I had all kinds of hiking plans for my brief Seattle visit, but then life got in the way. If the weather cooperated (which it often didn’t), my hiking buddies either had to work or participate in weddings. Finally, Jae and I decided to venture out into the mountains on a promising Friday morning.

Only it was a late morning. We both had a long week and had a hard time getting an early start. By the time we finally hit the road, we decided against a two-hour drive in favor of a short hop and a skip away to Cougar/Squak Mountain.

To get to Cougar (or Squak; two different mountains, right next to each other, sharing the same park and many of the same trails) Mountain from South Seattle, you don’t even need to get on the highway.

Lots of trails here, but not a whole lot of views.

Margaret’s Way (one of the many trails you can take in this particular King County park) is well marked.

And it’s a pretty trail.

What it lacks though, is a destination.

At some point, we got to the top of the West Peak, marked with the rubble of a former cabin or a shed and nothing else. There was a sign for a viewpoint, but we meandered for a while and didn’t find it. We then tried to look for the Bullitt Fireplace, but it was either badly marked or it moved, because it promised to be at .3 miles, but then at .3 miles we saw another sign telling us we had another .6 miles to go.

Anyways, if you’re looking for magnificent views, breathtaking waterfalls or alpine lakes, this is not a good trail for any of those things. But if you want to see a happy dog sprint back and forth on well-maintained trails, Margaret’s Way on Cougar/Squak Mountain will do very well.

To get to Cougar/Squak Mountain, go to Renton and look it up on your phone. It’s somewhere there. There is no fee for parking in the lot.

8.1 hiking miles (13.1 km), 2175 ft of elevation (663 m).

YTD Hiking Miles: 28.1