This trip is about a 3 mile loop with a guilty pleasure included. The trails in Cougar Mt. park are muddy and with some blow down but not badly so (in Alpine Art's opinion). The walk took about one hour and did use some private property (Radio Peak) roads. There is a sign on the gate to Radio Peak indicating no trespassing but I have hiked this loop 3 or 4 times without incident. The main rule is to use common sense and respect, i. e. don't mess with the electronic towers. One can loop back on Cougar Mt. Road to the Shangri La trail which takes one back to AA peak and the car park. This trip offered a new side trail near Radio Peak which goes to the park boundary and offers views of Puget Sound and the Olympics, well worth the side trip on Saturday which was dry and with good visibility. The Radio Peak trail is not used very much based on its condition (excellent leaf cover and no evident boot prints). The new side trail connects to 110th and a new neighborhood which could make for more use of the area by these residents. A loud dog inhabits one of the area homes but I did not see it, so no troublesome encounter. All and all this was a nice way to walk off some Thanksgiving eating.

After enduring months of seeing Coal Creek Falls as nothing more than a trickle, it's invigorating to see it at a more robust flow than at our last visit, in September. Weather: chilly, around 40 and falling, persistent mist, turning to steady light drizzle. We began about 9 a.m. from the Anti-Aircraft Peak Trailhead; three hikers were coming out as we went in, but very few others were encountered, thanks to the threat of snowstorm looming later in the day. Entry trails were in fairly good shape, for December. Further along AA Ridge it got a bit boggy and slippery, but easily passable, and my feet stayed dry in tennis shoes. Most deciduous foliage is gone, of course, so Cougar's heavily-canopied trails are actually brighter now, in spite of gloomy skies. Glistening Oregon grape and sword fern were the dominant greenery; the ""grape"" is crowding the narrower trails quite a bit in many places. Many fungi present, but I'm embarrassingly ignorant of mycology. The only wildlife we observed were the usual juncos, chickadees and wrens; not even towhees or squirrels. We were very pleased to see good flow in the East Fork of Coal Creek where the Clay Pit bypass crosses. Cave Hole Road is not in very good condition: in most places only one rut was passable, the other either too eroded or too muddy. Several clumps of comfrey were evident on the Falls trail -- I hadn't noticed them there before....is that just because of less foliage now, or is this a climate-related change? Coal Creek Falls were very nice, probably about 10 to 20 percent of maximum flow. These falls are a wonderful place to sit, rest, meditate; and now while the flow is only moderate it's even a good place for conversation. We returned the same way we entered. I was pleased to make it all the way up the Cave Hole Road grade non-stop; a tough walking hill. We got back to our vehicle just as the weather took a turn for the worse. For a moderately-long but quiet, easy hike to a nice destination, this is hard to beat, any time of year.

I've done quite a bit of rambling on Cougar Mountain in the past few days. In general the trails are in great shape, and the fall colors are reaching their peak. The colors are pretty muted compared to those in the alpine zone, but the lowland maples are trying hard to put on a good show. One pretty area is along the Coal Creek Trail, where there is an abundance of large maples. The little used portion of the trail downstream of Coal Creek Parkway is completely covered with yellow and gold leaves in spots. Coal Creek Falls is also a colorful spot, and a nice place to visit now that the recent rains have revitalized its flow. There are only a few trail maintenance problems that I found. There is one annoying downed tree on the Coal Creek Trail, about a mile from the lower end of the trail at 119th. This section of the trail also suffers from patches of slumped tread that could use some TLC. On the east side of Cougar Mountain, the Shangri-La Trail and the Surprise Creek Trail have many clogged drain dips that need clearing. Both of these trails are built on old roadbeds that travel down the fall line, making them very vulnerable to erosion from running water.

The trails on Cougar Mt. continue to be amazingly dry and mud free. The trails near the former “swamp” or lake are normally muddy once the rainy season starts, but on Sunday they remained very dry and easy to walk. There is some mud on the Shangri La trail but nothing compared to the normal amount during winter. The fall colors are in full swing and trees in the park are dropping their leaves. There were lots of folks on all of the trails so not much solitude. The trip up the Klondike Swamp trail was a real treat with sunlight beaming on an arch of Burch trees with gold and green leaves. This trip takes about 2 hours and is 5 to 6 miles in length. The top of Wilderness Peak has a summit register and some trails that may lead down to the Wilderness Cliffs trail. I went down one of these for a short time and it did not look like a game trail. This may be worth exploration the next time I am on this trail.

A short walk before the heavy rains. The trails are in excellent shape with some horse use evident but still with non-muddy tread for the most part. There are numerous step over logs on the Shangri La trail and some early mud patches from the recent rains. With normal horse use and continuing rains, this trail will likely be quite muddy in the next few weeks. The Coyote Creek and Lost Beagle trails were in good to excellent hiking condition. There was evidence of gravel hardening of both of these trails by the county or volunteers which should help this winter. I've found that even in the Alps, hiking at odd times (early morning) or on a weekday increases the quiet of the walk.