February 11, 2004 What a beautiful day for a hike, warm and sunny. I walked the Bagley Seam Trail to its junction with the Red Town Trail and then out via the Indian Trail to the Far Country Look Out. The trails are all in good shape with less mud than 10 days ago when I hiked the area. The Bagley Seam trail does have a blow down that needs to be crawled under but other than this no problems. Next I wandered up Shy Bear to the Deceiver Trail and up to Long View Peak and then to Fred’s Railroad and the cut off to the Cave Hole trail ending the walk by taking the Clay Pit Road to the Military Road Trail and back to the car. Trip was about 7 miles in length and very pleasant with sun and mild temperatures. Cougar is a great escape from the city and noise; on this walk I saw lots of folks at the Red Town Trail Head but few hikers once past Far Country. Some of the water pools near Doughty Falls looked like impressionist paintings, the mid February lighting being perfect. As the 20th anniversary for Cougar Mt. Park approaches I am thankful that we have this park so close to the city as an escape valve for humans and wildlife.

A long phone conversation with my brother and his family delayed my departure for the Alps until well after noon. The delay likely gave me much better weather as the rains ended and sunshine appeared about a third of the way though this walk. There is lots of water in the streams, Coal Creek and the others are running very high even for winter. The Wildside trail is muddy with mud most of the way to the Far Country look out. The rest of the trail system was fairly dry. Coal Creek Falls was roaring and a sight to see. There is some fresh blow down near the junction of the Quarry Trail and Fred’s RR trail and on the Coal Creek Falls trail as it nears the Cave Hole trail junction. The blow down on the Quarry Trail looks like it may have stopped some horse riders. There may be a detour around the trees but for a hiker just going under seemed the easiest approach. Hike was about 5 to 6 miles in length with good weather, much warmer than I had expected and prepared for. Despite a bumper crop of cars at Red Town Trail Head, the trails past Far Country were empty.

A nice walk in Cougar Mt. Park to the Far Country Look Out for a snack and then back to the car. This is a short 3.5 mile walk with little elevation gain from the Red Town Parking Lot. The Far Country area is a quite part of the park with views toward Seattle. Trails were in good shape with no blow down or other obstructions. This part of the Cougar Mt. Park appears to have survived the recent wind stroms without damage.

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.

With all the recent snow, I'd figure I'd tromp out to Coal Creek Falls to attempt to get a good picture (the previous 4 tries turned out awful). And with all the recent snow, there was more mud at than you could shake a stick at. Coal Creek is full at the falls now, so while we have clear skies, it's a good destination (though there is...or was still quite a bit of snow around the falls). I originally intented on doing a loop from the Cave Holes trail to the falls and then out via the Red Town trail, but IT WAS GONE!!! There is supposed to be a short connector between the falls and the Quarry Trail, but after walking for 1/4 mile and two switchbacks that I never remembered seeing before, I had to wonder what happened...so I went back the way I came. After I also poked my nose at North Fork Falls just down the S+WW RR trail leading downstream. Nice flow now. Also, had to kill a few frames and some daylight, so I poped over to Weowna Park in between 148th and W LK Sammamish Pkwy. It's a thin park off of NE 166th (I think). I found a small waterfall there on the outlet of Phantom Lake once a while back, so I returned to investigate. And I found a beautifully developed trail system around the canyon, a pair of waterfalls (very small), one even with a viewing deck, connecting trails between W LK Sam Pkwy and 166th. A great park. Check it out if you've got a few hours some day. Good place for kids.

I hadn't been to the Red Town side of Cougar Mountain for a few years and was surprised--dismayed--to see the enormous amount of development encrouching the park. But the area is still remarkably beautiful, and it provided a great spring hike. We started at the Red Town trailhead and followed the Wildside Trail to the Marshall Hill trail and took that up to DeLeo Wall through lovely dense forest. From DeLeo Wall we continued to Far Country Lookout where we ate lunch and enjoyed a fine view that even included the Olympics faintly in the distance. We continued to the Shy Bear Trail (which takes you through a particularly beautiful area with a long boardwalk to get you over a swampy section)to Fred's trail and then the Quarry trail, and finally to Cold Creek Falls. Although it was a sunny Sunday afternoon, there were only a few people at the Falls (which are quite wonderful at this time of year). I am impressed with the well-tended trails and the great trailsigns.