Coal Creek Trail — Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025

This trail can be accessed by KC Metro bus #240 (Bellevue TC - Renton TC). The best two transit accessible access points are at 119th Ave SE and Coal Creek Parkway (the trailhead is down a set of stairs) and at the Coal Creek YMCA. This is 0.6 miles from the bus stop at 132nd Ave SE and Newcastle Way.

If you are relying on transit, experientially, I would take a route that starts at 119th and exits at the Y, or, start and finish at the YMCA.

The trail can be divided into three sections, north to south: 119th to Red Cedar Trailhead (1.3 mi), the Coal Creek Trail (0.8 mi) / Primrose Trail (0.7 mile) and from the YMCA access to Red Town Trailhead (1.5 mi).

The northern sections parallel Coal Creek Parkway. The noise of the highway tend to dominate the section. The trail is in good shape, the topography is varied and the forest is fine, but you can only hear the creek for about a quarter mile. The section is more aesthetic southbound. Northbound it seems anticlimactic.

The middle section is the most like a wilderness trail. It has the nicest forest, a lot of creek views and creek noise and the best natural experiences. Because a lot of it is most natural trail, in the rainy, with pretty heavy use, it has the most mud and a few slippery place. Overall the trail is highly engineered with sturdy bridges, solid staircases and other trail stabilizing structures.

Most of the southern sections is on an old railroad grade the dates back to the time of the coal mines, so this is the flattest section. Because this is where the coal was, this is where the people were. Most of the human built infrastructure has disappeared, but the land is still trying to heal from this era. There are a series of interpretive signs that make this section more interesting that it otherwise would be. Except for a couple of short section (where the railroad grade washed away?) the trail is wide with a gravel surface.

If you make a round trip from end-to-end, and explore a few side trails, you will cover about nine miles.