Some friends and I completed a winter snow walk on Cougar Mtn from Redtown TH today.  It was an amazing winter wonderland landscape.  5 cars were in the lot when we pulled in at 10:00 AM.  It was 24 degrees with blue skies and no breeze.  The Sani can was clean and open for service.  We made a 6 mile counterclockwise loop following Redtown, Cave Hole, Coal Creek Falls, Quarry, Fred’s Railroad, Shy Bear, Far Country, Indian and Wildside trails.  My group wore wax tracks or micro spikes and carried hiking poles.  We did not have any traction problems or slipping on our entire route.  The snow was packed down so no breaking trail on  any of the trails.  We found a sunny spot on the Shy Bear trail and stopped to grab a quick trail snack and warm beverage.  Both Coal Creek and Far Country falls were beautiful will large flows surrounded by icicles.  Birds seemed to be everywhere today.  We saw a downy woodpecker, towhees, juncos, wrens and crows.  Trail traffic was super light and we saw less than 10 other trails users today.  It warmed up to 27 degrees when we arrived back to our vehicles at 1:40. Dressing in layers was the order of the day.  Another fantastic day to be out in nature with friends.

Today I went on an amazing winter walk on Cougar Mtn from Sky Country TH. This was Cougar Mtn at it winters best!  The snow laden trees made it a winter wonderland.  I arrived just after 10:00AM and it was 24 degrees. The roads getting to Sky Country TH  on Cougar Mtn are bare and wet except the right turn off Cougar Mtn Way to /Sky Country TH.  It had compact snow easily drivable with AWD vehicles. I made a 5.5 mile  clockwise loop following these trails: Clay Pit, Coyote Creek, Klondike Swamp, Lost Beagle, Million Dollar View, Shangri La, Tibbett’s Marsh, Harvey Manning, Cougar Pass, Clay Pit Road, East Fork Trail, Fred’s Railroad, By Pass Trail, Cave Hole and Old Man’s Trail back to Sky Country TH. Not too many folks have ventured out on the trails yet - Some of the time I followed XC ski tracks, others snowshoe tracks and other just foot steps.  On two shorter sections of trails I had to break trail which was a little more challenging.  The snow was the heaviest near the Million Dollar View Pagoda and the Shangri La trail.  The trees are so laden with snow in places that both trees and shrubbery touched the ground.  I would estimate I had to bend over 40+ times to scoot under low branches and easily step over or walk around 10+ downed trees.  I just tallied that up to the fun of walking in the snow.  More wildlife sightings than usual today - juncos, wrens, towhees, chickadees and a Douglas squirrel.

Dressing in layers was the right way to go for me. I wore smart wool long johns under fleece lined leggings,  gaiters and 2 fleece lined tops under a puff vest. I actually had to unzip layers a couple times.  I also had foot and hand hotties so neither ever got cold.

It was 26 degrees and 1:00PM when I arrived back at the TH.  Another fabulous day to be out in nature.

Began my hike from the Sky Country Trailhead at the former US Army Nike missile base on a foggy day, but no rain. Check out the back of the four-sided kiosk for some history and photos of the Army base during the cold war. The missiles were to help defend the Puget Sound area from incoming USSR Bear bombers. After the base closed the site was an elementary school for one year. The portal classrooms were on the site of the present-day parking lot. I took the Old Miner's Trail and passed a small A-frame building. This was part of the dog kennel for the Army guard dogs. I crossed over the North Fork of Coal Creek to get to the Fred's Railroad Trail. This trail is named for Fred Round, a former logger and coal miner. There was now some snow along the sides of the trail. At the junction with the Shy Bear Trail, I headed southeast to Shy Bear Pass. Once at the pass (1,380') I took the Deceiver Trail at the junction with the Whittaker Trail. I passed the side trails to the Ring Trail and Long View Peak (no view) and headed down hill to cross Cabbage Creek above Doughty Falls. After crossing the creek, the trail goes back up hill through a nice grove of larger Doug Fir trees. Some about 36-inch DBH. The trail goes over a ridge, then back down hill to the west junction with the Shy Bear Trail. I turned right on the Shy Bear Trail and went through a swampy area at Shy Bear Creek. There are some raised board walks with metal grating over the cedar boards, so they are not slippery. Before the trail heads back up hill, I found a good fallen tree for my lunch time bench. With the temp in the mid '30's my hot soup and cocoa tasted pretty good. After lunch I continued on the Shy Bear Trail which has some ups and downs on the way to meet Fred's Railroad Trail. Along the way I crossed a branch of Cabbage creek on another metal grated board walk bridge. After finishing the loop part of my hike, I went back to the trailhead the way I had come.

I only met four other hikers on my trip, two were a young couple who I had a nice chat with about hikes and running. I also saw six trail runners and one dog walker. The only animal I saw was a wren at my lunch spot on my Cougar Mtn. hike. There were a few trees down over the Deceiver Trail, but just step overs. Made for a quiet hike. George

For some history and trails of Cougar Mtn. see the books, "Hiking and Strolling Trails of Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, Coal Creek, May Creek" by Harvey Manning and Ralph Owen. "The Coals of Newcastle, A Hundred Years of Hidden History", by Richard K. McDonald and Lucile McDonald. Both books were published by the Issaquah Alps Trails Club.

We completed a 5.5 mile counterclockwise loop on Cougar Mtn from Redtown TH.  There were only 2 cars in the lot when we pulled in at 9:15 and it was a mix of snow and rain.  We followed Red Town, Cave Hole, Coal Creek Falls, Quarry, Fred’s Railroad, Shy Bear, Far Country, Indian and Wildside trails to make our loop back to Redtown.  All the trails are saturated, but mostly well drained with a few small muddy patches.  As we hiked up Cave Hole trail it started to be a winter wonderland with snow sticking on the ground.  A couple of the wooden bridges were slippery due to the snow accumulation.  Hiking poles were helpful.  Shy Bear and Far Country trails have a few new downed trees to climb over.  Trail traffic was super light, we saw less than 10 entires on our entire route.  Both Coal Creek and Far Country Falls were really flowing.  Bird species were out in force, we saw towhee, juncos, bush tits, creepers, sparrows and a lone shrew scampered across the trail.  Due to the weather we didn’t stop much and got back to our vehicles at 12:45.  Another fantastic day to be out in nature with friends.   

Hiked a loop around Cougar Mountain today that connected parts of lots of trails. There are so many trails here that connect. Overall we hiked about 7.5 miles and about 1300ft elevation. I found this loop on AllTrails listed as “Longview Peak and Far Country Lookout Loop.” The loop started and ended at the Sky country trailhead.  It was really helpful to have the trail downloaded today to make sure we turned the right way at all the trail crossings. I found the park map also available for free download on the Avenza maps app. 

The trails were all in good shape. Some muddy patches, but nothing overwhelming. There were also a couple places with trees down over the trail, but all of them were easily stepped over, or walked under if you duck a little bit. We saw three waterfalls on this loop: Doughty Falls, Far Country Falls, and Coal Creek Falls. The first two were side trails just a little bit off the main trail. On parts of the trail there were plenty of other people, particularly lots of trail runners in the morning. However other parts of our loop we were practically alone! There were also lots and lots of different mushrooms and fungi which was fun to watch for. The forecast said rain today but we had some blue skies, and it only sprinkled on us a bit during our hike. Once we got back to our car, it started snowing at the trailhead! It turned into rain pretty quickly as we drove away.