Coyote Creek, Cave Hole, Old Man's Trail, Shangri La, Tibbett's Marsh, East Fork, Fred's Railroad, Quarry, Coal Creek Falls & Nike Horse Trail — Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025

After a great summer hiking season hiking further afield we returned to the Issaquah Alps today and had a great fall hike from Sky Country Th on Cougar Mtn.  It was sunny skies and 46 degrees when we pulled into the TH lot at 9:10. 8 other cars were in the lot and the Porta Potties had been recently cleaned.  We made a 6.4 mile loop hike following Old Man, Cave Hole, Coyote Creek, Shangri La, Viewpoint, Tibbett’s Marsh, East Fork, Fred’s Railroad, Quarry, Coal Creek Falls, Cave Hole and Nike Horse Trails. King County Parks do an excellent job of maintaining and clearing all trails in their parks.  Today two trail workers were toting chainsaws cleaning recent deadfall trees. THANK YOU!!!  All the trails are saturated soil with well drained side channels.  The few vine maples we saw are brilliant orange / red, fall fungi are sprouting up every where and the other deciduous tree are just starting their leaf color change.  You are still hiking in a shaded canopy on most trails.  Trail traffic was really light and was most busy near the Clay Pit road and Tibbett’s intersection where we meet KCP crews and trail users coming in  opposite directions.  The normally busy Coal Creek Falls loop was very quiet, most likely due to the absence of any flowing water.  As we headed back up the Cave Hole to Sky Country TH we passed a very enthusiastic class of Issaquah Middle School students on a day long field trip exploring the park.  In talking with one of the instructors we learned the program takes students on 5 single day field trip hikes all in the Issaquah Alp Peaks.  Great job Issaquah Middle for getting students out to enjoy the forest and become future forest stewards.  We stopped at the Million $ Viewpoint and enjoyed distant views to Mt Baker.  Our lunch snack break was on the log bench overlooking the Clay Pit area and Tiger Mt summits. The sun’s warmth felt great as it was the only really sunny spot on our hike.  Wildlife sightings were limited to a chipmunk, squirrel, robins, wrens and dragon flys.  We heard a couple frogs croaking near adjacent ponds and swampy areas.  More cars were in the TH lot when we drove out at 1:30.  Another fantastic day out in nature with friends.