I recently read a trip report that described Squak Mountain as a dumpster dive summit. True. But having summit prominence and summit views as your only constants leaves a lot out of the equation. Harvey Manning and his contemporaries saw three mountains, largely logged, riddled with roads, peppered with radio towers and quarries and even sporting a Nike missile base and figured out a formula for preservation and access. I see them as mathematicians in an old Hollywood movie standing in front of a blackboard, maybe prominence and viewpoint are the only variables on the board. Suddenly, in a flurry of scribbling, chalk dust drifting past the lens, a formula starts to appear. The camera pulls back, the chalkboard is filled with an equation, the answer being a pathway to preserve in perpetuity these lowly hills.

My kids were small the last time I hiked the East Ridge trail, yet it felt familiar and comfortable today. There are some changes (thanks bomb cyclone), but the equation continues to coordinate the various players from private, non-profit and government groups, keeping the trails open and accessible. Today I hiked trails new to me (East Side, Chybinski), there’s no rush, Manning et al. solved the equation. I even came across a viewpoint, Three Fingers and Mount Baker visible to the north shining brightly in the afternoon sun.

Nice Easter Sunday hike on an uncrowned trail. We drove by the PooPoo point trail on the way in which was jammed with cars parked down the road for 1/4 mile…This hike? Still spots in the parking lot at 11:30. Debbie’s view was lovely as was the abandoned fireplace. Lots of ups and down in the Green House connector trail….this is a spring favorite for my family and today underscored why that is…

The Big Tree Ridge trailhead is open, 30 parking spots, 2 port-o-pots, 1 fantastic trail (it flows and meanders beautifully with the terrain).

I traveled the east and south sides of Squak over to Cougar on this sunny Thursday. The morning sun and fog was dazzling going up the east ridge trail on Squak. The Wilderness Cliffs trail on Cougar gets lots of afternoon sun and is a delightful trail. Thanks King County parks, the Cougar Mountain trails are incredibly well-maintained!!

There are a few fall colors above, but mostly on the ground. Stinky Bob's were the only flowers I saw

Followed Maddy's route (see previous trip report for a description and a helpful link to his Alltrails recording) from the May Valley trailhead to the Sycamore Access trail with a few minor modifications: we visited Squak Central summit ("Squakins National Lab") and dropped down to the East Side Trail instead of hanging a sharp right onto Phil's Creek Trail. I didn't tag the individual trails or trailheads because I mostly want to talk about what WTA has designated the "Squak Mountain Traverse". I believe the exact route doesn't matter so much as the overall concept: a point-to-point hike across the many trails that crisscross Squak Mountain. Choose the path that works best for you. I'm only writing a brief trip report to add a few notes:

• One nice thing about the many trails that run through and around Squak Mountain is that it's possible to construct loops (and mostly avoid retracing your steps) with just a single car. That said, if you are intent on hiking from one spot to another, I would recommend choosing a trailhead other than Sycamore Access. There is really only room for a handful of cars at this tiny trailhead, so you might be better served leaving your car in a larger lot.
• The official WTA page for "Squak Mountain Traverse" both begins and ends at points different from where both Maddy (& Co.) and I started and ended. It appears to have been written at a time when Trailhead Direct visited Squak Mountain, as the hike starts at Margaret's Way and ends at the Issaquah Transit Center, over three miles away by road. The parking options on both ends of this version of the hike are better than at Sycamore Access, but you should definitely not feel constrained by the once (and future?) Trailhead Direct service route. (WTA, if you are reading this, I might consider editing that hike description to acknowledge that the possibilities for traversing Squak Mountain are fairly numerous and that the hike, as currently described, is fairly arbitrary.)
• I believe we only saw two dogs all day, accompanied by a single couple we encountered twice as we looped in opposite directions. The dogs were (initially) off-leash but we really appreciated that the owners held onto their collars and made room for us to pass without incident. These owners were also carrying some used doggy bags strapped to their backpacks, so kudos to them for exemplifying responsible dog ownership. Opposite of kudos to all the dog owners who left their used doggy bags along the trail just about everywhere else. To those other dog owners, I'll quote a recent article in Backpacker Magazine: "It’s time to find a dogsitter, and hit the trail by yourself instead."

We did a one way traverse from the May Valley DNR trailhead to the Sycamore Trailhead.  The trail was in good condition.  There was a little compact snow and ice at higher elevation but no need for spikes.

7.5 miles , 2000 ft