A wonderful hike if a bit muddy at times. We saw the mine shaft which was very cool and I appreciated the informational boards. We got a late start at around 10am but the parking lot was only half full.

The rain was on and off (very on at one point!) but kept most folks off the trail this wet Friday morning. A six-mile loop from Sky Country trailhead: Old Man/Miner's Trail, Bypass, Fred's RR, Shy Bear, Long View Peak, Deceiver (& Doughty Falls), Shy Bear, Far Country, Indian, Quarry, Coal Creek Falls, Cave Hole, Nike Horse.

Only "obstacle" on the trail was mud and puddles in various places.

I've started doing sketches of my hikes as a way to note interesting aspects and the pertinent details. This is my very first attempt, so still a skill at which I need more practice. (I think the elevation gain noted in the sketch is way off...the Garmin GPS has an "elevation correction" feature, which reduces the gain to 1200 ft).

Started at the Sky Country trailhead at 11:10 am. Took the Clay Pit road to the Clay Pit. There was a dusting of snow and got a nice view from the Clay Pit. After this I headed to Wilderness peak via Mine Shaft-East Fork-Fred's Railroad-Shy Bear-Wilderness Peak trails. 

After checking out the view less Wilderness Peak, I headed over to Longview Peak. There are a few views thru the trees here. The sunlight shining thru the trees was neat on this super nice day. I then headed to Marshall's Hill via  Deceiver-Shy Bear-Indian-De Leo Wall-Viewpoint #2 trails. I got some views of Mt Rainier from the Viewpoint #2 trail . There are a lot of cool madrone trees along this stretch and along the short stretch of the Terrace trail.

I did the whole De Leo Wall loop clockwise and then headed back to Sky Country trailhead via Indian-Quarry-Fred's Railroad-Bypass-Old Man's-Nike Horse trails.

Finished at 3:15 pm. First time for me hiking a lot of these trails. Trails are all very nice and well maintained. It is nice to have such a nice place to hike so close to town. All the recent blowdowns have been cleared, which is super nice. So thank you to the crew doing this!!!

Great day. 11.6 miles with 2421 ft elevation gain

Started my lollipop 6.2 mile loop hike from the Sky Country trailhead parking lot. Be sure to check out the back side of the four sided kiosk with photos and info of the former US Army Nike missile base that you walk through. After the missiles were gone, a school was on the site for three years using buildings that were located where the present parking lot is today. Hiking on the Old Miners trail you will see a small A-frame building on the north side. This was for the dog kennel for the Army guard dogs. When I got up to Fred's Railroad Grade Trail (named for former miner/logger Fred Rounds) I hiked it to the Shy Bear Trail. I took this one counter clockwise to get to the Deceiver Trail. Along the way I met a three person King County Parks trail crew cutting out blown down trees. They left one big fir that had blown part way over the trail and got hung up in another tree. One of the guys said they would need to bring a professional faller to cut it down. This trail has some ups and downs before getting to the swampy area with board walk bridges that have metal grating since the wood would be slick. I took the Deceiver Trail off of Shy Bear and headed north to Shy Bear Pass. This is a nice trail to hike on through a large Doug Fir stand. 

When I got to the junction with the short trip to Doughty Falls on Cabbage Creek, I hiked down the trail a short distance to the view point. Not too much water to be seen. Back on the main trail, I continued on to the next junction. This was with the short side trail up to Long View Peak. The GT map for Cougar Mtn. shows it as a view area. When I got to the "view" spot, I found that there is no longer a view. The trees have grown up and block it. There still are two old log benches where you had a view many years ago. Further on Deceiver Trail at the next junction, I took the Ring Road Trail that went down hill for a half a mile. This was a nice trail to hike and was brushed out. It came out at the park boundary at an old dirt road. There were King County Park signs and part of an old power pole lying over the road. I hiked the old road out to a gravel road by a house. Turning around I headed back up the Ring Road Trail and found a fallen tree for a lunch time seat. There was a cold wind blowing, so glad I had some hot cocoa. After lunch I hiked back to the Deceiver Trail out to Shy Bear Pass and took the Shy Bear Trail back to Fred's Railroad Trail to finish the loop part of my hike. There was a little snow left along Shy Bear Trail a little north of the pass. Then it was back the way I had come to the parking lot.

Only met a few other hikers and trail runners on my trip, so no crowds today. There are a few mud holes on the Shy Bear Trail, but easy to get around. The Ring Road Trail is one of those you only hike once to check it out, since it goes nowhere. The last trip report for it was back in 2002. George

We hiked a 3 waterfalls loop on Cougar Mtn starting at the Sky Country Trailhead. It was a beautiful December day and the ground was covered with up to 2 inches of snow in the open areas.  The parking lot was a skating rink of black ice when my group took the trail at 9:30.  The porta potties had been recently serviced and had seat liners, TP and hand sanitizer.  Our route went in a counterclockwise  direction following: Nike Horse Trail, Cave Hole, Coal Creek Falls, Quarry, Indian, Far Country Lookout, Shy Bear, Deceiver, Shy Bear Pass / Trail, Fred’s Railroad and Old Man’s Trails.  The temperature stayed in the 30’s the entire day, it was 34 when we started and 38 degrees when we finished.  Lot’s of folks were out walking and hiking but it never seemed crowded.  Mask use was over 95%, Thank You hikers!  We quickly descended out of the snow and ice on the Cave Hole trail and did not run into it until we climbed back up to the Shy Bear Pass areas.  Traction devices were not needed, for the most part the trail was well drained and the leaves have been blown off so it’s down to dirt.  The parking lot was 90% full when we got back to our cars just after 2:00.  We had no real wildlife sightings to day except for a few birds.  Another fantastic day to be out in nature!