After a great summer hiking season hiking further afield we returned to the Issaquah Alps today and had a great fall hike from Sky Country Th on Cougar Mtn.  It was sunny skies and 46 degrees when we pulled into the TH lot at 9:10. 8 other cars were in the lot and the Porta Potties had been recently cleaned.  We made a 6.4 mile loop hike following Old Man, Cave Hole, Coyote Creek, Shangri La, Viewpoint, Tibbett’s Marsh, East Fork, Fred’s Railroad, Quarry, Coal Creek Falls, Cave Hole and Nike Horse Trails. King County Parks do an excellent job of maintaining and clearing all trails in their parks.  Today two trail workers were toting chainsaws cleaning recent deadfall trees. THANK YOU!!!  All the trails are saturated soil with well drained side channels.  The few vine maples we saw are brilliant orange / red, fall fungi are sprouting up every where and the other deciduous tree are just starting their leaf color change.  You are still hiking in a shaded canopy on most trails.  Trail traffic was really light and was most busy near the Clay Pit road and Tibbett’s intersection where we meet KCP crews and trail users coming in  opposite directions.  The normally busy Coal Creek Falls loop was very quiet, most likely due to the absence of any flowing water.  As we headed back up the Cave Hole to Sky Country TH we passed a very enthusiastic class of Issaquah Middle School students on a day long field trip exploring the park.  In talking with one of the instructors we learned the program takes students on 5 single day field trip hikes all in the Issaquah Alp Peaks.  Great job Issaquah Middle for getting students out to enjoy the forest and become future forest stewards.  We stopped at the Million $ Viewpoint and enjoyed distant views to Mt Baker.  Our lunch snack break was on the log bench overlooking the Clay Pit area and Tiger Mt summits. The sun’s warmth felt great as it was the only really sunny spot on our hike.  Wildlife sightings were limited to a chipmunk, squirrel, robins, wrens and dragon flys.  We heard a couple frogs croaking near adjacent ponds and swampy areas.  More cars were in the TH lot when we drove out at 1:30.  Another fantastic day out in nature with friends.

10 ish mile hike in the Cougar Mt area starting at Harvey Manning TH. Lots of slush and mud on the trail.

We did a “figure-8” loop starting at Harvey Manning to Fred’s Railroad to Shy Bear up to Wilderness Peak, then back tracked to Shy Bear and looped around to Doughty Falls, Far Country Falls, Coal Creek Falls and finally back to the TH via the Quarry trail. Whew!

Beautiful snowy morning with muddy, slushy trails. The new overlook at Doughty falls is lovely. There are a few trees down, but thanks to those who recently cleared all the big trees that would have passed a real problem.

The road up to the TH was a bit icy in the morning, but melted out by noon. Portapotties at TH open and clean.

RWHG had a great loop hike at Cougar Mountain Regional Park today. We pulled into the Redtown Th at 9:00 and were on the trail by 9:30. It was 28 degrees with clear blue skies. The parking lot was quite busy on Martin Luther King Day even though the trails didn’t seem all that crowded. We planned our route to take busier trails first and less crowded on our way back to the TH Lot. The Porta Potties at Red Town, Harvey Manning and Sky Country Th’s all were relatively clean with TP, seat covers and hand sanitizer.  Our 7.6 mile loop hike followed: Red Town, Cave Hole, Coal Creek Falls, Quarry, Fred’s Railroad, East Fork, Tibbett’s Marsh, Shangri La, Lost Beagle, Coyote Creek, Cave Hole, Old Man’s, Nike Horse, Military Road, Sky Country, Red Town Creek and back to the TH. All the trails were complete solid frost heaves in the early morning and shady areas all day long. After our lunch at the Million Dollar Pagoda some of the trails made your boots quite muddy. Wildlife sightings were limited to a few birds. We saw robins, juncos, creepers and bush tits. Hair icy was all along our route and a few mushrooms were still looking good despite the freeze. Redtown and Sky Country Th lots were jammed when we walked by and pulled of the lot just before 2:00. Another fantastic day out in nature with friends.

Our group of five senior hikers met at the Sky Country Trailhead at 9:00 AM to begin our figure eight hike using several trails on this foggy day. We hiked up to the Fred's RR trail where we saw a few fallen trees had been cut out from the big windstorm back in November. At the junction with the Shy Bear Trail, we saw a new trail junction sign. There were several new signs on our trip today. Shy Bear and the Deceiver Trails had several large fallen trees that had been cut out by King County Parks crews. At Shy Bear Marsh some of the bridges had been rebuilt and had antiskid material placed on top to prevent slipping.

Up on the Deceiver Trail we took the short trail down to the viewpoint for Doughty Falls. King County Parks has been building new steps and a safety railing for this trail. They had a big pile of timbers to construct more steps. After checking out the falls we headed back up to the main trail and met two King County Parks Trail Maintenace workers. We then crossed over Cabbage Creek above the falls on a new bridge that replaced the old log one. This new one is a steel girder with a metal deck and wood lower railings. We then went up the steeper section of the Deceiver Trail before getting to the junctions with the Long View Peak Trail and the Ring Road Trails. After arriving at Shy Bear Pass, we continued on the Shy Bear Trail to get back to Fred's RR Trail.

We took the East Fork Trail off Fred's RR and found some fallen trees for a lunch time bench. As were eating it started sprinkling, but no heavy rain. There was one huge Cottonwood tree that had blown over and is now cut out. After passing by Jerry's Duck Pond, we hiked the Mine Shaft Trail out to the Clay Pit Road. Before getting to the Clay Pit Road, we passed by the old air shaft used by the coal miners during the coal mining days on Cougar Mtn. where coal was mined for 100 years from 1863 to 1963. We walked the Clay Pit Road back to the parking lot with stop at the beaver pond on the North Fork of Coal Creek. They have a really big dam over the creek to see.

We only saw a few other hikers out on this foggy day, but no wildlife. Back at the parking lot the sun tried to come out and it had stopped raining. George

As you are hiking through the forest, remember this advice from a tree:

1. Stand tall and proud.

2. Go out on a limb.

3. Remember your roots.

4. Drink plenty of water.

5. Be content with your natural beauty.

6. Enjoy the view.

The History

Whittaker Wilderness Peak was named after Seattle native, Jim Whittaker, who was the first American to climb Mount Everest and who later became the CEO or REI. His wikipedia page erroneously purports that another mountain, Big Jim in Leavenworth area, is also named after him, but that mountain was named in the early 20th century by Forest Superintendent Sylvester for James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern Railway Company.

The Hike

I started from the Sky Country parking lot and made my way to the peak via Old Man, Fred's Railroad, and Shy Bear trails. The trail is leaf-free thanks to workers who use leaf blowers to clear it (???). The last part of the trail is somewhat steep with several switchbacks. Overall gain from parking lot to summit was about 661 feet.

The Flora and Fauna

Spotted Towhees, Pine Siskins, Song Sparrows, and Kinglets were common along the way. Along By Pass trail I found Hair Ice (Expidosis effusa). Herb Robert and Broad-leaved Dock were flowering here and there.