This past weekend we noticed that trees have started putting on their fall colors...but trees seem to start turning at low elevations before they do higher up. Let's go have a look, in the Cougar area, where there are a good variety of types of trees.
We'll start from the Issaquah Transit Center, enter Cougar via the newish Big Tree Ridge trailhead (on Newport Way NW), and head up to the top: west on Big Tree Ridge, west on Red Cedars, west on Surprise Creek, west on Shangri La trail. We'll peek at the Million Dollar View Pergola (ironic naming, IMO) and where the peak is supposed to be (hard to tell, as it's flat).
Then we'll head south on the Harvey Manning trail, east on Cougar Pass, south on Tibbets Marsh trails to the Clay Pit Road. We can do an optional detour to see the coal mine air shaft. If the weather seems dry enough, we can shove through the end of the East Fork trail, that is a shortcut to an abandoned part of the service road at the Clay Pit, else we'll backtrack and take the maintained part of the road. (The part of the service road that connects to the East Fork trail is sometimes squishy.)
The Clay Pit was a former clay mine, run by the Mutual Materials Company / Newcastle Brick Works. Bricks for Red Square on the UW Seattle campus were made from this clay. King County purchased the land from the company. Restoration work started in 2015. We've been visiting each year, to see how recovery is progressing. The headline image is from our most recent visit -- those small trees are new.
We'll return via Tibbetts Marsh, West Tibbetts Creek, Bear Ridge, and Talus Bridge trails, to the south end of the Talus neighborhood, then some trails within Talus, which has a surprising amount of forested trails tucked in among the residential areas, then back to the transit center.
We can stop for lunch either at the Cougar Peak (where there are benches, but this may be a bit early for lunch), or at the Clay Pit (where there are a number of convenient rocks, but no-place to sit as a group).
This is about 8.5 miles, 2000 ft elevation gain.
Logistics:
If you RSVP yes, and decide not to go, please change your RSVP! If it is too late to change the RSVP, post a comment. It is really helpful to have an accurate count!
Use comments here to coordinate, so anyone can see and respond. On on the hike, we'll try to stay together. We may want to share phone numbers, as SMS messages often work when no other access does.
Bring water, food for lunch, snacks. There is a porta potty at the trailhead and at the peak and a restroom near the end of the hike.
Nothing technical, but hiking shoes or boots with good traction are recommended. Some weather forecasts show a chance of sprinkles in the morning, so be prepared for possible damp air.
All the trails are shown on OpenStreetMap (OSM, https://www.openstreetmap.org), and on apps and websites that use OSM data. The free version of the OSMAnd app (for both Android and iPhone) works fine -- install it and download the Washington state map beforehand, while connected to WiFi, to avoid using a lot of data -- this lets you use the map while offline. Google Maps does not have all the trails.
Bus riders: Several buses stop at the Issaquah Transit Center, e.g. #203 (from South Bellevue Station, or from Issaquah Highlands), #271 (from the U District and downtown Bellevue), #554 (from Seattle, or from Issaquah Highlands).
Meet at the south tip of the bus passenger loading area at the Issaquah Transit Center.
Drivers: There is parking at the Issaquah Transit Center. Come out to the bus passenger loading area. There is a small amount of parking at the Big Tree Ridge trailhead. Please post a comment if you are going there, but be warned that it may fill up.
