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.

We hiked from the Red Town parking lot to the Licorice Fern trailhead. Seven miles round trip, about five hundred feet elevation gain. There are so many trails to explore in the area. I'll have to go back and try some more. The trail we took was not muddy at all. It's a nice forest walk with the sound of the creek encouraging you on. A great hike for kids. Grab a trail map at the parking lot.

Started at the Licorice Fern trailhead (S6) off 169th Ave SE, headed up Indian Trail and then on to Far Country Falls. Nice easy hike with almost no one on the trail. The trail is in good shape, just a few muddy spots up on Indian Trail. Wow - the Moss is all over the place this year! I ran into a WTA crew installing a new log bridge near the intersection of the Indian Trail. Great to see WTA improving the trails on Cougar Mountain! Continued on the Indian trail- Be sure to stay right at the unmarked intersection to continue on the new-ish built section of Indian trail. Visited the new viewpoint at Far country falls - very well done with a great view up to the Falls. Nice 2-3 hour hike on a little used route.

Trail work brought me to this trail system again after a two year break. Much work on the Licorice Fern Trail is being done with visible improvement to the trail. On Sunday logs were added to steep side hill sections of the trail to reduce erosion and trail sloughing to the creek bed. The trail it self is part of system that connects via the Red Town and Indian Trails to the Red Town trail head. Several loops are possible using the Licorice Fern Trail that can include more popular trails of the Cougar Mt. system. Distance from Red Town to the end of Licorice Fern is about 3.5 miles. Loops of 10 or 12 miles with some road walking are possible and open year round for exercise and exploring. Licorice Fern follows a small creek as in goes down hill toward May Creek. The trail is not utilized very much and offers some solitude in a near/in city hike. The trail is getting serious maintenace attention from the Issaquah Alps Trail Club.