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Skid Road, Big Tree Ridge & Precipice Top Trail — Saturday, Nov. 24, 2018

Issaquah Alps > Cougar Mountain

King County has signs up at the trailhead mentioning a possible 40 car lot built in this area. It's a lovely hiking area and close to the freeway, as well as walkable from public transit at the Issaquah Transit Center. Right now there is room for quite a few cars at the mostly unsigned trailhead, marked by a white gate approximately 1/4-1/2 mile west of SR 900. You'll see condo construction directly across the street. 

This is one of my favorite local hikes. There are loop options so you can hike a loop as short as ~1.5 miles/550 gain if you use some unmaintained/user trails. You can hike as long and far as you want as you'll enter the Cougar Mountain trail system once up on the ridge. 

For the short hike, continue uphill on the trail for just under 1/2 mile. You'll see an unmarked trail on the left at a switchback corner. Continue on this trail, which will go up and down a bit while it winds around the mountain. You'll come out of the forest at Harvey Manning Park at Talus. There's a restroom here, although it does seem to be locked sometimes in the winter. Enjoy the park if you like, but the route continues downhill, parallel to the park (You can also go uphill and reach the top of the Big Tree Ridge trail at the Red Cedars/precipice top junction from here). After a short distance downhill reach another unmarked junction. Straight continues and ends at some sort of city water treatment facility. I recommend turning left, which is the unmarked Skid Road trail. There is one junction on this trail, stay left. Right heads into the Bergsma parcel, which Issaquah/King County/Greenway Trust are in talks to acquire and add to the Parklands rather than build nearly 50 million dollar homes after clearcutting the forest and filling in the wetlands. The Skid Road trail follows an old roadbed above a stream. You do need to climb over/under a couple of blowdowns near the end of the trail, which is at a pile of boulders about 100 yards east of the trailhead. 

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