Ok, so now that I've looked at my map a little closer, I see that you can drive all the way to the start of the Mt. Catherine trail. :I What we'd done was start at the Twin Lakes trail and hiked through. Not a big deal but it would have been nice to avoid the muddy spots and have more time to have done Silver Peak, too, given the little time we had. The trail has several blow-downs, most quite easy to get over or around. Unfortunately the weather wasn't cooperating, so things got a bit misty and drizzly and cold and the occasional breeze was quite chilling. Perhaps that kept some of the mosquitos away. They weren't too much of a problem, but we did get pestered by just a few. All snow is gone. My Green Trails map shows this trail as only 1.2 miles long, but I'm quite certain it has to be a bit longer. My guess is easily a good 2 miles or so. It took a little less than an hour to reach the top. Now, we weren't trying to set any speed records, but we weren't just out for a stroll, either. It is a little bit steep but graded pretty well and didn't seem too taxing. The really steep part is the very last approx. 30 ft. or so, but definitely do-able. Unfortunately we had absolutely no views at all since we were completely socked in. We briskly finished our lunches since cool-down came rather quickly. On the way down we actually saw a couple other folks who braved the weather, too. This would be good to incorporate with a trip up Silver Peak, too.

Bring BUG SPRAY!! I can not say this enough… BRING BUG SPRAY!! Apparently after a winter of starvation, the mosquitoes are HUNGRY!! Apparently I was the only source of nourishment. This shortened an otherwise beautiful view from the summit of Mt. Catherine. The trail could use some work. There were numerous blow downs, some of them old enough that the common paths around them (and cutting the switchbacks) have replaced the original paths. Most of the blow downs are easy to get around or over or under. However, there is one large tree that is too low to go under, and too high to leap over. It does require some thought. The trail needs to be brushed, although none of the vegetation has thorns, it is very close in some places. At one point, the width was less than one boot’s width. However, the trail is easy to follow, and pretty dry. (Bring water). The view of Rainier from the top (and in-between bugs) is incredible!! Use great care when crossing the last remnants of the snow field near the summit. As of July 2nd, there was a very narrow path melted to the ground on the high side of the pack. However, there were many boot paths through the snow. Please note, it is slippery and a LONG, LONG way down! I recommend sticking to the ground. Also, keep in mind the final scramble to the summit along the old cable is deceiving! It is steep coming down. All in all, I recommend this hike. Total time was about 2 hrs. (without the bugs, I would have spent more time at the summit).

We were headed to Mt Margaret but could not get to the trailhead because of the snow on the road, so we decided to climb Mt Catherine instead (one of the party was named Catherine so that clinched it). We parked the cars at the Hyak ski area and hiked up the southwest side of the ski area. When we got up to the top of the ski area we got a full view of Mt Catherine. We decided to climb it from the northwest ridge. We headed down thru the clear cut and then traversed up and west of the mountain. The previous week had dumped a couple of feet of fresh snow which made the going slow. When we got into the trees it was raining snow on us. We then skirted a rock cliff area (you can see this area from the top of the ski hill, its on the west side of the mountain). Then it was steep stepping up to the summit. We couldn't have done the last 300' without our snowplows (Lewis and Victor), they were swimming up the mountain the snow was so deep. When we summited, the clouds moved away and gave us some sunshine to have lunch. Then the fun part, back climbing down all those steep snow sections. The snow was soft so it was easy going. Good day with lots of sunshine and good people.

Hike Trip Description I had planned on summitting Silver Peak by doing the Cold Creek trail (#1303), PCT (#2000), Silver Peak, PCT (#2000), Mt. Catherine trail (#1348) and Cold Creek trail (#1303). However, my plan did not succeed because I missed the turn-off to Silver Peak. According to the "100 Hikes in Washington's South Cascades and Olympics" book, the Silver Peak turn-off should have had a sign marking the Gardiner Ridge trail on the PCT, but there was no sign. I parked at the Cold Creek trailhead. I began the hike at about 1:18 PM. I hiked the Cold Creek trail, which was slightly overgrown to Twin Lakes, which took me about 20 minutes. I walked over Cold Creek on a very large log and began my ascent up what seemed to be not that steep a trail. After 3/8 mile, the trail became very steep with many overgrown areas. In one pretty bad overgrown area, I could not see the trail very well at all, my right foot stepped on the very right edge of the rock trail. My right foot then slipped off the trail into a bunch of plants while my left shin hit the rock trail. My left shin sustained a very minor gash and a bruise. I finally got to the intersection with the PCT at 1 hour 40 minutes into the hike. On the very steep part of the trail, one gains 1300 feet in 1.2 miles, which is about a 1083 feet per mile elevation gain. I took a 15 minute break at the intersection and put on bug repellant because I was getting bit my mosquitoes and some other type of insect, which I do not know the name. I stopped my break to begin the hike on the PCT to find the Silver Peak turn-off. I went west on the PCT. On parts of the PCT, I noticed a few snow covered areas and a few water covered areas. I hiked for a while, attempting to find the Gardiner Ridge trail sign, which I never found. I passed by a large pile of rocks on the right side of the PCT and looked to the left and noticed a trail. I did not think anything of it at that time. I passed by a rock slide area and some switch backs. I got to a place on the trail where when I looked up, I could see Silver Peak and noticed at least three people up there. I then realized that I probably missed the Silver Peak turn-off. Since the time was later than I would have liked, I decided to continue to hike on the PCT. After 3 hours into the hike, I came across a creek that went across the trail with a pretty good rock area on the west side of the trail where I could sit, eat lunch and enjoy the creek noise. I ate lunch for about 25 minutes and then resumed my hike. I began my last part of the hike. I continued north on the PCT until I got to the intersection with Forest Road 9070, where I turned right, southeast. After at most .3 miles, I came across another smaller pile of rocks on the right side of the road. I went to the pile and looked into the forest and noticed another sign for the trail, #1348, that I needed to hike to get back to my car. I figured out that the large pile of rocks that I had seen before on the PCT was most probably the Silver Peak turn-off. At this point, I had been hiking for 4 hours and 5 minutes. I hiked another half hour on a very poorly maintained trail. The trail was extremely overgrown with plants, water and a few blown down trees on the trail. I almost got lost a couple of times because of the overgrown plants. I was lucky that there were blown down trees because I stepped up on them to see where the trail went and then followed the trail. I finally got to the #1348 trail and #1303 trail intersection. Instead of going back to the Cold Creek trailhead, I decided to see if I could actually hike to the shore of Twin Lakes from the #1303 trail. I turned right on the #1303 trail and hiked to right before the very large log, the log that allows you to walk over Cold Creek. I turned right and hiked a very short overgrown trail to the Twin Lakes shore, where I stayed for about 15 minutes. While on the shore, I looked up to the west and saw Silver Peak. I also noticed some insects flying above the lake and some splashes on the lake, which I believe that some fish caused. I finally left the lake and headed back to the trailhead. I got to the trailhead 5 hours and 6 minutes after I began at about 6:24 PM. I noticed that a few bees were flying around my car, like at the beginning of my hike. I am glad that I went on the hike, although I felt a bit frustrated because I did not find the turn-off to Silver Peak. Not finding the turn-off turned out to be a good thing because otherwise I would not have returned to my car until some time after nightfall. There are a few more inaccuracies in the "100 Hikes in Washington's South Cascades and Olympics" book about this hike. The hike distance, hiking time, high point and elevation gain figures are incorrect. Hike Length Distance 7.4 miles round-trip. Time: 5 hours 6 minutes. Elevation Max 4500 feet. Min 3000 feet. Range :1500 feet. Restrooms Trailhead:0. Close By 1, at least. (Public restroom - less than 0.2 miles south of Snoqualmie Summit Inn. Get to it by taking exit 52 or exit 53 off of Interstate 90) Book -) 100 Hikes in Washington's South Cascades and Olympics - 3rd Edition, 1998. Ira Spring and Harvey Manning. p. 36-37. Map Green Trails - Snoqualmie Pass, WA (# 207) Pests Biting flying insects. Cost Since I already had an Annual Northwest Trails Pass, which I got at Mt. St. Helens in June, I did not have to buy a new one.

One-Way Distance: 3.7 mi Elevation Gain: 2,500 ft High Point: 5,052 ft I dropped three friends off to do some down hill skiing at the Summit Central and continued on to the Hyak Ski Center. It was closed and there was a sign up saying something about dangerous skiing conditions. The parking lot was pretty much empty, but I parked there without any problems. I started the hike about 10:30AM. The ground was bare of snow in places by small creeks in the normal skiing area. The snow was very hard and icy and had a dusting of frozen fog on top. I climbed up to the top of Mount Hyak and then down and up again towards Frog Lake. I wore my snowshoes as I was always expecting to run into some softer stuff as I got higher. However, snowshoes were not required (or even really useful) for this entire trip. I finally took them off near the outlet of Frog Lake where I discovered a trail of blue diamonds high up in the trees. I followed the diamonds and they took me to Nordic Pass, which was exactly where I wanted to go. Right over the pass there was a radio-weather station. Here I turned left (south) and started heading up Mt Catherine. It took a little effort to kick steps since the snow was so hard. It was a great climb up the west ridge. It was well forested with some big trees. I climbed into, and then above, a cloud layer at about 4,100 – 4,300 ft. The ridge was pretty narrow so there were still nice views in between the trees when I got above the clouds. The trip up was pretty easy and safe. The summit had some rocky outcroppings, so I traversed to the north before ascending to the very top. It was treeless up there and the views were great! You could see just about everywhere. Down below was a sea of clouds with the tops of many familiar peaks poking up above. Rainier and the Olympics were completely clear. I could see all the way to Mt Stuart. The cloud sea was flowing in from the East and South forming some cloud waterfalls over nearby passes. I’m really sorry I didn’t bring my camera. The summit was only a few feet wide and there was a cliff to the south. Strangely, it was very still and warm up there. The snow was softening and melting off the trees. There was a big weather inversion going on. It may have been 40 degrees on the summit, but it was about 20 degrees and windy near the ski slopes. I had to hurry up to pick up the skiers at 4PM, so I decided to try descending the north side. It was really steep and there were some rocky cliffs to avoid. In one section, I made use of an avalanche chute. I’d never normally consider this, but the snow seemed very safe today. As I descended quickly it noticeably got colder. Soon I entered this winter wonderland where needle shaped ice crystals covered the trees. They made the foliage look like weird cactus-evergreen hybrids. Dead evergreen branches that had no real needles, instead had white ice needles replacing and simulating them. The descent went very quickly. Once safely down the north side of Catherine I could relax. After that, I only had a couple small creeks to cross as I made my way off-trail through trees back to the ski area and got to the car at 3:45PM. Mt Catherine is a great winter destination.