Parked at the Gensner TH in Starr Pass and began the hike out to Cat Mountain at 10:55 am. Took the most direct route to the northeastern side of the mountain. That is, the Yetman Tr to the Starr Pass Tr and finally turned left (SW) onto the Cat Mountain Tr. Followed the Cat Mountain Tr until breaking off near a small low saddle between Cat Mountain and Peak 3059 and heading cross country up the northeastern slope. Although this route did allow for access to the summit it did require some very creative scrambling near the top. After reaching the summit I wandered around on top for 20 minutes or so exploring the various vistas, signed the summit log near the Sheriff's repeater "rock", and then made my way back down via a different route just a bit farther to the northeast. My descent route was definitely the better choice and I would think that going even a bit further east/northeast may yield an even better route. I reached the summit at 12:35 pm and made it back to the TH by 2:15 pm. Total time out was 3 hours, 20 mins with a 7.2 mile roundtrip hike and 1218 feet of gain.