Trail was quiet and weather was pleasant. Ran into three parties with dogs off leash including one that barked and started to charge at me as I rounded a bend. I understand the motivation to let dogs off leash but . . . 

There is a sign at the Jim Whittaker trailhead that says it is closed for construction through July 29. We tried the connector trail recommended by the WTA banner on this page and found the same sign. 

Started around 2:30, found a few parking spots available.  Took the Shy Bear extension described.  No overlook views, but nice forest walk.  A few muddy spots, but most of the trail is in excellent condition.

I decided to hike through two areas today.  Cougar Mountain and Sqwak.  I took the route 240 from Renton and got off at SE 91st Street, climbed the hill, and took a left, followed the road until the end, and then took a right.  Went around the service gates and through to the Terrace Trail Took that pathway up to the Cross Town trail, and went on to the De Leo Wall viewpoint.  At some point this is going to look like West Tiger 3 (logging)? I hope not. More on this at the end.

Knowing I had a full day, I decided not to mess around.  Once I got to the main trail, I went up the Far Country Trail which connects to the Shy Bear Trail.  Eventually, this trail connects to the Southern edge of Fred's RR grade trail before T-ing up at the Wilderness Loop, which I took downhill. 

As I turned off for the Wilderness Peak exit, there's a wobbly bridge in need of replacing.  Hope you brought your pads and swim trunks!

On exit, be careful crossing SR-900 and walking towards Margaret's Way.  Lamenting the fact that Trailhead Direct will not be returning to this route, but understanding of the reasons.  Margaret's Way was something I wasn't ready for.  Yes I could have handled it if I didn't just do Cougar.  But that's not the case.  It was a struggle, but once up top I just took the Chybinski trail down to the trailhead.  Upon exiting you can see the damage Weyerhauser did to the West Tigers.  Bald.  Yuck.  Then just take the streets to downtown Issaquah, and your ride to where you need to be should await.

As an avid hiker, I'm sorry to report that we have a massive problem with crime at trailheads in the Issaquah Alps. A week ago, I drove to the Margaret's Way Trailhead on SR-900 to go hiking, only to discover that 5 of the 7 cars in the parking lot had windows smashed out.

I went to the Whittaker Wilderness Peak Trailhead, almost across the street on SR-900 from the Margaret's Way Trailhead. There was a King County Sheriff's Deputy there. I spoke to him and learned that, just that day (as of 2:15pm), there had been over 25 reported smash and grabs at 3 trailheads: Margaret's Way, Whittaker Wilderness Peak, and (on the other side of Cougar Mountain) at the Red Town parking lot. The deputy informed me that there is very little that they can do in the absence of video surveillance or eyewitnesses to the crimes. This makes me think that, if the County Parks are to be usable, there needs to be video surveillance on the parking lots. The deputy told me that if there were usable video from the smash and grabs, they would absolutely investigate. 

I decided to compile a log of known break-ins at area trailheads. Here’s what I have so far: at least 190 cars with smashed windows, at a handful of parks. I think the true number is much higher, but I don’t have the ability to read case reports online, so I can’t tell how many cars are included in a single case report.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EupY8H1FiRBz9_xj7Ud7e6UpZsQFSqKMvysyZo3BCis/edit?usp=sharing

Based on this data, I put together a proposal for trailhead security, including a volunteer trailhead lookout program— sort of like neighborhood watch but for trailheads. See here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o4_pVWld33IVmbg3rTmIXvknhhc9nVBWtPG0GdSSUT4/edit?usp=sharing

We now have to convince the land managers (King County Parks, Bellevue Parks, WA State DNR) and law enforcement (KCSO, Bellevue PD, etc.) to do something.

Anyway, while this trail is wonderful, the frequent smash and grabs at the parking lot are not. Until the County does something to address the problem, I cannot recommend parking a car here. I'm going to rely on family or Uber/Lyft drivers to get me to/from this trailhead.