Reached the Bear Ridge parking lot at 10am. No other cars, which was just as well, as there's only space for three cars... Headed up to Anti-Aircraft Peak, then over to Wilderness Peak, and closed the loop by crossing over to Squak Mountain (see tracklog). Apart from a few muddy spots, the trails were in good condition. Only the very last trail I used to close the loop wasn't well marked, had several blowdowns, and a stream crossing on a log. Plenty of people out running and walking their dogs, but no crowds.
Trip Report
Bear Ridge, West Tibbett's Creek Trail (#COUGAR-E10) , Tibbett's Marsh, Lost Beagle, Klondike Swamp, Fred's Railroad, Shy Bear, West Access Trail, Coal Mine, Bullitt Access Trail & Wilderness Peak Loop — Saturday, Mar. 5, 2016
Issaquah Alps > Cougar Mountain
Type of Hike
Day hikeTrail Conditions
Minor obstacles posing few problemsRoad
Road suitable for all vehiclesBugs
No bugsSnow
Snow free
Comments
Loved the detailed trip report
Hi Eric, loved the amount of detail you put into this report, I love the Cougar Squak corridor also. I was wondering what device you use to create that cool tracklog? Thanks again!
Posted by:
paulgj on Jul 26, 2016 05:16 PM
ejain on Tibbett's Marsh, Wilderness Peak Loop, West Tibbett's Creek Trail (#COUGAR-E10) , West Access Trail, Bear Ridge, Bullitt Access Trail, Coal Mine, Fred's Railroad, Klondike Swamp, Lost Beagle, Shy Bear
I have a Garmin Oregon 450, but almost any GPS device (and many mobile apps) let you record a "tracklog", which you can upload and share through a service like Garmin Connect.
Posted by:
ejain on Jul 26, 2016 05:30 PM
paulgj on Tibbett's Marsh, Wilderness Peak Loop, West Tibbett's Creek Trail (#COUGAR-E10) , West Access Trail, Bear Ridge, Bullitt Access Trail, Coal Mine, Fred's Railroad, Klondike Swamp, Lost Beagle, Shy Bear
Thank you Eric!
Posted by:
paulgj on Jul 26, 2016 05:57 PM
Bandit trail connection
The last leg of your hike was on an unofficial trail (Mountainside Trail) down the side of Squak from the Mountainside Drive trailhead. Very few people know of that trail because it's not on any maps and invisible where it departs from the trailhead, but it makes the sort of loop you did possible. What amazes me is, you found the bottom leg, after it crosses the powerline service road, so don't complain about the log crossing, that bit of trail is not only unofficial, but almost totally unfindable now. Much easier: When you find the Mountainside Trail heading downhill just before the kiosk sign, get to the bottom and turn right on the service road, then left on a paved road to come out opposite the Bear Ridge trailhead. It's a private road, but nobody minds. There's actually another bandit trail that makes it unnecessary to go all the way up West Access Trail on Squak, or down the Mountainside Trail, but I'll bet you can't find that one!
Posted by:
scottsemans on Oct 18, 2016 10:05 AM
Re: Bandit trail connection
The last leg of my hike is on the Northwest Trails maps from switchbacks.com. Looks like OpenStreetMaps also shows this trail, at least down to the powerline service road. But no trace of the other secret trail you mentioned :-)
Posted by:
ejain on Oct 18, 2016 11:02 AM
paulgj on Tibbett's Marsh, Wilderness Peak Loop, West Tibbett's Creek Trail (#COUGAR-E10) , West Access Trail, Bear Ridge, Bullitt Access Trail, Coal Mine, Fred's Railroad, Klondike Swamp, Lost Beagle, Shy Bear
I missed that last leg also, ended up as you described turning right and then down the private road to SE 83rd PL which exits almost directly across the street from the Bear Ridge parking spot. The trail down from Mountainside drive is shown on some of the online topo map sites and also has an old wooden trappers cabin off on the right hand side about half way down, I took a little side trip to the cabin, not much in there except some really old bedding and some tarp.
Posted by:
paulgj on Oct 18, 2016 11:46 AM
Where's the log bridge?
Where was that log bridge, then? The stream looks too narrow to be Tibbetts, or West Tibbetts - maybe the little creek between the Mountainside Trail & the cabin? I've never found anybody who knows when/how on that cedar cabin.
Posted by:
scottsemans on Oct 18, 2016 11:53 AM
paulgj on Tibbett's Marsh, Wilderness Peak Loop, West Tibbett's Creek Trail (#COUGAR-E10) , West Access Trail, Bear Ridge, Bullitt Access Trail, Coal Mine, Fred's Railroad, Klondike Swamp, Lost Beagle, Shy Bear
Looking at the map I think that log bridge must be over Tibbetts creek as that is the last water crossing before reaching the main road. I don't know how Eric found it, there was no visible opening in the brush when I was looking for the trail.
Posted by:
paulgj on Oct 18, 2016 12:13 PM
Probably Claypit Creek
You would have crossed Tibbetts Creek on a paved road with the creek in a culvert below, and much, much wider than this. Probably this is the little creek that hits SR900 from Cougar right at Bear Ridge TH - I think it's Claypit Creek. I'll take a look next time I'm there.
Posted by:
scottsemans on Oct 18, 2016 12:24 PM
paulgj on Tibbett's Marsh, Wilderness Peak Loop, West Tibbett's Creek Trail (#COUGAR-E10) , West Access Trail, Bear Ridge, Bullitt Access Trail, Coal Mine, Fred's Railroad, Klondike Swamp, Lost Beagle, Shy Bear
Yes now you've got me curious too. I noticed that on Eric's GPS track, he went left on the service road before finding that last section of trail.
Posted by:
paulgj on Oct 18, 2016 12:35 PM
Nice photos!
I bookmarked 'em.
Posted by:
scottsemans on Oct 18, 2016 12:30 PM