+GrnXnham Posted June 10, 2008 Posted June 10, 2008 After hiking/caching Squak Mountain last weekend, we decided to hike some of Cougar Mountain between Renton and Issaquah next weekend. We will be meeting at the Wilderness Creek Trailhead at 9:30AM N 47° 30.612 W 122° 05.236 We were hoping to get a larger group together for this hike. So if anyone wants to do some caches in the woods and get a little exercise let us know! It looks like it will be a moderate hike of about 7 miles with 9 caches along the way. Elevation change is about 1500 feet. Quote
+Dgwphotos Posted June 10, 2008 Posted June 10, 2008 After hiking/caching Squak Mountain last weekend, we decided to hike some of Cougar Mountain between Renton and Issaquah next weekend. We will be meeting at the Wilderness Creek Trailhead at 9:30AM N 47° 30.612 W 122° 05.236 We were hoping to get a larger group together for this hike. So if anyone wants to do some caches in the woods and get a little exercise let us know! It looks like it will be a moderate hike of about 7 miles with 9 caches along the way. Elevation change is about 1500 feet. I'm planning to be up there on Saturday myself, but I'm hitting a milestone at the Coals of Newcastle cache, near Red Town. The Wilderness Creek area is a pretty steep climb, and I prefer the Red Town area myself, since that's where most of the history is. Quote
+GrnXnham Posted June 10, 2008 Author Posted June 10, 2008 After hiking/caching Squak Mountain last weekend, we decided to hike some of Cougar Mountain between Renton and Issaquah next weekend. We will be meeting at the Wilderness Creek Trailhead at 9:30AM N 47° 30.612 W 122° 05.236 We were hoping to get a larger group together for this hike. So if anyone wants to do some caches in the woods and get a little exercise let us know! It looks like it will be a moderate hike of about 7 miles with 9 caches along the way. Elevation change is about 1500 feet. I'm planning to be up there on Saturday myself, but I'm hitting a milestone at the Coals of Newcastle cache, near Red Town. The Wilderness Creek area is a pretty steep climb, and I prefer the Red Town area myself, since that's where most of the history is. We'll eventually get all of the caches in the park and it looks like there is more history around the Red Town Trailhead but more scenic views near the Wilderness Creek Trailhead. We'll probably make three trips to get all the caches in this park starting at each of the three main trailheads. Quote
+hydnsek Posted June 10, 2008 Posted June 10, 2008 (edited) I prefer the Red Town area myself, since that's where most of the history is. Plus, you can see the great results of the May 31 Cougar Mountain CITO, which is right next to Red Town parking. Before: blackberry berm by picnic area After: clearing the hillside and planting native flora We also removed a humongous pile of rocks that had been hidden under the blackberries! Edited June 10, 2008 by hydnsek Quote
+Dgwphotos Posted June 10, 2008 Posted June 10, 2008 After hiking/caching Squak Mountain last weekend, we decided to hike some of Cougar Mountain between Renton and Issaquah next weekend. We will be meeting at the Wilderness Creek Trailhead at 9:30AM N 47° 30.612 W 122° 05.236 We were hoping to get a larger group together for this hike. So if anyone wants to do some caches in the woods and get a little exercise let us know! It looks like it will be a moderate hike of about 7 miles with 9 caches along the way. Elevation change is about 1500 feet. I'm planning to be up there on Saturday myself, but I'm hitting a milestone at the Coals of Newcastle cache, near Red Town. The Wilderness Creek area is a pretty steep climb, and I prefer the Red Town area myself, since that's where most of the history is. We'll eventually get all of the caches in the park and it looks like there is more history around the Red Town Trailhead but more scenic views near the Wilderness Creek Trailhead. We'll probably make three trips to get all the caches in this park starting at each of the three main trailheads. There really isn't that many view points. All you can really see are trees. What caches are you planning to find? Quote
+GrnXnham Posted June 10, 2008 Author Posted June 10, 2008 No viewpoints? The map I got off the internet shows a couple of viewpoints along the Wilderness Cliffs trail and the Long View Peak trail. They aren't there? How about Doughty Falls? Can you view that? I've got nine caches picked out between the parking lot and the end of the Deceiver Trail-- making a loop going from Wilderness Creek trail to Deceiver to Shy Bear to Wilderness Peak to Wilderness Cliffs. Caches: Hunk O Junk Skunk Cabbage Doughty Falls Long View Peak Shy Bear Pass Black Cat Cache Wilderness Peak Wilderness Creek Rest Area Texas Loosey We haven't been to this park before but we aren't looking for the easiest hike. We want at least a little bit of a workout. It keeps us from getting FAT! Quote
+hydnsek Posted June 10, 2008 Posted June 10, 2008 (edited) No viewpoints? The map I got off the internet shows a couple of viewpoints along the Wilderness Cliffs trail and the Long View Peak trail. They aren't there? How about Doughty Falls? Can you view that? I've got nine caches picked out between the parking lot and the end of the Deceiver Trail-- making a loop going from Wilderness Creek trail to Deceiver to Shy Bear to Wilderness Peak to Wilderness Cliffs. Caches: Hunk O Junk Skunk Cabbage Doughty Falls Long View Peak Shy Bear Pass Black Cat Cache Wilderness Peak Wilderness Creek Rest Area Texas Loosey We haven't been to this park before but we aren't looking for the easiest hike. We want at least a little bit of a workout. It keeps us from getting FAT! I've either found or hidden all the caches at Cougar, plus I'm a park volunteer, so I can help ya here. There are some nice viewpoints, although Dwoodford is correct, a few vistas (like Far Country Lookout) are starting to get lost in the trees. Of your list, Long View Peak has the best view, assuming by that you mean vista. It is quite nice. Wilderness Peak doesn't have a view, and the other caches on your list are all lovely areas, but no vistas. The other two caches with really great vistas are De Leo Wall and SG #55, which aren't on your initial itinerary. Yes, you can see Doughty Falls, just like the picture on the cache page, but there's no vista. I looked at your route, and it makes good sense, esp. if you are planning multiple hikes to get all the caches in the park. To do that, you do have to do the four Wilderness area caches (Black Cat, Texas Loosey, Wilderness Creek Rest Area, Wilderness Peak). And the Wilderness Creek Trail is lovely, if steep. Add Shy Bear Pass to the four mentioned, and you have a nice loop of five caches, or make a longer loop and add the other four you mention (Long View Peak, Doughty Falls, Skunk Cabbage, Hunk o' Junk). I suspect David and I were thinking that, for a first visit to Cougar, Wilderness Creek is not quite the introduction to Cougar that the trailheads at Red Town (especially), Sky Country, or Anti-Aircraft Peak are. You could get quite a workout starting from any of those, and more caches to boot. For anyone who's interested, here's a loop of 6-8 miles, with some elevation change (less than Wilderness), that will get you 12+ caches, depending on route (you can make it longer or shorter). It showcases some of the best areas of the park, both scenic and historic (as the cache pages indicate). Start at Red Town trailhead, and do a roughly counter-clockwise loop on (primarily) the Red Town, Indian, Far Country, Shy Bear, Deceiver, Long View, Fred's Railroad, and Cave Hole trails. Along this route, you can pick up 13 caches (in order): Coals of Newcastle, Red Town Site, The Old Ballfield, Far Country Falls, Far Country Lookout, Hunk o' Junk, Doughty Falls, Long View Peak, Shy Bear Pass, Is That a Treehouse, Owl's Nest, The Fire Down Below, and My Best Cache by a Dam Site. With a couple of side trips, you can also get Skunk Cabbage and 48 Hours (or more with more side trips). When you get back, walk across the road from Red Town parking, and do the short, flattish walk to get North Creek Falls, Turntable, and Twisted Bridge - arguably the most scenic/historic half mile in the park. That's 18 caches! On another trip, you can park at Anti-Aircraft trailhead and knock off 11 caches in the NE part of the park: Radar Park, SG #55 - View Point - WOW (which does have a nice vista), Costume Cache, Davey's Great Gig in the Sky, Gnat Fest II, Jerry's Duck Pond, Goode's Corner Cache, Ode to Lamprizzle, The 39 Steps, Shangri La DVD Exchange, and optionally, The One Less Traveled (outside the park but on a connecting trail). Then, from the minor western trailhead at Summit Junction, you can do a short hike to get De Leo Wall and Balance Beam. This leaves only the four Wilderness area caches mentioned earlier, and the Big Sky Cache at Big Sky trailhead, which could be a quick detour on another hike (or a drive-by) if you don't start a hike from there. This is actually the nicest trailhead area, and you could alternatively use it to do the other loops mentioned, as it's midway on the mountain, in between the trailheads at Red Town (lower) and Anti-Aircraft Peak (higher). Wilderness Creek is the lowest trailhead, and the only one on the south side of the park. Of course, you can mix and match all of these caching routes, depending on trailhead and desired distance. If I counted right, that's 36 caches across the hikes, all in some of King County's loveliest "urban wilderness." I was gonna link all those caches, but it's easier to just link the Caching Cougar Mountain bookmark. Whatever route you choose, you'll have a wonderful hike! Edited June 10, 2008 by hydnsek Quote
+Dgwphotos Posted June 10, 2008 Posted June 10, 2008 (edited) One thing about doing Wilderness Creek first, you get the hard part over! However, it's not like the other areas are flat. When I was at Wilderness Creek during Memorial Day weekend, I saw only one place where you could see much of a view, along the Wilderness Cliffs trail though I only went up to Wilderness Peak. Edited June 10, 2008 by Dwoodford Quote
+GrnXnham Posted June 10, 2008 Author Posted June 10, 2008 I appreciate all the help from people who know the area well. We plan to find all the caches in the park throughout this summer by doing 3 or 4 trips. For this Summer, we plan to do at least one good hike per weekend and say "NO" to skirt-lifters! After we conquer Cougar Mountain, we will move on to Tiger Mountain and Taylor Mountain. Did Squak last weekend. It's part of our weight maintenance program. We've lost 120 lbs between the two of us and we plan to keep it off. Quote
+WRASTRO Posted June 11, 2008 Posted June 11, 2008 Thanks hydnsek for all of the great info! We won't be able to join in on this hike but we are hoping to be able to do all of these hikes and caches this summer. Very cool. Quote
+hydnsek Posted June 11, 2008 Posted June 11, 2008 (edited) I appreciate all the help from people who know the area well. We plan to find all the caches in the park throughout this summer by doing 3 or 4 trips. For this Summer, we plan to do at least one good hike per weekend and say "NO" to skirt-lifters! After we conquer Cougar Mountain, we will move on to Tiger Mountain and Taylor Mountain. Did Squak last weekend. It's part of our weight maintenance program. We've lost 120 lbs between the two of us and we plan to keep it off. Yer quite welcome (you too, Wrastro), and since I have yet to tackle much of Tiger or (any of) Taylor, I might be interested in joining you when you start knocking those off. Edited June 11, 2008 by hydnsek Quote
+-CacheMonkey- Posted June 11, 2008 Posted June 11, 2008 I might be game for this one. Gotta run it buy the boss, but she loves hiking so it looks good. Quote
+-CacheMonkey- Posted June 12, 2008 Posted June 12, 2008 I'm bummed!!! After running home and clearing the day with the wife, I realized that my son's got a baseball game that day. So we will not be able to attend. Hopefully we can make the Tiger and Taylor Mountain runs. My youngest Taylor would especially be interested in that! Quote
+Dgwphotos Posted June 12, 2008 Posted June 12, 2008 I may just join you anyway. 5 of those caches I haven't done. Quote
+shunra Posted June 13, 2008 Posted June 13, 2008 I did Rattlesnake two weeks ago, and have never been up on Cougar yet. I'll try to make it too! Quote
+shunra Posted June 14, 2008 Posted June 14, 2008 I did Rattlesnake two weeks ago, and have never been up on Cougar yet. I'll try to make it too! Arrgh. Sorry - it won't work. Quote
+GrnXnham Posted June 14, 2008 Author Posted June 14, 2008 I will be there. The weather looks good. We'll be there at 9:30AM tomorrow. Quote
RyaGeo Posted June 14, 2008 Posted June 14, 2008 I know it's probably too late for most folks if you're getting an early start, but I finally have a nice, tidy installer for the high-res topo maps I've been working on which should actually give you some great detail if you're hiking Cougar Mountain. They're available here: RyaGeo High-Res Garmin Topo Maps ...and if anyone gives them a shot, please let me know if you have any comments! Quote
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