Old Man's Trail, By Pass Trail, Fred's Railroad, Quarry, Coal Creek Falls, Cave Hole & Nike Horse Trail — Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012

Issaquah Alps > Cougar Mountain

This was a quick outing in Cougar Mt. Park, about 3 miles in length with a fair number of mud/water holes and blowdowns on the trail. With all of this the trip took about 1 hour to complete with some stops for dogs [dog owners, if your dogs do not like seeing strange people, keep them on a leash] on the trail and photos (this is the quickest I have walked this trail). There is still some snow in the area I hiked but only one patch on the trail (Nike Horse Trail). There were several downed trees on the Quarry Trail including one that horses can not pass (a duck under and step over maneuver). The other blow downs were not as bad and there was evidence of horses getting over these as well as deer tracks in some of the muddy areas. Coal creek was running high and fast and the falls were as full of water as I have ever seen them.