Weather forecasts show upcoming temperatures oscillating between nice for hiking and whoa that's hot. August 1 is a bit far out for a reliable forecast, so let's do something with no views whatsoever! and shady tree cover (almost) the whole way! I mean it -- there are two peaks, and no views, and no hot sun, I promise. Ok, ok, we have to cross two streets where we're out in the sun, and our end point has sun, but (almost) the entire hike is under trees (except one stretch without trees but with...see below). Our route has lots of little detours for various points of interest that are typically skipped. This also continues our series showing how we can use transit to enter one trailhead and come out somewhere completely different. So...
We'll take Trailhead Direct Issaquah Alps to the Margaret's Way trailhead...but we'll turn around and go the opposite way. At this point, we are just a bit south of Issaquah. We'll dodge traffic to cross SR 900, and actually start from the Jim Whittaker Wilderness trailhead. We'll go up the Whittaker Wilderness Peak and Gombu Wilderness Cliffs trails to Jim Whittaker Wilderness Peak, which is completely surrounded by trees. In the past, we've found red huckleberries and trailing blackberries here.
The peak is named for Jim Whittaker, who was the first American to summit Mt Everest. His climbing partner was Sherpa Nawang Gombu. Whittaker was one of the founders of REI. Whittaker passed away in April.
We'll head down again, to Shy Bear Pass, turn west on Long View Peak trail, and take a short spur trail to Long View Peak...which used to have a long view, but now is tree-covered. We'll continue west on the Deceiver trail, and detour to see if Doughty Falls has any water -- this has a recently rebuilt viewing area. Back to the Deceiver trail, west again, continue west on Shy Bear trail to the Far Country Lookout.
Somewhere along here is the one longer stretch without shade...but both sides of the trail are covered with trailing blackberry vines. These are, IMO, the best blackberries. When fully ripe, they are caramel flavored. But they are not very prolific so these are not available commercially.
Far Country Lookout has a view to the west, but there are trees overhead. We'll stop here for lunch.
Once upon a time, there was a geocache at Far Country Lookout. When we did this hike last year, we found that the geocache was, sadly, gone. However, one of our hikers had the Geocaching app, and saw another nearby cache, just a short way south and east. He read the backstory for the geocache, which involved a bear encounter and a vigilant hiker warning folks away. We didn't have an exact location, but as we were scouting around, I saw an interesting tree, and thought, if I were placing a geocache, I'd put it in that tree. And sure enough, there it was. In honor of the vigilant bear-warning hiker, the cache is...a ceramic teddy bear. We'll take the short detour over to find the cache again. I have a lot of little teddy bear charms to place in the cache, and a new logbook and pens.
Then we'll go west on the Far Country trail, north on Indian trail, with a detour to Far Country Falls. A short way further north north, then west on the De Leo Wall trail. Where that trail turns sharply northeast, we'll continue on the Viewpoint #2 trail, and actually go have a look at the viewpoint. Then we'll come back to the junction with what used to be our Secret Trail, but is not so secret any more, and even has a name and signpost! It's now called the Cougar Access trail. That will take us down to an abandoned and derelict cabin, that we've been watching slowly disintegrate over years of visits.
Now we're down in suburbs of Newcastle. We'll follow the Highlands trail south then west...and come to a screeching halt when we find ourselves next to big patches of Himalayan blackberries. These are the invasive blackberries (introduced here for commercial production) that we're supposed to control, so we'll do our Civic Duty by picking the berries so they don't spread. Since these are near a residential area, it may be good to wash them before eating, so bring containers -- can take the berries home, or wash them at the end of the hike.
Then we'll cross Coal Creek Parkway, and down to the May Creek trail. We'll follow its twists and turns to the Waterline trail, which will take us north into Lake Boren Park.
So, we start from a Squak trailhead (Margaret's Way), near Issaquah, cross through Cougar, and come out in Newcastle.
From Lake Boren Park, we can catch the #240 bus, which heads north to Bellevue, or south to Renton. The #240 to Bellevue also stops at Eastgate (where folks can transfer to the #554) and South Bellevue (transfer to Link #2).
This is about 7.5 miles, 1800 ft elevation gain. Just up to Wilderness Peak is about 1.4 miles, 1230 ft elevation gain.
Links:
Jim Whittaker: https://www.seattletimes.com/life/outdoors/jim-whittaker-wa-mountaineer-who-was-first-american-to-summit-everest-dies-at-97/
Weather: https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/@5791077/ext
Trailhead Direct Issaquah Alps: https://trailheaddirect.org/issaquah-alps-2025/
Logistics:
Bring plenty of water, lunch, snacks. Hiking shoes or boots are appropriate. Keep an eye on weather forecasts. If you want to pick berries to take home (or wash before eating), bring a non-squishable container.
The start time is at South Bellevue Station, to catch the Trailhead Direct bus that leaves there at 9:11am. The end time is a wild estimate. The actual end time will depend on how long we spend picking berries, and where we each need to get to.
The Trailhead Direct bus we're taking leaves Mt Baker TC at 9am, South Bellevue Station bay 2 at 9:11am, Issaquah TC bay 5 at 9:25am -- for safety, be at the stop 5 min early.
Drivers: South Bellevue Station and Issaquah Transit Center have parking. South Bellevue is more convenient, as getting back to Issaquah would take two buses and a complicated transfer at Eastgate. Do not try to park at the Margaret's Way trailhead -- you may not be able to get back there by bus at the end.
Use comments here to coordinate (do not use "event chat", whatever that is, or direct messages).
