Roaring Ridge by Mount Catherine is a double-peaked summit west of Keechelus Lake, south of Snoqualmie Pass. In the years past, the southeast peak housed several lookout towers. The removal of these took place as late as 1968.
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Roaring Ridge at a Glance
Access: End of Rampart Drive
Round Trip: 8 miles
Elevation Range: 2600′-4988′
Gear: snowshoes, ice ax
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: yes
Hyak & Gold Creek Exit 54
Somehow we never got the “mostly sunny” forecast. Instead, the steady flurries and snow showers filled much of the evening. But I kept my hopes up for decent views like four years ago.
We arrived at Exit 54 much later than anticipated today. Soon, the pups and I started walking at a quarter to noon under a cloudy sky. Since I didn’t park in the ski area, it didn’t occur to me that there was a no-dog policy on groomed trails.
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Cold Creek Road
To stay out of the way of skiers, we dove into the trees by Cold Creek Road. Then we returned to the road at Mill Creek before crossing Road 115. But I had somehow broken the bindings on one snowshoe before coming out of the woods.
Shortly, we crossed Cold Creek by the powerline clearing. I put on snowshoes, and we went up the northern slopes for a direct ascent. We soon came upon old ski tracks in the trees and followed them toward the ridge.
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The First-World Problem of a Broken Snowshoe
It’d been snowing all morning, with more snow higher on the hillside. As I discovered the hard way, the broken snowshoe wasn’t much help in fresh powder. Even though it slowed me down a lot, it was perhaps better to keep it on.
Meanwhile, I thought the other snowshoe would suffice to help keep a good pace. But it took me longer to straighten the broken shoe than snowshoeing. It’d probably take way longer to walk in fresh snow without it.
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Roaring Ridge Summit Plus Exit
The snow came down much harder when we reached the summit. I’d sometimes see parts of Keechelus Lake below the east. On the other hand, neither of the neighboring Mount Catherine and Tinkham Peak was visible.
By then, it was too unmotivating to want to check out the northwest peak. So we stayed only long enough for our usual selfies before leaving the top. Perhaps we’ll return some other time when the weather is decent again.
See more trip photos here.