First, I will say- Mapquest will have you going all over the place if you follow it. The directions are solid on WTA. Although, driving to the trail head might seem a little suspicious. As I was crossing 906, I noticed there were homes being built in the area. As I drove through, there were large, orange barrels in the middle of the road. There were a few trespass signs but none that applied to traveling on the road. As I think back on this, I think the orange barrels were an attempt to keep people from speeding.
I finally crossed onto a gravel road, and over a bridge. Once on the gravel road, I made a determination that I should have drove my truck. I was in my four door sedan, and although I made it to the trail head with minor scrapes, I think the road is in rough enough condition that I would forewarn those of you who want to drive a small sedan. You'll need some clearance because my front end scraped a lot, and I came away with some broken side skirts on my vehicle. I will also note that there were several car parts laying on the road. There is one part on the road, in particular, where it hairpins to the left, and the road is gently washed out exposing some nicely sized rocks.
I must've not been paying much attention because I totally missed the trail head. I ended up at Coal Creek #17 which is 100 feet passed the Mt Catherine TH. I back tracked, parked and started up the mountain. There will be a trail to your left as you start approaching the switch backs. Continue to your right.
The trail is in great condition. As you ascend, you'll start to wander into snow and the only spot I was really worried about will probably be gone in another week or so. The people before be blazed a good enough trail through the snow patch where I didn't need micro-spikes. But one slip and you'll take a nasty fall 200 feet down.
Mt Catherine surprised me at how quickly the summit was before me. 3.6 miles of decent incline, soft trail and not a lot of obstacles. The hike felt really good and I was the only one at the summit. Mt Rainier was in full bloom with not a cloud in the sky. I made it back to my vehicle in less than an hour. Be safe!
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