A wonderful hike if a bit muddy at times. We saw the mine shaft which was very cool and I appreciated the informational boards. We got a late start at around 10am but the parking lot was only half full.

Started at the Sky Country trailhead at 11:10 am. Took the Clay Pit road to the Clay Pit. There was a dusting of snow and got a nice view from the Clay Pit. After this I headed to Wilderness peak via Mine Shaft-East Fork-Fred's Railroad-Shy Bear-Wilderness Peak trails. 

After checking out the view less Wilderness Peak, I headed over to Longview Peak. There are a few views thru the trees here. The sunlight shining thru the trees was neat on this super nice day. I then headed to Marshall's Hill via  Deceiver-Shy Bear-Indian-De Leo Wall-Viewpoint #2 trails. I got some views of Mt Rainier from the Viewpoint #2 trail . There are a lot of cool madrone trees along this stretch and along the short stretch of the Terrace trail.

I did the whole De Leo Wall loop clockwise and then headed back to Sky Country trailhead via Indian-Quarry-Fred's Railroad-Bypass-Old Man's-Nike Horse trails.

Finished at 3:15 pm. First time for me hiking a lot of these trails. Trails are all very nice and well maintained. It is nice to have such a nice place to hike so close to town. All the recent blowdowns have been cleared, which is super nice. So thank you to the crew doing this!!!

Great day. 11.6 miles with 2421 ft elevation gain

Started at 12:50 pm today at the Sky Country Trailhead and went up to Radio Peak, Anti Aircraft Peak, Million Dollar View and over to Clay Pit Peak.

Route was Clay Pit Road-Coyote Creek-Radio Peak-Klondike Swamp-Lost Beagle-Shangra La-Protector-Tibbetts Marsh-Clay Pit Road-East Fork Mines Shaft-Clay Pit Road.

Radio Peak trail had the largest tree over the trail from last nights winds. The rest of the trails were in great shape, just a few branches here and there, and minimal mud.

Radio Peak mostly had views of  multiple radio towers and misc buildings. There is a side trail that has a view of downtown and the Olympics. After Radio Peak I headed over to Anti Aircraft Peak via the Lost Beagle Trail and down to Million Dollar View. I then headed over to Clay Pit Peak via Shangra La-Protector-Tibbetts Marsh trails. Around the huge clay pit, the Clay Pit road had a lot of clay mixed in it, so it was quite wet with no drainage. Go figure! lol. I had to mostly bushwack to get to the true summit of Clay Pit. There is a faint trail here and there to get up to the summit. There are no views up at top, so there is really no reason to go up there other that trying to get to another high point.. I did find some antlers on the summit, which was cool. I then went off trail and found the East Fork Trail which took me to the Mine Shaft trail. The mine shaft had a interpretive sign there.

Took the Clay Pit road back out to the Sky Country trailhead. Finished at 3:25 pm.    7.2 miles with 1138 elevation gain

It was a gray, wet NW day when we started from Redtown TH at 9:00AM.  The parking lot was about 1/2 full when we headed up hill.  The 2 Porta Potties were open and had TP.  We completed a 7.5 mile loop following the Cave Hole, Coyote Creek, Lost Beagle, Harvey Manning, Cougar Pass, Mine Shaft, East Fork, Fred’s Railroad, Quarry and Coal Creek Falls trails.  The fall mushrooms and fungi were still looking great.  There were a few muddy patches on some trails, but for the most part all the trails have cleared drainage side channels.  We passed less than 20 walker / hikers / runners on our entire route. The heavy skies let up when we descended down to Coal Creek Falls just before noon.  That was the perfect opportunity for a short lunch rest break.  Packing up we returned to the TH parking area via the Redtown Creek spur trail and arrived at our vehicles at 1:15.  The temperature was in the mid 40’s the entire day and we were all glad to have on gortex rain gear and gaiters.  Another fantastic day to be out in nature.

This was a great hike as we are continuing to social distance. While the trail heads in that area were busy, it was after all a beautiful Sunday afternoon, we passed very few people on the trails that we chose. My GPS clocked this route as 4.74 miles with a total elevation gain of 484 feet, it was an easy, pretty hike, one that would be great for all ages and skill levels. 

The wooded trail was well maintained and pretty, but as the description stated it isn't highly variable. However, it was well worth it and so nice to get out in nature so close to Seattle. We took a break at the Million Dollar Viewpoint to have a snack and since it was a gorgeous clear day, the view was beautiful!