Parked at the Harvey Manning trail head, and from there had a lovely weekday afternoon hike along Shangri-la trail, down Bear Ridge to the "fantastic erratic" and back up along Tibbets Creek and the Harvey Manning trail to the parking lot. There's a map at the trailhead you can take a picture of, and every trail intersection is well-signed. There's enough trails here you can really choose your own adventure, and while I saw about 15 people over the course of about 2.5 hours of hiking, most of them were hikers or trail runners and mostly near the trail head, so plenty of opportunity to enjoy the trail in solitude. 

Trail was muddy enough I was glad to be wearing hiking boots but not so muddy as to be super problematic. 

Don't miss the sign very shortly after the trail leaves the parking lot for the Viewing Point /  Pergola, as it's a lovely viewpoint with picnic tables and generally views on the rest of the trail are scarce. Lovely moss-covered trees and peeks of mountains on a sunny day but generally through gaps in the trees (more on Bear Ridge than on the more interior trails). 

Also, while there's no restroom at the trailhead, Radar park is just around the corner (you can see it from the trailhead parking lots) and has restrooms and a portapotty, and also some pretty interesting signs explaining about how the site used to be a military base with anti-aircraft guns. Worth checking out.

We got out for a short exercise loop between bouts of rain mid-morning, and even got lucky with about 20 minutes of blue sky and some warm sunshine before the low clouds descended and brought a foggy chill. We went via the Talus connector to Bear Ridge, up West Tibbett's and Harvey Manning, then down Shangri La with a side detour on Surprise Creek & No Name trails before coming back out via the bottom of Shangri La. There's more & more blossoms popping up now, with a number of purple ones just up from the Talus connector junction. The recent rains have really perked up the mosses which are a fantastic bright green in many areas now.

Trail conditions are...

Bear Ridge: Damp with some slippery leaves on the middle portion (from Talus junction to a bit before Fantastic Erratic), then most perfect loam except a few small mud sections.

West Tibbetts: No running water on trail anymore, but quite a few squishy sections and one huge mud pit southwest of the bridge crossing - people have thrown a bunch of large branches into this to provide something to step on.

Harvey Manning: Excellent shape most of a way, just a few squish bits here and there.

Shangri La, Surprise, No Name: Well drained, good grip.

It stopped raining in Issaquah a bit after 1pm so after a bit of indecision I decided to try to get lucky with a weather window and headed out for a short exercise loop at just after 2pm. Did Bear Ridge Trail from the bottom, up to West Tibbett's Creek, Cougar Pass, and Harvey Manning, and then back out via Shangri La for 5.2 miles and abou 1,275 feet of gain. Got mostly lucky with the weather with only a 15 minute spell of wind and rain and a few thunderclaps.

There weren't too many people rolling the dice on the weather today - I only saw two parties up right near the Harvey Manning TH and one hiker down at the Talus end of Shangri La.

Trails have definitely gotten damp from the last 2.5 days of rain. Bear Ridge has mostly drained well with a couple of soggy-but-not-quite-muddy sections in the flat areas as it approaches the bridge before the West Tibb junction. West Tibbett's Creek Trail lives up to its name with some extended sections that have water flowing down the trail and a couple of muddy sections south of the log bridge across the creek. There is also one new blowdown where a dead tree finally broke off its roots - not too difficult to negotiate but it is bark-free so can be slippery if wet. Cougar Pass has a few muddy sections. Harvey Manning is mostly well drained as is Shangri La, though there are a few squishy sections on the latter.

There are signs of spring popping out throughout the trail, especially along the lower section of Bear Ridge Trail which has bunch of blossoms and bright green shoots. Ferns and mosses look great after the rain.

Went out for a quick exercise hike ahead of the rain that's in the forecast for the next few day. Did a figure 8 loop starting from the French cafe at Talus: up to the Shangri La TH -> Protector -> Cougar Pass -> Harvey Manning -> Million Dollar View -> TIbbett's Marsh -> West Tibbett's Creek -> Bear Ridge -> Talus Connector. 5.1 miles, 1160 feet of gain roundtrip to the cafe.

Trails were in excellent shape, just a short section of mud up by Cougar Pass but dry and good tread the rest of the way. The light was really nice this morning, casting some nice shadows and really bringing out the color in the mosses. The trails were moderately busy throughout the loop, not surprising given a Saturday with the last good weather for a while, but it never felt too crowded.

Did a quick later afternoon exercise hike on the east flank of Cougar via Talus Connector, up Bear Ridge, up West Tibbett's Creek with a side trip to the clay pit then back to Cougar Pass, up Harvey Manning to the Million Dollar View, then down all the way back to Talus via Shangri La.

The trails on the whole loop were in great condition. There are some remaining traces of snow on northeast-facing hillsides in the forest, but almost none on trail - the only exceptions are a brief & slightly slippery section right before the bridge just down from the Bear Ridge/West Tibb junction and a bit around the bridge across West Tibbett's creek just before Cougar Pass junction. Both bridges are a bit slippery but not too bad if taken slowly. All the mud on West Tibbetts was frozen today, and apart from that the trails were damp but never muddy.