Coal Creek Trail

We decided to hike the Coal Creek Trail today, starting from the Red Town parking lot. From here, the Coal Creek Trail is accessed by crossing Lakemont Boulevard and following the trail that starts immediately after crossing the street. The trail then descends into the historic Coal Creek valley and splits into two forks before converging at North Creek Falls.

The Coal Creek Trail roughly follows Coal Creek with mainly flat grades and moderate ups and downs. The trail is in pretty good shape at this time but there are some slippery sections with mud and water on the trail. We saw a variety of wlldflowers, butterflies, and other small insects along the trail this afternoon. We followed the trail to the parking area off of Coal Creek Parkway, about 2.8 miles from the Red Town trailhead. On this part of the trail, there are several spurs to the shores of Coal Creek that provide great areas to picnic or relax before beginning the return trip to the Red Town parking lot.

This trail is a great option when the other trails of Cougar Mountain are busy. We did not encounter very many other hikers along this trail even though the Red Town parking lot was nearly full when we arrived around noon. I would like to remind people that dogs need to be leashed at all times on this trail and that those of us that follow the rules do not need to be cursed at or yelled at when we ask that other dogs be leashed for the safety of our dogs and children hiking with us. Both of these things happened to us today, which added a sour note to what was otherwise an excellent hike.