Cat Creek is a left-bank, western tributary of the middle Elwha River, a drainage of the Bailey Range of the Olympic Mountains in the Olympic National Park. There are no trails (or roads) into this watershed. Partial views into Cat-terrain can be had from the subalpine Hurricane Ridge Recreation Area. Good glimpses of the lower & middle reaches of its cleft into the Baileys massif are easily obtained via the 0.4 mile Upper Lake Mills Trail, which ends directly across the river from the Cat junction. At the beginning of 2015, the river remains closed to boats at this point, which would normally be needed to cross to the Cat-delta, and which would be practical to carry down (and back up) the Lake trail. (Wading may be possible at very low water.) The very headwaters of Cat are almost but not quite trail-accessible too, on the High Divide Trail, beyond & above overly-popular Seven Lakes Basin, out of the Sol Duc Hot Springs Trailhead.
Up past Seven Lakes, the High Divide trail-tread stops suddenly on a very steep hardrock pitch, which is the Hoh River side of Cat Peak. This last part of the trail was dynamited from the mountain face, during an ambitious but short-lived project to penetrated the inner Olympic Mountains with a Grand Canyon-style network of small-gauge cliff-side roads (good horse trails). Today, near the abrupt terminus of the blasting, a clear way-path ascends the steep but safe slope. This path soon gains a view on the opposite Elwha river side of the Cat Peak, looking down the rocky upper headwaters of the creek into forbidding terrain.
The Cat waytrail then approaches a dramatic arête strung between Cat and the next peak south along the Baileys, Mount Carrie. This is called the Cat Walk, and for the confident & steady-nerved presents ‘heart-test’ unobstructed views simultaneously west into the Hoh (3,500′ down to the river and then 6,500′ up Mount Olympus, in one clean glance (El Capitan, Yosemite, 3,000′)), and east down the rock-jumbled Cat canyon ridge-faces toward the Elwha. At this point, the quick prizes have been attained and one can return to the Basin camp. For larger investments of time, one continues from here on the informal Bailey Range Traverse.
Before heading out on the last of the High Divide trail, one passes a good side-trail leading into Cat Basin. This is a large semi-enclosed amphitheater-type subalpine meadow featuring Cat Lake against the ridge-spine base. The Basin has numerous comfortable camps, and although it is included in the Seven Lakes Basin restricted-use area, actual usage of Cat Basin is much lighter … it’s still required to have the special (and limited) permits, but specifying Cat Basin as the camp location would mean less competition for sites. Strong hikers can easily reach Cat Basin in one full day, and could then also exit in one day, on the 2nd half of the Seven Lakes loop. Check with WIC Wilderness Information Center to ensure Cat Basin is open to camping.
Cat Creek Way Trail is an old informal route and sometime Baileys Traverse shortcut, between Appleton Pass and environs, and Cat Basin. It crosses Spread Eagle Pass] from the upper Appleton meadows onto the Cat Creek side of Cat Ridge, and makes its way up-country to the Basin. This would probably have been the ancient way to access Upper Seven Lakes Basin from the Elwha River, rather than as on current trails, dropping thousands of feet down to the upper Sol Duc River and then back up the other side to its Basin. Appleton Pass and Cat Ridge have been carefully excluded from the Seven Lakes limited-use zone; only upon arriving at Cat Basin is the zone entered.