This hike is a link-up of several local trails that are part of Newcastle Trails and Cougar Mountain Park. I named it the Newcastle Cougar Mashup. The hike ascends the Terrace Trail switchbacks and continues east into Cougar Mountain Park on the narrow, gnarly cliffside De Leo Wall trail to the overlook. Then on to connect with the Wildside Trail down to the Marshall’s Hill Trail and back up to link with Newcastle’s CrossTown trail heading northwest to exit to 136^th Ave SE. Then back along 144^th Pl SE to the Terrace Trail steps. It connects two loops in a barbell shape, about 6 miles with 900 feet of gain.

These trails are close to where I live, so I can walk to the Terrace trailhead and improvise a route depending on my whim. Today it was a rucking wildflower hike with a pack weighted with cameras, lenses, and a tripod to simulate what I might carry into the North Cascades.

The great thing about these local trails is that you can create many trail combinations depending on your objectives. And while these nearby hikes do not feature serene lakes, towering peaks, or mind-blowing vistas, they are surpassingly beautiful, especially the wild parts. I really like the narrow western stretch of the De Leo Wall Trail as it is not much more than an unmaintained boot path. In such places, you can relax into the present moment and let your attention wander to the little things, the tiny wildflowers, and the dramatic structure of the sword ferns.

However, I was shocked and disappointed to notice that the Wildside Trail looked hardly wild after some maintenance crew with weed whackers had mowed down two to three feet of trailside wildflowers on each side. I mean, really? Sure, I appreciate the trail crews when they cut large deadfall from the trail, but needless so-called ‘brush cutting’ not so much. The Wildside Trail is 4 to 6 feet wide anyway, so how could any encroaching wildflowers need to be hacked away? Seems like a thoughtless venture. I named them the ‘wildflower slayers.’ Made me angry. Grrrr!

However, the profusion of wildflowers on Marshall’s Hill Trail, back up the De Leo Wall connector, was completely untouched. I most enjoyed the narrow sections where the fragile plants reached out to touch me as I hiked along. Nature is messy and beautiful in its messiness. More and more, when visiting an alpine destination, I seek out the places far less travelled, often brushy, muddy, steep, and challenging. It seems the most rewarding places require the most effort, and sometimes a bit of suffering. Yes, I like it wild.

Back on the CrossTown Trail, I stopped at a new bench installed by the local Eagle Scouts. I took enough images to construct a spherical panorama. It is the second bench on the trail, the earlier one at a location named ‘Eagle Scout Aerie.’ Both offer a serene spot to pause and reflect. I have attached links to both panoramas below. For the most immersive viewing, open to full screen and scroll.

We accessed Cougar Mtn Park via City of Newcastle trails on a dumbbell shaped route (see picture). At the north end of the route, we paused at the kiosk for some interesting Ford Slope Mine history and vintage photos of the hey day of coal mining. While returning to the TH on City of Newcastle trails, we passed a large area tagged for tree removal (some big trees 😭) and demolition of a ruined structure. A passing worker said the area is being developed for another subdivision of housing. Despite lots of rain within the past week, all trails were mud-free. Two large blow-downs but not difficult to climb over.  See pictures.  Trail along the wall section of DeLeo Wall trail is sometimes sloped & eroded.

This is a very pleasant hike for a cloudy day.  It is close to my home so we hike it pretty regularly.  We didn't see a single person.

Just got back from a 2 week trip to Patagonia.  What a pleasure to escape the NW in mid winter and enjoy long summer days.  We broke up the trip by staying in Miami 2 nights to see the Everglades.  What an amazing and unique ecosystem. Next Buenos Aires and onto Iguazu falls (largest fall in the world). The traveling is challenging do to all the flights, shuttles and boat rides to explore this place but it is very worth it.  We did our first organized tour on this trip with Backroads in Patagonia.  If you can afford it, it's a real treat.  The guides, food and lodging were all outstanding.  

Photo album linked below.

The trails here have all been cleared of windfall now.  We did a counterclockwise loop up the Cougar Access Trail, over Marshall's Hill and down the Terrace Trail.

The Cougar Access Trail traverses private property for most of it's course. This is a bootleg trail that runs just below the cliffs of De Leo Wall .  The private parcels are in a very natural state currently and they just blends right in with the publicly owned land on Cougar Mountain.  I know that the owners of these parcels have been interested in developing their properties for years but have not been able to get the City of Newcastle to allow it due to access issues from May Valley Rd.  At least one of the private parcels has been recently surveyed so there may be a move underway to develop?  I hope not.  These parcels would make a wonderful extension of Cougar Mtn park.

There was a freshly cut windfall on Marshall's Hill that gave me an opportunity to count rings.  It was about 3 feet in diameter at the base.  I've always wondered how old these beautiful fir trees were.  Now I know... about 150 years.

If you want more details on property ownership then click on the King Co Parcel Viewer link below. Try using the basemap "OpenStreetMap" to get an overlay of the existing trails.

Windfall from the big storm on Tuesday is certainly the big trail story right now. There were a zillion branches on the Marshalls Hill trail. I picked up a quarter zillion so there's plenty more to do. I also cleared one major windfall with my folding saw. Now it's just an easy step over a 12-in log. 

The Terrace Trail (City of Newcastle) on their hand was completely cleaned by some amazing trail angels. It literally looked like someone had swept the trail with a broom. There wasn't a single twig or branch on the trail. Kudos to the Newcastle Trail community!

Based on reports from the Squak's Eastside Trail today, this trail is in much better shape. If lots of hikers contribute with branch removal it should be in pretty great shape within a week or so. If you do any hiking this fall, please consider pitching in with the cleanup effort.