I met my hiking buddy Jeno at 6:00 AM this morning at the May Valley trailhead to do one of our favorite loop hikes around the south and east sides of Squak Mt.  Our route was:

Start out on the May Valley loop and then a short jaunt on the South Access road, back onto May Valley to Phil's Creek.  Phil's to Old Griz, then up Old Griz to Central Peak topping out at the radio towers.   To save time we then took the access road back down to the parking lot.

It was a chilly 35 degrees when we headed out.  There are a number of trees down on the May Valley trail.  A couple you can step over and there is one large one that even I had to climb over.   All the streams, creeks and tributaries are running strong and fast today and in spots have overflowed onto the trail so make sure you have waterproof boots, shoes, trail runners, etc. as the May Valley trail has a lot of water on it.

We were approaching the junction with the Sycamore trail on the east side of Squak when I saw headlamp coming up that trail fast.  I never saw the person just a silhouette as they turned onto the trail ahead of us.  I told Jeno I don't know if it was a man, woman or Bigfoot messing around with his flashlight.  We never saw them or the light again.  Poof they were gone.   By the time we turned onto Old Griz it was light enough to see without our headlamps so we turned them off on the last section up to Central Peak and the towers.  The sunrise was really pretty this morning and I tried to capture a picture of it with the radio towers since there are no views up there.  There was also a nice temperature inversion at the top so we could ditch some of our layers. 

We have both seen the trip reports about the box or locker near the towers that everyone is taking photos of including me.  Turns out it's an old microwave plastered with stickers and full of various items.  We checked it out and then started the road trek back to the cars.  We saw one hiker heading up the road and were probably 2/3rds of the way down when in quick succession we saw two King County trucks and one contractor's truck heading up the road towards the towers.

We got back to the parking lot at 8:40.  There were only 5 cars there besides ours and one of those left before we did so a quiet morning on the trail for us.

Stay safe everyone.  See you on the trail.  SR  

It's that time of year again to find loops around the Issaquah Alps. Today we linked 8 trails to make a pleasant little 5.7 mile/1400 foot loop in Squak Mountain. Parked off Mountainside Drive (Squak Mountain Loop) which got us above the morning fog. Still chilly and I hiked in light gloves most of the way.

All trails in good condition with few or no obstacles. Started on Bulitt Fireplace Trail (wide, gravelly), turned left onto East Side Trail (pleasant level traverse), right onto Old Griz (steep but pretty well graded), after the 1/2 mile switchbacked ascent on that bore left onto Phil's Creek Trail (perfectly nice as it traverses a very steep east facing forest mountainside), took a right onto the Summit Trail (steep! 900 ft/mile gradient), brief right onto the South Access Road to the big fenced in towers of Central Peak. From there we used an unmarked but apparently maintained trail (blowdowns were cut and cleared, etc) that is a slight shortcut to the Bullit Fireplace picnic table where we had lunch. Then down the Bullit Fireplace trail to the West Peak Trail (rooty, quite steep up, then steep down then steep up then down again, all in a 1/2 mile), to the wide intersection where Margaret's Way/Debbie's view/Chybinksi Loop trail converge. We decided not to go out to Debbie's View as we were enjoying the solitude so far and we saw several dogs heading that way so figured we would not add another dog to the scene there. From this intersection we looped back to the car on the "lower" (further west) portion of the Chybinksi Loop - this is an amazingly lovely trail and one of my favorites in the Issaquah Alps, beautiful forest, smooth tread, a couple little bridges, and I always hear ravens along it. 

Another Wednesday, another Squak Mt adventure.

I met my sidekick Jeno at 6:00 AM at the May Valley trailhead off of May Valley Road.   We were the first two cars in the lot when we headed out under cool and frosty conditions (34 degrees).  We were a couple of minutes into our hike when I said to Jeno what's that noise?   It was water…flowing in every stream, creek, tributary and ditch along every trail.  And when I say flowing I do mean flowing.  We've never seen some of the creek crossings with that much water in them.   Our original plan was to do a large loop around Squak ending up at the Bullitt Fireplace before coming back to May Valley.  Seeing all the water flowing and wanting to avoid the muddy Bullitt Gorge trail, my sidekick the former international soccer star said he had an idea.   Jeno told me his plan and I liked it.   Instead of going up to the fireplace we'd stay on the eastern side of Squak and do a big loop incorporating a number of trails including a new one for us.

We headed out on May Valley and then took the Central Peak access road a short way to where we picked up May Valley on the other side of the road.   There is a bridge you cross right after leaving the road that we had a chuckle over.  A number of bridges on Squak have weight limit and caution signs up and they look in pretty good shape.  The bridge right off the road is sagging down in the middle and doesn't look like it's going to last much longer.  We thought why isn't there a sign on that one?  We continued on the trail which had a number of muddy areas and some areas with flowing water.  I was ahead of Jeno when I saw something twitching in the trail ahead of us.  I stopped and looked and it was a young deer.  It eventually left the trail but stopped a short way off trail and stood behind a tree and watched us closely.   

The May Valley trail connects with the Phil's Creek trail which we took to the north stopping to look up slope at the remains of the cabin that is located up there.  We debated going up to check it out but thought we'd save it for a day when everything wasn’t so wet.  We connected with the Old Griz trail and took that down to the intersection with the East Side trail.   George in one of his Squak Mt trip reports mentioned all the trees that were down on Old Griz over the winter.  Holy smokes!   They have all been sawed up and removed but what a jumble of trees that must have been.   My eagle-eyed buddy spotted a game camera located high above Old Griz in a tree.   The Old Griz eventually connects to the East Side trail.  We've taken it out towards the Bullitt Fireplace trail but never to the East Ridge trail so it was new territory for us.   The East Side trail is in great shape with tons of great views of Issaquah and all the various summits and point of interest on Tiger Mt.  The trail switchbacks down before starting to climb right before you get to Crystal Creek.  From the creek it's a hop, skip and jump up to the intersection with the East Ridge trail.  We turned onto that and followed it up to the intersection with May Valley and Phil's Creek where we took a break.

From there we retraced our steps going back the way we had come a couple hours earlier seeing one hiker on the access road and arriving back at the parking lot at 9:15.  Other than the one hiker we didn't see anyone all morning but there were 10 cars parked in the lot in addition to ours.   As we and others have mentioned in the past, Squak Mt is a great destination to hike.  Lots of trails you can combine into loops or out and backs and the trails are always in pretty good shape.   Stay safe everyone.  See you on the trail.   SR         

I met my sidekick Jeno in Issaquah and followed him up to the Sycamore Access trailhead which is located in a neighborhood on the east side of Squak Mt.  We parked, booted up and took off heading up the Sycamore Access trail which follows Crystal Creek up the hillside before turning to the south and then resuming its climb up the east side of Squak Mt.

A little over a mile up the trail you reach an intersection with the East Ridge and Eastside trails.  We went left on the East Ridge trail and continued climbing eventually reaching the Phil's Creek trail.     

We wanted to do this hike for a number of reasons.  We enjoy the relative solitude on the east side of Squak and the variety of trails you can hike on.  We also wanted to check out a couple of things.  WTA trip reporter George and Sally mentioned all of the trees that were down on the Old Griz trail back in January.  We wanted to check out the trail conditions and see if they had been cut up.  We also wanted to scope out the old cabin that is located up there.  I believe George mentioned it in one of his previous trip reports so we had a general idea of where it was.  

I'm happy to say both of our goals were met this morning.  All of the trees have been cut up along Old Griz.  In fact all the trails we took were in great shape.  An occasional tree was down but they were easy to step over or duck under.    And thanks to my eagle-eyed friend JO we spotted the cabin or should I say what's left of it.    I'll be honest if Jeno had not been with me I would have missed it as I don't have his great eyesight.  Needless to say it must have been quite a project for someone to construct the cabin where it's located.   We talked about the job that must have been hauling the lumber and hardware up to that point.   It's quite a distance off trail and would require a lot of bushwhacking to get to it so we just admired it from afar before continuing on our way.

We ran into a runner on Old Griz who turned out to be the only person we'd see today.  We arrived at Central Peak and its array of radio towers at 7:40.   It was quite cool and foggy up there (see my photo) so we didn't stay long.  Someone has put a heart/Valentine's decoration on one of the fences up there.   Remember your Valentine next week!     :)

We decided to take the steep Summit trail back down to Phil's Creek.  It can be reached by heading down the road a short way past the radio tower and you'll see the sign for it.  As I mentioned it's steep in spots ala the Cable Line trail.   Once we hit Phil's Creek trail we went back the way we came.   The fog and low clouds lifted and we had some really nice views of Tiger Mt and Issaquah.   We were back at our cars at 9:00 on the nose.  I made the mistake of going over to I-90 via the road that passes Issaquah High School which was a big mistake.  School starts later on Wednesday so it took me nearly 20 minutes to get to I-90 with all the school traffic.  Live and learn.

Stay safe everyone.  See you on the trail.  SR

Began my hike on the Bullitt Fireplace Trail off Mountainside Drive SW in Issaquah on Squak Mtn. There were already ten cars parked when I arrived at 9 AM. I turned off onto the Chybinski Loop Trail and hiked it up to the junction with the West Access Trail. I hiked it east bound to get to East Side Trail. The East Side Trail now has the blown down trees cut out by a State Park trail crew. Makes hiking the trail much better now. Some of the trees had been lying over the trail for several years. One big conifer now has a set of steps in it to help you get to the summit of Squak Mtn. There was a little snow along the way and at the wood bridges I could see animal tracks. Further on I got to the junction with the Old Griz Trail to start my loop part of my hike. In hiking up this trail I found 17 blown down trees over the trail between the East Side Trail and the junction with the Phils Creek Trail. Some of them you cannot climb over or go under, so I had to head up hill to get around them. So made for a slow go on this section of the Old Griz Trail. 

When I arrived at the junction with the Phils Creek Trail I met the only person I saw all day, a young woman and her dog. We had a nice chat and I told her about all the blown down trees on the lower section of the Old Griz Trail. I then headed south on the Phils Creek Trail. There were only two downed trees on this trail and easy to get by. When I crossed Crystral Creek, I could look up steam and see the old Longwell cabin. I then turned off on the East Ridge Trail and went a short distance above Thrush Gap. At the unsigned junction I took the Phils Creek Connector Trail and went north to get back down to the East Side Trail. This trail does not get much use, but I had first hiked it over 20 years ago. It is now shown on the latest Green Trails map for Squak Mtn.(2022). There were a couple blown down trees over the trail before I got down to the crossing over Crystral Creek at the waterfall. After crossing the creek, I found a downed tree for a lunch time bench, and had my hot soup and sandwich. When I was done eating, I continued down the Phils Creek Connector Trail where I found many more blown down trees over the trail. It would be a big job to cut them all out. If you had not hiked this trail in the past, you might have a hard time knowing where the trail is located. This trail has also gotten pretty overgrown with sword ferns since I hiked last year.

I then met up with the East Side Trail at the big switchback on the old roadbed section of this trail.  There are no trail signs at this junction. I hiked it northwesterly and saw that all of the blown down trees on this part of the trail before getting to the junction with the Old Griz Trail have been cut out. Along the way I had a view east of Tiger Mtn. with fresh snow on West Tiger 3. WT 1 and 2 were covered in clouds. After getting back to the junction with the Old Griz Trail I hiked back the way I had come. Did not see any wildlife, just some tracks in the snow and only one other hiker. So, no crowds on this side of Squak Mt. You probably would not want to hike the lower section of the Old Griz Trail, or the Phils Creek Connector Trail until a State Parks trail crew goes out and cuts out all of the downed trees. George