Rating:  4 of 5 stars (no smoke, so a nice place to go!)
My opinions:  This hike is a nice, short moderate hike.  It has some mountain views on the way up, and some beautiful views on top.  We could see Mt Rainier and the I-90 area. 
Parking & Road Conditions: Long trip on a bumpy road with lots of wash boarding and pot holes.  I don’t think all cars can make it—there are about four really rough places.  Our Subaru Forester made it just fine.  A Toyota Camry made it too, but be careful!  Park alongside the road. 
Snow:  None.
Smokey:  No smoke.
Trail & trail conditions:  Great.   You’ll only see (on the right) a small trail sign #1348, which can be easily missed if there are no other cars.  Once you hike 150 feet or so, you’ll see a “Mt Catherine” sign on a tree.
At the top of the trail, there is a metal cable to help you to the top. 
Berries:  None.
Bugs:  None.
Time: This trail took us (64 & 65 year old guys and a 54 year old gal) about 5 hours.  We spent an hour at the top.
Views:  Very nice mountain views on top.
Flowers or Leaves Changing:  Very few fall colors, just starting.

I would call this an interesting hike. It is quite steep hiking up to the top with not to much scenery to take pictures of. Nearly at the top there is a cable to help you climb up to the rocks on the mountain top. The view from the top is very pretty and today Mount Rainier was visible too. Now getting back down off the top is a challenge too, you can either use the cable again or use a very steep sandy path which wasn't much better. It's still a neat hike. Also the road into Mount Catherine is dirt with lots of potholes, so pretty rough.

After work on a Friday. No one was at the trailhead when o got there. I passed one other group on the way down. The road up is a little rough but isn’t bad if you take it slow. The trail is rocky and rooty but again not too bad.

It’s steep but short going up. There are some peekaboo views looking north at a few points on tbe hike. The forest on the hike is nothing really special, although I did pick some huckleberries, there weren’t many though.

I used the route with the rope to do the final scramble to the summit, and that was helpful. The view from the top was a tad hazy but still spectacular.

Went up to Mount Catherine with my 13 year old daughter this afternoon. Lots of other families with kids today, as this one is good for kids, as it is pretty short with some nice views up top. Plus the last little scramble part is easy, and fun for the kids. Some huckleberries were out according to some other hikers, but I didn't see to many. Maybe they ate them all!! Haha. The road past the hairpin turn has been repaired and is much better here. Up past this, the road is rough, and there is a couple of ruts up toward the trailhead that could cause problems for low clearance if another car comes from the other direction and you have to go over the ruts. Fun little hike that didn't take too long. I think we finished in 2 hours!

An annual visit for me! Great reward for a short hike. I will say the last 2x I've been in that area to hike both from this TH and others near it I've seen people parked sideways in the small parking area near this TH and that's just rude. That space can comfortably fit 3 large SUVs and it just limits the number of people who can park near the TH. There's no reason for it! Please be thoughtful of other hikers!