Military Road, Sky Country, Nike Horse Trail, Old Man's Trail, Coyote Creek, Klondike Swamp, Cougar Pass, Tibbett's Marsh, East Fork, Fred's Railroad, Quarry, Coal Creek Trail & Cave Hole — Friday, Nov. 11, 2022

Today I hiked a great 6.8 mile loop on Cougar Mountain from the Redtown trailhead.  Ten cars were in the lot when I pulled in at 1:15.  It was 44 degrees with partially cloudy skies.  In a clockwise loop, I followed Military Road, Sky Country, Nike Horse Tr., Old Man’s Tr, Cave Hole, Coyote Creek, Klondike Swamp, Cougar Pass, Tibbett’s Marsh, East Fork, Fred’s Railroad, Quarry, Coal Creek, Cave Hole and Redtown Creek Trails.  Some trails seemed spotless (leaves blown off and side drainages diversions dug out) and many others were covered with a nice cushion duff of fallen maple and cottonwood trees.  There were several downed dead wood tree

Today I hiked a great 6.8 mile loop on Cougar Mountain from the Redtown trailhead.  Ten cars were in the lot when I pulled in at 1:15.  It was 44 degrees with partially cloudy skies.  In a clockwise loop I followed Military Road, Sky Country, Nike Horse Tr., Old Man’s Tr, Cave Hole, Coyote Creek, Klondike Swamp, Cougar Pass, Tibbett’s Marsh, East Fork, Fred’s Railroad, Quarry, Coal Creek, Cave Hole and Redtown Creek Trails.  Some trails seemed spotless (leaves blown off and side drainages diversions dug out) and many others were covered with a nice cushion duff of fallen maple and cottonwood leaves.  There were several downed dead wood tree trunks / branches to step over on Military Road, Sky Country Tr and the biggest a fir tree on Cave hole trail just past Redtown Creek Trail. I pushed off and cleared smaller branches that were easy to lift  in many places.  The last of the fall foliage color change still looked respectable on the Klondike Swamp Trail.  When I passed Sky Country Th just before 2:00 the lot looked 3/4 Full.  What I love about Cougar Mtn trail system is that there are so many trails it disperses all park users.  On the day I encountered 28 hikers and walkers.  The most being in the last 2 miles on the Coal Creek Trail loop. Wildlife sightings included: a Douglas squirrel, towhee, creeper and a woodpecker was tapping but not seen.  The water level is still extremely low and barely a trickle was flowing down below Coal Creek Falls.  At falls the headwaters on the East Fork Trail above the duckpond there was no standing water anywhere.  Every drop coming from the sky seems to be soaking into the soil.  A very encouraging territorial view at the clay pit. All the Cascade Mountains to the east were snow covered including Tiger Mtn summits. When I arrived back at Redtown at 4:20 22 cars were in the lot.  Another fantastic day to be out in nature.