Started hiking from the Sky Country Trailhead a little before 3 p.m. Took the Old Man's Trail to the Bypass Trail to Fred's Railroad Trail. Headed to Shy Bear Pass and then to Long View Peak. You couldn't see much through the trees at the peak, but it was a beautiful day and just nice to sit on the bench for a while. From there, took the Deceiver Trail to Doughty Falls before getting back on the Shy Bear Loop and heading back to the parking area. Passed Klondike Marsh right before sunset, which was lovely. Made it back to the parking lot in about 2.5 hours, clocking around 5.5 miles. 

#LoveLocalTrails

Pieced together a bunch of trails to end up with a 7-mile loop with about 1,100’ of elevation gain. Started along Red Town, to the Cave Holes, then meandered Fred’s Railroad and Far Country Trails (Shy Bear Trail was in there somewhere) and ended up on the Indian Trail back to Red Town.

Doughty Falls is a real highlight. Somehow felt far from it all even though you’re smack dab in the middle of King County. Far Country Falls also running nicely.

This is such an underrated area. Tiger Mtn and the Si/Mailboxes of the world seem to get a lot more attention. Today, with absurdly warm weather, there was easy parking and, while I saw a few dozen people over the hike, lots of solitude.

Road to the Red Town trailhead is closed just past the trailhead if you are driving in from I-90.

We had a great hike on a very uncrowded Cougar Mtn today.  It was sunny and 42 degrees when we meet at the Redtown Trailhead lot at 9:30. Seven other cars were parked there, not counting 2 Kind County Park trucks. Several workers were assembling a new trailhead kiosk. We did not have to wait for construction on Lakemont to turn into the lot.  The Porta Pottie had supplies but was unclean.  We made a 6 mile loop following Redtown Trail, Indian, Shy Bear, Fred’s Railroad, Quarry, Coal Creek Falls, Cave Hole, Nike Horse, Sky Country and Military Road Trails back to Redtown TH.  All the trails were clear of leaf debris and branches and were well drained except a short section on Military Road trail.  Wildlife sightings were limited to a couple gray squirrels, juncos, creepers and finches. We saw my first ever Earth Star mushroom.  Most of the other fungi looked squishy and well past it’s prime.  Thanks to whoever built new sections of elevated logs over the muddy swamp area on the Shy Bear Trail, it made that section mush easier to navigate.  We had most of the trails to ourselves except when leaving our lunch spot near Coal Creek Falls just after 12:30.  Hikers and walkers came out of in droves on that trail section.  What a great sunny day to be out in nature with friends.

I entered Cougar Mountain Park through the Little Creek trail head at the end of 163rd Place SE. I chose that starting point because it allows me to walk to the park from my house via the Bellevue open space trail network (not covered in this report).

The route I took to Wilderness Peak, shown in the map, is about 6.7 miles round trip, and 1100 feet of climb. All the trails are in good shape and well marked.

I started in mid-afternoon, when rain was predicted. The prediction was right, and the rain gradually increased throughout the hike. But I was dressed for it, and hey, it's the Northwest, right? Some things look better in the rain. The forest is fully in Autumn mode, with leaves turning (and falling), and abundant fungi of many interesting kinds.

    We completed a 6.5 mile out and back hike from Sky Country TH on Cougar Mtn today.  It was 50 degrees with sunny skies when we started out at 9:15.  Eight others cars were at the TH when we pulled in.  The Porta Potties were clean and stocked with supplies.  Our route followed Old Man’s Tr, Cave Hole, By Pass, Fred’s RR, Shy Bear and Whittaker Wilderness Peak Trails to Peak. All the trails are saturated but well drained with no muddy areas.  Lots of great yellow and orange fall leaves are showing especially on the maple trees.  Mushrooms and fungi seem to be popping up everywhere. After a few photo ops at the Wilderness Peak Memorial Bench we retraced our steps and over to the Clay Pit area on the East Fork trail for lunch in the sun. Trail traffic was super light and we had no real wildlife sightings.  More cars were pulling in we when left the TH lot just after 1:00.  Another fantastic day out in nature with friends. 

     Sky Country TH may soon be to go trailhead with Lakemont Blvd closing  (24-7) for 8+ month starting on October 24th with a projected finish date of June 4, 2024. According to the City of Bellevue the closure is due to the emergency construction of a bridge over Coal Creek near the junction for Redtown Trailhead. https://bellevuewa.gov/city-news/lakemont-closure