Since the last weather report I had checked looked iffy, I did a close to home hike today on Cougar Mt. I started at the mostly empty Wilderness Creek trail head around 7:45 am and headed up toward Shy Bear Pass. Wilderness Creek is already down to not much more than a trickle, but there's just enough water left in it give a soothing background noise similar to one of those relaxation CD's. After a few switchbacks the noise of Hwy 900 drops off and you're left with just the creek and bird calls to create a peaceful ambiance. Many types of small wildflowers are blooming now along the trail, and there are only a few small muddy spots all easily stepped around. Like Wilderness Creek, Coal Creek falls is already down to a pretty low flow also. The route I took involved multiple trail junctions/turns, but all were well marked. Pleasant uncrowded hike in the early morning.

I took my 7 year old grandson on a hike today, we decided to go to Coal Creek Falls, and it was a great day to do it. No rain, partly cloudy, and very few other hikers. These trails are so close to town, but they are great, especially with kids! We went on the Cave Hole Trail, then to the Coal Creek Falls Trail. We stayed at the falls and had a snack, then my grandson climbed on the rocks and through the creek, he had a blast! We headed back on the Red Town Trail past the Red Town Meadows back to the car. It took 2 hours including stops.

Such a wonderful day to explore Cougar Mountain. I had never been here before and tended to avoid it because I know how popular it can be but we had kids ages 1, 5, 7, 8 and 11 so we found a trail that would be best for everyone to just explore and with the recent snow fall staying lower in elevation seemed the smart thing to do with the kiddos. The trail was wonderful and kept everyone interested the whole way. The falls were of course beautiful. We had lunch their then decided to make it a loop back to the car. Overall a really fun trail and not as crowded as I thought. Everyone had a wonderful time!

Cute little trail for a cloudy and semi-rainy day. There was mud in places but easy to step around. The falls were very pretty, and a nice destination for a short hike. The trail has rolling hills which were nice for some variety and a good workout. I arrived at the trailhead at 9:00 and there were about 7 cars in the parking lot with enough spaces for several more cars. It's nice that there are maps at the kiosk at the trailhead, and the trails were well marked throughout the hike.