Mount Catherine, Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) - Hyak to Windy Pass — Tuesday, Jul. 15, 2025

Hikes north on the PCT from Windy Pass to Lodge Lake and back.

The road to get to Windy Pass and the Mt Catherine trailhead is not great. There are a lot of very large pot holes and you will have to drive slowly! When you make the last switchback turn the road starts to get rocky. A few spots take some tricky navigation. This road really needs to be improved! As you get closer to the trailhead for the PCT someone has done some recent brushing along the road to prevent your car from getting scratched up! Thanks! You can drive all the way to the PCT and there are places to park and also turn around. I felt high clearance vehicles would be good here but when I finished hiking there was a Chevy Bolt!

The hike along the stretch of the PCT isn’t that much to call home about. You pass Olallie Meadow but you don’t see that much of it unless you go out of your way. A lot of the hike you are in the forest and some of that forest isn’t in the best of health.

There are a few gravel roads you have to walk down as part of this stretch. Without my Gaia I likely would have been a little confused about which path to take.

Someone along the trail has done some recent brushing which made it much nicer. There were some views as you cross the talus slopes.