Marshall's Hill, Wildside Trail-De Leo Wall & Red Town Meadow & Trails — Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2005

Issaquah Alps > Cougar Mountain

This is a short loop to the Far Country view point that involved a series of short and medium length trails. Conditions in this part of Cougar Mt. Wildland Park were frozen trails with some sections of ""thin"" mud that could be slick under the right conditions. The Wildside Trail goes along the west edge of the Park and is in ear shot and view of some of the new ""Mac-Mansions"" of the area. This being said, the Wildside Trail was also invaded by trail runners on this frosty day. We took the Wildside all the way to the junction with the De Leo Wall trail and then over to the Indian Trail to Far Country Falls. The Falls were running but had only a moderate amount of water going down them. From Indian Trail we went east to the Far Country Look Out taking advantage of the loop opportunity to see a bit more of this area. Next we went back to Indian and then North to the junction of the Marshall Hill trail and back to Wildside and the car. KT and Alpine Art also took a side trip on the Steam Hoist trail to see this area (one we had not been on previously). All in all it was a great day with Sun. Trails were in good condition but with some blow down that is normal for this time of year. The cold temperatures have made the trails icy, but we did not have any problems with traction.