Coal Creek Trail (Cougar Mountain) ~ May 17 2011

It was a gorgeous day for a hike! I am so glad that we decided to explore the Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park. We hiked the Coal Creek Trail (about 3.5 miles round trip), but will definitely be back to explore other trails in the park!

We parked at the Red Town Trailhead where there is a large parking area. You need to cross the street from the parking area to access the Coal Creek Trail. There is a mine shaft that you can see a short way down the trail. It is blocked off for safety, but there is an interpretive sign that tells a bit about all of the mining that went on in the area. Right after the mine you come to a small waterfall.

The trail was well maintained....but we did run across water and mud on the trail. A little over a mile into the trail you come out onto a service type road....take a right onto this road and follow it for about 1/4 of a mile until you see the trail on the left hand side of the road right before you get to a big bend in the road. The Coal Creek Trail is an in and out trail....so when you have walked enough, or when you reach the end of the trail, just turn around and head back. I would definitely recommend a map, especially if you are going to try some of the other trails in the park. There is a big warning sign in the parking lot that tells about all of the mining that went on in the area and the importance of staying on the trails for safety reasons.

This was a chunk of coal left from one of the mines

Here are the flowers and plants that caught my eye:

And of course my fungus pictures:

And a clown millipede that we saw.....Happy trails!