Mount Catherine — Thursday, Jul. 26, 2007

Snoqualmie Region > Snoqualmie Pass

I'd glanced at this trail many times as I drove to Ollalie Meadows/Windy Pass and always thought the beginning looked so unappealing - a rocky road heading straight uphill. Finally, looking for a ridgey hike close to town that wasn't an all day affair (packing for a trip tomorrow), we gave it a try and were VERY pleasantly surprised. The trail goes into nice old forest quickly and switchbacks at an even grade uphill 1300 feet up and about 1.5 miles in to a great summit with 360 views from Rainier to Chickamin Ridge. Bugs were present but a non-issue. Thanks to some recent trailwork the tread was in great shape. We brought our 4.5 year old along and he was carried some of the way and hiked some of the way. The summit is a little exposed so we kept him in the backpack and went back down a short ways for a picnic. total roundtrip was about 2.5 hours, at a 4 year old pace. The road up has one rocky washout but we made it fine in our 2 wd passenger car.