We hiked to Wilderness Peak on a bright and sunny day. The trail was dry and not too crowded, though the parking lot was full and so we had to park along the road. Lots of kids and dogs and runners. Most people go up the less steep Whitaker trail and down the steeper Gombu Cliffs trail, but we went the opposite direction to get a little more exercise. The Gombu Cliffs trail seemed to have more lush vegetation and conifers than the Whitaker trail did, maybe because the terrain is too steep to easily log, so there's more old growth. Whatever the case, it was all lovely, though not spectacular. There's a cozy little clearing at the top with a single bench. It would have been nice to have more than one bench, as it was occupied when we got there, and I wished I could have sit down, but there are plenty of logs and rocks on the trail there. There's also a plastic box with a notebook full of comments from people complaining about the lack of view.

The trail to the peak has a lot of elevation gain and is so beautiful. My favorite trail on Cougar Mountain so far. It feels good to reach the peak even if it doesn't look much different from the rest of the trail... A good challenge. Gombu cliffs was nice. It wasn't steep for long distances thanks to long switchbacks. I recommend this over climbing back down the Whittaker Wilderness Trail for the sake of your knees! 3.9 mi roundtrip including peak and linking back up with Whittaker to trailhead.

Although wilderness may be a misnomer for this peak and hike, you surely will not be disappointed. This was a perfect little end-of-the-day hike to give us some much deserved outside time from the tedium of house cleaning. The trail is modestly steep and quite muddy in places. Although largely in excellent condition. Nicely built bridges were available in all the right places. Although the guidebook warms of summertime mosquito swarms it was bug free today:) Golden afternoon light, a few blooming bushes pushing the season, and a comfy bench at the summit to kick back on. A perfect end to another perfect day.

Tuesday 1/27/15 we arrived at the trail head of Whittaker Wilderness Peak Trail on Cougar Mountain about 9:30am. Off of Hwy 900 south of Issaquah. There was a small white pick-up with a homeless looking man rummaging around in the back also at the parking lot and another blue car parked there as well. We believe there was a 50 in the license plate of the pick-up, and plastic storage containers in the bed. We had a wonderful hike and returned to our car at 4:00pm to find our rear driver's side window broken out and many of our personal items stolen. If anyone happened to see anything please respond to this post. Two young ladies passed us on the hike near the trail head, who might have noticed something in the parking lot. Thanks for any help! We went up Whittaker Wilderness Peak Trail, then followed Shy Bear Trail to the Far Country Lookout for a nice lunch spot. We then came back came back and took the Deceiver Trail and the more southern Whittaker Wilderness Trail. We had a wonderful hike. Only ruined by the thief who broke our window and stole our stuff. Be sure not to leave expensive or precious items in your cars at the trail head on Cougar Mountain (or elsewhere).

This was a nice hike for a cloudy/rainy day. Went with my husband, and our toddler in his carrier. We enjoyed walking through the majestic old growth. The peak was shrouded in mist and absolutely beautiful, especially when the sun peeked through a few times. I recommend printing off the Cougar Mountain trail map PDF and bringing it with you as the signs are not all that intuitive, and there are many different trails towards the top if you choose to extend your hike. We chose a different path while descending, just for a change of scenery, and our hike was just over 5 miles roundtrip, according to my fitbit. I recommend good boots as there is a LOT of mud and some standing water on various parts of the trail (for which I was not prepared). There were two larger fallen trees blocking the path, but easy to climb over.