Everyone was out on the trails at Cougar Mtn Regional Park today!  What a great day to ring in the new year with time in nature.  We pulled into the Redtown TH at 9:00 and barely found spots to park.  It was a cool 38 degrees with frost on the ground and mostly clearing skies.  The Porta Potties were open with limited supplies.  We made 7.5 mile loop following Redtown Creek, Military Road, Sky Country, Old Man’s Tr, Coyote Creek, Shangrila, Tibbett’s Marsh, Harvey Manning, Cougar Pass and Cave Hole Trails.  All the trails were muddy and fairly clear of branches and tree debris.  Everywhere you saw evidence of recent trail clearing with chainsaw dust and trees sticking out at odd angles.  We did have to step over 4+ logs that have yet to be cleared.  The sun was out and Mt Baker and the snowy Cascades were in perfect view from the Million Dollar Pagoda.  Just before noon we ate a snack at one of the covered picnic shelters at the Harvey Manning Trail Head.  The Porta Potty at this area is now gone and there were signs on the Restroom  building indicated that it was “Out of Order”. Plan to Green Door it you hike in that area.  It felt great to feel the suns warmth for the first time in weeks.  Trail traffic was supper busy on every trail - dog walkers, hikers and runners galore.  Everyone was courteous and stepped aside to let others pass by.  We intentionally avoided the 3  waterfall trails expecting they would be more crowded on a Holiday weekend and fantastic winter weather day.  Arriving back at Redtown TH at 1:00 the lot was jammed with a row of cars parked in the middle and people circling the lot hoping to find parking spaces.  Another fantastic day out in nature making trail memories with friends!

Trail in great condition. Did a 6 mile loop on cougar. From pergola the view of mt baker were clear but the lower elevation were covered in smoke as seen from million dollar viewpoint.

We were fortunate to hike on a rare sunny Saturday. But, still, the Harvey Manning trail and particularly the Cougar Pass trail were muddy. There's a downed log across the Harvey Manning trail. If nibble, you can get under it and, if not too short, can sit on it and swing your legs over it. We saw lots of oyster mushrooms and a few were collected ... those who cooked them later in the day said they weren't that tasty.

We did a figure-8 loop starting/end at the French cafe at Talus (see map below). Despite it being Saturday it was not too crowded on any of the trails we did.

The trails have drained surprisingly well from the recent downpours, having only the usual mud sections on Bear Ridge shortly below the West Tibb junction, on West Tibbett's itself, and a bit on Cougar Pass. However the vegetation has been super-charged by the recent rains - everything looks more lush than two weeks ago and a few sections feel much narrower with all the new branches pushing in on the trail. There are a lot of wildflowers out as well - the trilliums are done (at least I didn't see any) but there are a bunch of new small white and purple flowers throughout, and a few stretches with hundreds of buttercups.

The upper sections of this route have a lot of bugs right now. The whole area between the Tibbett's Marsh trail and the Coyote Creek trail is abuzz - when you stop hiking you can hear the buzzing quite loudly in the background. But the bugs are not too too bothersome as long as you keep moving.

The afternoon weather looked great so we went out for a short pre-dinner hike, doing a lollipop loop starting from the Talus Connector up Bear Ridge and West Tibbett's Creek, then looping clockwise on Cougar Pass, Harvey Manning and Tibbett's Marsh before coming back out the same way we came in.

It was my first time out on the trails in a few weeks and Spring has definitely progressed - everything is looking more lush, many things are budding and there are quite a few flowers already blooming or starting to. There were quite a few trilliums, both the light purple and the white varieties, throughout the trail.

All the trails we did have drained nicely from the recent rains, with only a few minor mud spots on West Tibbett's and Cougar Pass - the rest is in perfect walking shape, not too dry but not soggy.

We encountered 4 parties throughout the whole 1.5 hour hike.