Old Miners Trail, By Pass Trail, Fred's Railroad, Shy Bear, Deceiver, East Fork, Mine Shaft Trail & Clay Pit Road — Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025

Our group of five senior hikers met at the Sky Country Trailhead at 9:00 AM to begin our figure eight hike using several trails on this foggy day. We hiked up to the Fred's RR trail where we saw a few fallen trees had been cut out from the big windstorm back in November. At the junction with the Shy Bear Trail, we saw a new trail junction sign. There were several new signs on our trip today. Shy Bear and the Deceiver Trails had several large fallen trees that had been cut out by King County Parks crews. At Shy Bear Marsh some of the bridges had been rebuilt and had antiskid material placed on top to prevent slipping.

Up on the Deceiver Trail we took the short trail down to the viewpoint for Doughty Falls. King County Parks has been building new steps and a safety railing for this trail. They had a big pile of timbers to construct more steps. After checking out the falls we headed back up to the main trail and met two King County Parks Trail Maintenace workers. We then crossed over Cabbage Creek above the falls on a new bridge that replaced the old log one. This new one is a steel girder with a metal deck and wood lower railings. We then went up the steeper section of the Deceiver Trail before getting to the junctions with the Long View Peak Trail and the Ring Road Trails. After arriving at Shy Bear Pass, we continued on the Shy Bear Trail to get back to Fred's RR Trail.

We took the East Fork Trail off Fred's RR and found some fallen trees for a lunch time bench. As were eating it started sprinkling, but no heavy rain. There was one huge Cottonwood tree that had blown over and is now cut out. After passing by Jerry's Duck Pond, we hiked the Mine Shaft Trail out to the Clay Pit Road. Before getting to the Clay Pit Road, we passed by the old air shaft used by the coal miners during the coal mining days on Cougar Mtn. where coal was mined for 100 years from 1863 to 1963. We walked the Clay Pit Road back to the parking lot with stop at the beaver pond on the North Fork of Coal Creek. They have a really big dam over the creek to see.

We only saw a few other hikers out on this foggy day, but no wildlife. Back at the parking lot the sun tried to come out and it had stopped raining. George

As you are hiking through the forest, remember this advice from a tree:

1. Stand tall and proud.

2. Go out on a limb.

3. Remember your roots.

4. Drink plenty of water.

5. Be content with your natural beauty.

6. Enjoy the view.