Well I won't return to Mount Catherine anytime soon. The view of Rainier is fabulous, but that road! I don’t want to submit my SUV to that again, the risk of a shredded engine block not worth it. Most of the road has just deep potholes that if you are careful are not problem, but at 1.5 miles to the trailhead at a sharp left the road is more or less washed out from water, and goes from being really bad to only accessible via specialty cars like jeeps/trucks. Between the 1.7 and 1.5 mark there were 30-50 cars parked.
On the trail back down, talked to a few people who mentioned that they had parked at 1.5 miles, for a total of 6 miles round trip. What was disconcerting was to then drive past groups of people walking up the hot, dry, dusty logging road. The ridge line is tiny, fit for about 15 at most, and there must have been 50 people heading up there.
The hike itself is nice, short and sharp. At the top on the ridge line, nothing obstructs the fabulous view south of a white and crystal clear Mount Rainier. Behind and below is the distant roar of I 90. Below is to the east along I 90 is a reservoir. The John Wayne iron horse trail parallels this area. Between the hot sun and the light cool breeze, no bugs! Probably due to no water source but rain, although I did spray liberally with OFF, as well. Most hikers were very responsible and put on their masks before passing, with only 1 dog bag left on the trail.
Comments