A nice loop in Cougar and then getting tempted by the mountain across the road. Despite the wind and rain over the last few days, volunteers have been busy with saws and there were only a couple of spots of blowdown on Cougar that needed to be negotiated around. No snow anywhere on the trail and just one or two spots of mud. After doing a big figure-8 through Wilderness + Shy Bear, I jogged a quarter mile down SR 900 and headed up the new Margaret's Way trail on Squak. It took a lot of map studying near the top to reach the central peak (my first time there and there are lots of little trails about 1500 ft). The descent back down Central Peak and West Access was really fun - nice and straight with only a couple downed trees to run around. There's a little bit of trampled down snow in the last mile of approach to Squak from the north, but nothing that can't be done in boots or good trail shoes.

Did a quick trail run of these Cougar Mountain Trails this morning. Most important notes: Parking lot at Red Town Trailhead is mostly snow covered but I managed to get in and out fine with my Lancer. There were about five other vehicles there a mix between SUV's and sedans. All trails listed are snow covered (though the rain started around 10 AM). Near the summit of Cougar the trail was nearly knee deep in places. Fortunately there is now a path broken though through all of them. :) All trails have some new blowdowns though most are easy to get around but some will require a little effort to work around in the deeper snow. I did not use any traction devices with my trail runners.

Nice hike with Cub Scout den. Journeyed on to the waterfall. Trail in good condition and waterfall was running.

Did some more exploring of the Cougar Mountain Area using these trails to make an 18 mile route. All trails are snow free and have no obstacles to negotiate. There aren't even any significantly muddy portions at this time. I really enjoyed the Coal Creek Trail with it's rich history and abundant signs giving info about the area.

Took our 11-month old son up for his first official hike in our hiking backpack and he loved it! Err...falling asleep halfway up counts as loving it right? 

This was a nice hike through the forest. Not many views but made up for with cool trail features, lush forest, and a relatively quiet trail.