Mines and boulders and waterfalls at Cougar

Let's visit trails in Cougar near the Red Town trailhead that we usually ignore, that have sites of past mining activity. We'll also see an obscure entrance to the Coal Creek area (via the parking lot of the Newcastle YMCA...), and a weird split boulder with the two halves leaning against each other (this was formerly nameless, but is now referred to as "Tiger Tunnel" on Google Maps). We'll stop for lunch at Coal Creek Falls, then head back to Red Town by way of more mining history. We'll return to the obscure entrance again along Coal Creek, but with a slightly different route.

Here's an approximate route (Google Maps doesn't know about that "slightly different route"). It's about 8 miles, a bit over 1000 ft elevation gain.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Pm9aQeaePybSM6uj6

Hat tip to the Issaquah Alps Trails Club for posting a list of the mining sites, as part of a geology hike they're doing -- look for links to a map and an article on the geology of Cougar here:
https://www.issaquahalps.org/hikesandevents/2026/05/16/alps-geology-underfoot-at-red-town-on-cougar-mtn

(This is a replacement for the canceled visit to the ceramic teddy bear geocache, since I won't get the trinkets to put in the geocache til the end of the month...)

Logistics

Bring water, lunch, snacks. Most trails are in very good condition but hiking boots or hiking shoes with good traction are recommended, especially if you want to climb on the boulders. There is no source of clean water, recommend bringing 2 liters / quarts or a water filter.

Weather forecast is for partly sunny, high temperature around 60 deg F.

We'll meet at the South Bellevue Link station in time to catch the #240 Renton bus that is scheduled to leave from bus bay 2 at 9:38am. This shows where the bus stop is -- it's under the Link tracks, and west of the parking structure:
https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/12117095636#map=18/47.586629/-122.189974

Bus riders: Multiple buses and Link Line 2 serve South Bellevue station. There are Line 2 trains from both directions arriving at 9:30am. If that's on time, you should be able to scurry downstairs in time to catch the 9:38am #240 Renton. I'm paranoid, so might try for an earlier train. Caution: Google Maps sometimes cannot find bus bay 2, so it will tell you to walk to the next stop. Don't do that. Or use King County Tripplanner instead.
https://tripplanner.kingcounty.gov/#/app/tripplanning

Drivers: South Bellevue station has a large parking structure. Leave enough time to find the bus stop.

Use comments for coordination, so anyone can see them and reply.

If you sign up and then can't go, please change your RSVP or post in the comments -- thanks!