another hike, it will probably feel annoyingly steep. After descent, reload on water and food. A group of three to four hikers was descending from the direction of Silver, though I was on the ridge to Tinkham before they passed the saddle. Despite the increasing precipitaiton, I worked upward through the forest in shorts and a tshirt, and only added the hat and jacket before the final climb up the rocks. There was a good deal of moisture updraft visible, but it was warm enough to stand on the eastern arm and eat. The descent took just as long given the poor footing in the forest. With the rain continuing, I became concerned about footing and grip on Abiel; while the final ascent on Tinkham requires some caution, there are very few spots where hands are required for more than stabilization. My memory of Abiel, on the other hand, was that several spots required reaching and there was, in general, more open rock to ascend. Despite the talus slopes and the rain, however, both the ascent and descent seemed safe. There were a few places where good foot placement was helpful, but grip with the gloves never faltered and the only real footing problems were on dirt-covered rocks or loose soil. Having saved Silver for last, I was able to mostly shut down my brain and just follow the people in front of me, which felt a bit safer as I was winding down on energy (or so I thought). People appeared behind me as soon as I descended from Abiel onto the PCT, but they did not catch me, though they got very close, on the way to the summit. They were, in fact, the second group I had seen all day, which was to be the exception to volume of people, as the trail was rather occupied after that point. I passed a couple ascending the south face of Silver, but otherwise mostly paced myself sufficient to pass no others. In total, I probably saw forty people after Abiel. Complexity might be measured in terms of descent time relative to ascent time, with lower numbers being better. Given such a measure, these four, in order of increasing complexity, are: Catherine, Silver, Tinkham, Abiel.