I have been hiking all over Cougar Mountain for 20 years and for some reason have never seen Far Country Falls before. The WTA Trail News email this morning had an article on Waterfalls and Far Country was featured so I thought that I'd check it out. I decided to approach from the lower Licorice Fern trailhead to make the journey a little longer and lonelier than approaching from Red Town. The trailhead is on SE 112th just off of May Valley Road. The trailhead is an obscure, but signed turnout on the right just after 112th turns left to become 169th. This section of Licorice Fern trail is seldom used and very pretty. It is in a deep mossy valley with lots of bright green understory vegetation and nice mature trees. At 1.2 mi you cross SE Licorice Way and pick up the Licorice Fern trail on the other side. There are still a fair number of Trillium in bloom. The Licorice Fern trail intersects the Indian Trail at 1.5 mi and near the Indian Trail trailhead. You could start at the Indian Trail trailhead but then you would miss the best part of the trail and some exercise. At 2 mi is the turnoff for the Far Country Trail(not the falls). 0.1 mi further is the signed turnoff for the Far Country Falls. Right now the flow is pretty descent and the rocks are covered with moss. We also did a short side trip to Far Country Lookout to get a little more mileage and elevation gain. The view there is not great. 5 mi RT and 500 ft elevation gain. Map: http://your.kingcounty.gov/ftp/gis/web/vmc/recreation/BCT_CougarMtn_brochure.pdf

This is a nice time of year to enjoy Cougar Mountain. It has a remote feeling since there is no road noise at all in this area. Obscure trailhead that traverses someones front yard to get to the Licorice Fern trailhead off of 112th st. Very nice deep ravine and large trees on this segment. Cross Licorice Way and continue on nice trail. Understory plants are lush and the deciduous trees don't have their leave yet, so lots of light on a sunny day. In spite of 2 "lookouts" on this trail, there are no significant views. The better of the 2 view points, Far Country has tiny slot view of Rainier Valley. The view takes up less than a hands width at arms length. No view at all from Long View point. Nice mature Douglas fir trees on Deceiver trail. Large number of blooming Skunk Cabbage on Shy Bear trail. 7 mile round trip lollypop with about 700 ft elevation. Trail is in great condition.

Eager to start taking pictures of coffee drinking and hiking for the contest, my friend and I started out at the Red Town Trailhead. BTW, how awesome is it there's a contest where you take pictures of yourself drinking delicious coffee at an awesome hiking spot????!!! Thank you WTA for more reasons to get on the trail! We did a nice loop going down Wildside, made it about halfway down Shy Bear when we realized it was getting too dark to carry on, turned around and hightailed it down Red Town Trail back to our car. We were determined to do a Waterfall tour of Cougar Mtn. We saw 2, but we'll have to get to the other two next time! Only stepped over 1 blow down on Wildside, everything in great shape otherwise.

A huge THANK YOU to the person(s) who found my cell phone and neatly placed it (along with my map) at a spot where I could not miss it as I retraced my steps looking for said cell phone. I really didn't think I would find it. You made my day. Aside from temporarily losing my cell phone, a beautiful day on Cougar Mountain. Trails in good shape, minimal mud for this time of year. Wildflowers blooming - Siberian Miners Lettuce (thick), anemones, star flowers, false Solomon's seal, enchanters nightshade, and, in Red Town Meadow, a few camas and iris still blooming.

We had a great hike on Cougar Mountain today! There were quite a few people parked out on the street even before the trailhead opened when we arrived at 10am. The weather was perfect and the trails were dry. There were quite a few people at the Coal Creek Falls, but out around the park there we saw people less often. There was a nice bench at the Far Country Lookout that made for a nice place to sit and eat. Overall a great walk for beginners like us, and lots of options to choose from depending on how far you want to go.