Coal Creek Trail, Nike Horse Trail, Cave Hole, Coal Creek Falls, Quarry, Indian Trail, Far Country, Shy Bear, Deceiver, Fred's Railroad & Old Man's Trail — Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020

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!