Starting from the Redtown Trailhead we had a great fall hike on Cougar Mtn today.  5 cars were in the lot when we pulled in at 9:00.  The porta potties were open with supplies. Our 5.6 mile loop hike followed Wildside, Marshall Hill, CrossTown, DeLeo Wall Viewpoint, Indian, Quarry,
Coal Creek Falls, Cave Hole, RedTown Creek and Military Trails.  Today was magical walking on a bed of recent fallen leaves with a golden canopy remaining above.  Recent heavy rain and wind made the saturated trail littered with small branch fronds to larger branches and downed trees.  It was evident the park users have moved several small branches off the trails and we had to walk around or step over a couple others.  Water has returned to Cougar Mtn and a trickle was coming down at Coal Creek Falls and more on the “Redtown Creek Trail.  On trails closer to Redtown King County Parks have been out with their blowers and trails were debris free and new drainage channels have been cleared out.  THANK YOU!!! Trail traffic was super light and all users could easily pass each other including the unleashed dogs.  We had no real wildlife sightings except a couple robins, juncos and a few frogs were croaking. The trailhead lot was 1/3 full when we pulled out at 1:30. Another fantastic day out in nature with friends.

A moderate walk to the "top" of Marshall's Hill, newer De Leo Wall trail skirts the wall so is much less steep.   The trails for the most part are like "freeways", wide and easy to follow.  There was one blow down or tree bent over the De Leo Wall trail near its intersection with the Indian Trail, probably can be crawled under but I choose to go over it with minor difficulty. 

There were numerous walkers on the trails but also many quite intervals.  The newer De Leo Wall trail avoids the steep down hill of the older trail.  I miss the old view point from the top of the "wall" but loved the gentler grade of the new trail.

It was a nice 4.2 mile or so round trail from the Red Town Trail Head.  Note: my I-phone suggested a 5 mile loop and the longer distance seemed more consistent with the time of the walk.

This hike is a link-up of several local trails that are part of Newcastle Trails and Cougar Mountain Park. I named it the Newcastle Cougar Mashup. The hike ascends the Terrace Trail switchbacks and continues east into Cougar Mountain Park on the narrow, gnarly cliffside De Leo Wall trail to the overlook. Then on to connect with the Wildside Trail down to the Marshall’s Hill Trail and back up to link with Newcastle’s CrossTown trail heading northwest to exit to 136^th Ave SE. Then back along 144^th Pl SE to the Terrace Trail steps. It connects two loops in a barbell shape, about 6 miles with 900 feet of gain.

These trails are close to where I live, so I can walk to the Terrace trailhead and improvise a route depending on my whim. Today it was a rucking wildflower hike with a pack weighted with cameras, lenses, and a tripod to simulate what I might carry into the North Cascades.

The great thing about these local trails is that you can create many trail combinations depending on your objectives. And while these nearby hikes do not feature serene lakes, towering peaks, or mind-blowing vistas, they are surpassingly beautiful, especially the wild parts. I really like the narrow western stretch of the De Leo Wall Trail as it is not much more than an unmaintained boot path. In such places, you can relax into the present moment and let your attention wander to the little things, the tiny wildflowers, and the dramatic structure of the sword ferns.

However, I was shocked and disappointed to notice that the Wildside Trail looked hardly wild after some maintenance crew with weed whackers had mowed down two to three feet of trailside wildflowers on each side. I mean, really? Sure, I appreciate the trail crews when they cut large deadfall from the trail, but needless so-called ‘brush cutting’ not so much. The Wildside Trail is 4 to 6 feet wide anyway, so how could any encroaching wildflowers need to be hacked away? Seems like a thoughtless venture. I named them the ‘wildflower slayers.’ Made me angry. Grrrr!

However, the profusion of wildflowers on Marshall’s Hill Trail, back up the De Leo Wall connector, was completely untouched. I most enjoyed the narrow sections where the fragile plants reached out to touch me as I hiked along. Nature is messy and beautiful in its messiness. More and more, when visiting an alpine destination, I seek out the places far less travelled, often brushy, muddy, steep, and challenging. It seems the most rewarding places require the most effort, and sometimes a bit of suffering. Yes, I like it wild.

Back on the CrossTown Trail, I stopped at a new bench installed by the local Eagle Scouts. I took enough images to construct a spherical panorama. It is the second bench on the trail, the earlier one at a location named ‘Eagle Scout Aerie.’ Both offer a serene spot to pause and reflect. I have attached links to both panoramas below. For the most immersive viewing, open to full screen and scroll.

Such a perfect little hike if you don’t want to drive far from the city, but want to get out in some beautiful woods - 30 min from north Seattle. Got to the parking lot around 9a and there was still parking. Some tiny wildflowers blooming, some on their way out. Saw several very long slugs! The trail was very sparse for a Sunday — saw lots of people with young kids taking a different trail from the trailhead. 

Explored the western most portion of Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park on this sunny 60 degree day. The trails had the right mixture of sun and shade, Coal Creek has its spring flow going, and wildflowers are blooming. The bulk of my course from the Red Town trailhead involved the Wildside, Marshall’s Hill, De Leo Wall, and Red Town trails. Offshoots included the De Leo Wall Viewpoint, meadow restoration project, and Rainbow Town and Bagley Seam connector trails. Didn’t notice any checker lilies, but was happy to see my first fawn lilies, one in the De Leo Wall area and then a whole patch in the meadow restoration area. They look just like avalanche and glacier lilies except their leaves are mottled. Also noticed one cardamine nuttallii, one paintbrush, western trilliums of all ages (with the younger ones pure white, aging pink ones, and one very red oldy), pink and red flowering currant, pink herb-robert, yellow evergreen violets, white and purple periwinkle, bleeding heart, salmonberry, oregon grape, pink purslane, and a couple interesting looking fungi. In addition to various birds I heard the songs of frogs when passing water pockets near the trail. Only two trail issues I believe worth noting. One involves what may be a small beaver dam on Coal Creek near the Ford Slope coal mining exhibit. There’s now quite a body of water that extends past and around a footbridge on the Wildside trail. Looks like previous hikers have put large sticks down to step on to get through the water/mud. Wetness level will depend on the day’s weather, but even today I needed to step on those sticks with my trail runners. The second issue was one particular tree that fell over the Marshall’s Hill trail. A new path was created through the debris around the root ball that most people won’t have an issue with, but there are some splintered wood that could scrape legs or snag pants. Overall, trails are great right now for hiking or running. This route was over 6 miles and over 1200 ft total elevation gain.