We took a short hike today at the Coal Creek Loop on the western side of Cougar Mountain near Bellevue, WA. It was quite cloudy in the beginning making for a green but gloomy start.

Coal Creek Park is a 72-acre green space. It is known for its scenic beauty, lush forests, and the tranquil Coal Creek that runs through it. I used AllTrails to find it and it was promised to be about a 3.5 mile loop with about a 600 elevation gain. I have this weird thing where my calf muscles aren’t the right length. It’s not a stretching thing, it’s a genetic thing. It causes my foot to not be able to flex enough so the beginning of a hike can be painful until my feet decide that I’m not kidding. This hike started out pretty steadily uphill, too! That just makes it worse. But everything loosened up eventually!

Robert is always very patient. I know that he could plow ahead but he waits for me. 🙂

The waterfall picture on AllTrails showed a full on flowy waterfall. What we witnessed was more like a trickle.

There was, of course, a few flowers, lots of greenery, and a wonderful thistle!

There was a fantastic stone structure. My imagination tells me that it is a giant geode that has lost its crystals. I can imagine what it would look like if it was a geode filled with sparkling crystals and taller than I can reach! But alas, it was just a fun rock.

I think this would be an amazing spot to do a wedding shoot! If I was a real photographer. We took a selfie in front of the structure but it doesn’t really show the rock off well.

The trail was at times very well defined and sometimes rough. I liked that they just let this tree grow right in the middle!

This pretty robin redbreast posed nicely for us as we finished up the hike.

It was 3.5 miles and ended up being a 705 ft. gain according to my app. There are still a lot of trails to explore!

Thanks for reading to the end! If you want to see all the photos, they’re over at flickr linked below.

Peace,

Terri

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