09-27-25
Gary
was back from his Europe trip and I almost finished painting my house.
We planned a Saturday hike. We hoped for a fall colors hike but
overcast, possible smoke, and some showers made planning difficult. In
addition, Westbound I-90 had only one lane open through Issaquah. We
settled on a close in hike. In January 2024 we did a 12 mile loop over
Squak Mountain. We planned a variation of that trip. We were out of
Seattle by 7:00 am and reached the Margaret's Way parking lot at 7:30
am. There were a few cars in the lot. It was a chilly 53 degrees but it
warmed up nicely. The trail and road through the old campground is
pretty steep. We set a moderately fast pace as we warmed up. There were
leaves that had fallen on the trail and many that were green and still
on the trees. We stopped briefly at the first viewpoint. The sky was
blue but our view was mostly to the southwest. The second viewpoint
provided a bit larger view. The southern Olympic Mountains were in
sight but it was very hazy below them. The fire at Staircase near Lake
Cushman has been burning for months. We were quickly back on our way.
Unlike most of the trip we do in the Issaquah Alps, we only hike Margaret's Way about once a year. While the trail is familiar, we don't have a lot of landmarks memorized to tell us exactly where we are. It does make it more interesting. The trail climbs to a junction on a ridge top. Straight ahead is the Chybinski Trail that drops down the north side of Squak Mountain. That would end up being our way back on our loop. Right goes to Debbie's View, West Peak, and down to the Bullitt Fireplace Trail. We turned right and headed for Debbie's View. We arrived there at 9:15 am after covering 3.6 miles. To the south Mt. Rainier had a cloud cap on top and lower clouds around more the mountain. Overhead, it was blue sky. Our stay was short and then we were back on our way. We still had not decided our our route. Earlier this spring, John and I did a loop over West Peak but we wanted a little longer trip. We turned right and began to descend on the Perimeter Trail. This took us down to the Bullitt Gorge Trail coming up from the state park trailhead. We then climbed up to the road/trail that goes to the Bullitt Fireplace. Unlike most of our hikes, this one did not just go uphill to a high point and then down. We had ups and downs all day long.
We stopped briefly at the Fireplace. That is what's left of the Bullitt cabin. We took the ridge route over to Central Peak. At just over 2000', Central Peak is the highest point on Squak Mountain. It was now 10:18 am am and time for brunch. We had traveled 5.1 miles so far. A few years ago there was a narrow gap in the forest to provide a view of Seattle. It is now completely gone. On previous trips we have dropped down the north side of Squak on the Central Peak Trail. This time we had a different idea. A huge windstorm last November took down hundreds of trees on Squak Mountain. Most trails were closed until the trees could be cut out on the trails. We did a hike right after the Sunrise Place trail was opened. We went up the Old Griz Trail. It was devastated by the storm. Many big logs had been cut out and forest turned to open space as so many trees fell. There were still a few trees to go over at that time. We wanted to see what the Phil's Creek and Old Griz trails look like now.
We dropped down the gravel road to the very steep Summit Trail. It was completely cleared. At the bottom we turned left on Phil's Creek Trail. It was fine to hike though there were a lot of trees cut out. It used to be all forest and now there are many views out to Tiger Mountain. That brought us to the bottom of the Old Griz Trail. That was probably our favorite trail on Squak Mountain. It had big trees, moss, and a most interesting route. Now it is much different. A section of forest now looks more like a clearcut. Lots of big trees fell over in the wind. On the positive side, it is now all cleared and easy to hike. There is some trail repair needed as big root balls have pulled out of the ground leaving some big holes in the trail. None are hard to get around. At the top of Old Griz were were once again very close to the top of Central Peak. We turned right and soon right again on the Central Peak Trail. Rather than following it to the Bullitt Fireplace Trail which is a rocky road, we turned right on the trail that drops to the East Side Trail. This parallels the Bullitt Fireplace trail but on a narrow dirt trail. It was good except for several small trees down across it. They were easy to get over. At the bottom we turned left and headed for the bottom of the Chybinski Trail.
The Chybinski would be our last climb of the day. It is a fairly new trail that is very moderately graded and easy to go up or down. This brought us up to the top of Margaret's Way Trail. Our lollipop loop was competed. Now we just had to retrace our route back to the car. One of the most unexpected parts of this trip was that we kept finding bleeding hearts and spring beauty together in many places on our route. That would be expected in April through June but not at the end of September. They were in full bloom months later than usual. We also saw some fireweed and foxglove in bloom. The bloom later but not usually in late September. We had some good vine maple fall colors and some spring wildflowers.
Our route down was easy enough though we started to feel the distance once past 10 miles. We stopped again at the lower two viewpoints. They were out in the now very warm sunshine but the views were hazier than in the morning. We saw some people off and on all day but it was never at all crowded. We saw more groups in the last mile+. We reached the parking lot at 2:15 pm. The lot was now mostly full. It was now in the low 70s and quite comfortable. Our drive home was not much of a problem. For the day we hiked 12 miles with 3200' of elevation gain. That is not bad when you consider that we started at about 370' and the highest point was about 2020'. Our elevation gain was just about twice the net gain from low to high. Like I said, there were lots of ups and downs. For the day we had clean air, minimal traffic problems, not a sign of rain, and sunny sky. We did not get the fall color bonanza but we had a very nice fall hike.
Click on thumbnails to get larger pictures.
Trips - 2025
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Unlike most of the trip we do in the Issaquah Alps, we only hike Margaret's Way about once a year. While the trail is familiar, we don't have a lot of landmarks memorized to tell us exactly where we are. It does make it more interesting. The trail climbs to a junction on a ridge top. Straight ahead is the Chybinski Trail that drops down the north side of Squak Mountain. That would end up being our way back on our loop. Right goes to Debbie's View, West Peak, and down to the Bullitt Fireplace Trail. We turned right and headed for Debbie's View. We arrived there at 9:15 am after covering 3.6 miles. To the south Mt. Rainier had a cloud cap on top and lower clouds around more the mountain. Overhead, it was blue sky. Our stay was short and then we were back on our way. We still had not decided our our route. Earlier this spring, John and I did a loop over West Peak but we wanted a little longer trip. We turned right and began to descend on the Perimeter Trail. This took us down to the Bullitt Gorge Trail coming up from the state park trailhead. We then climbed up to the road/trail that goes to the Bullitt Fireplace. Unlike most of our hikes, this one did not just go uphill to a high point and then down. We had ups and downs all day long.
We stopped briefly at the Fireplace. That is what's left of the Bullitt cabin. We took the ridge route over to Central Peak. At just over 2000', Central Peak is the highest point on Squak Mountain. It was now 10:18 am am and time for brunch. We had traveled 5.1 miles so far. A few years ago there was a narrow gap in the forest to provide a view of Seattle. It is now completely gone. On previous trips we have dropped down the north side of Squak on the Central Peak Trail. This time we had a different idea. A huge windstorm last November took down hundreds of trees on Squak Mountain. Most trails were closed until the trees could be cut out on the trails. We did a hike right after the Sunrise Place trail was opened. We went up the Old Griz Trail. It was devastated by the storm. Many big logs had been cut out and forest turned to open space as so many trees fell. There were still a few trees to go over at that time. We wanted to see what the Phil's Creek and Old Griz trails look like now.
We dropped down the gravel road to the very steep Summit Trail. It was completely cleared. At the bottom we turned left on Phil's Creek Trail. It was fine to hike though there were a lot of trees cut out. It used to be all forest and now there are many views out to Tiger Mountain. That brought us to the bottom of the Old Griz Trail. That was probably our favorite trail on Squak Mountain. It had big trees, moss, and a most interesting route. Now it is much different. A section of forest now looks more like a clearcut. Lots of big trees fell over in the wind. On the positive side, it is now all cleared and easy to hike. There is some trail repair needed as big root balls have pulled out of the ground leaving some big holes in the trail. None are hard to get around. At the top of Old Griz were were once again very close to the top of Central Peak. We turned right and soon right again on the Central Peak Trail. Rather than following it to the Bullitt Fireplace Trail which is a rocky road, we turned right on the trail that drops to the East Side Trail. This parallels the Bullitt Fireplace trail but on a narrow dirt trail. It was good except for several small trees down across it. They were easy to get over. At the bottom we turned left and headed for the bottom of the Chybinski Trail.
The Chybinski would be our last climb of the day. It is a fairly new trail that is very moderately graded and easy to go up or down. This brought us up to the top of Margaret's Way Trail. Our lollipop loop was competed. Now we just had to retrace our route back to the car. One of the most unexpected parts of this trip was that we kept finding bleeding hearts and spring beauty together in many places on our route. That would be expected in April through June but not at the end of September. They were in full bloom months later than usual. We also saw some fireweed and foxglove in bloom. The bloom later but not usually in late September. We had some good vine maple fall colors and some spring wildflowers.
Our route down was easy enough though we started to feel the distance once past 10 miles. We stopped again at the lower two viewpoints. They were out in the now very warm sunshine but the views were hazier than in the morning. We saw some people off and on all day but it was never at all crowded. We saw more groups in the last mile+. We reached the parking lot at 2:15 pm. The lot was now mostly full. It was now in the low 70s and quite comfortable. Our drive home was not much of a problem. For the day we hiked 12 miles with 3200' of elevation gain. That is not bad when you consider that we started at about 370' and the highest point was about 2020'. Our elevation gain was just about twice the net gain from low to high. Like I said, there were lots of ups and downs. For the day we had clean air, minimal traffic problems, not a sign of rain, and sunny sky. We did not get the fall color bonanza but we had a very nice fall hike.
 On The Trail |
 First Viewpoint |
 Leaves On The Trail |
 Olympics From Viewpoint |
 Great Fall Colors |
 Orange Mushroom |
 Another Mushroom |
 Smooth Trail |
 Wet Mushroom |
 Mt. Rainier |
 Neat Leaves |
 More Colors |
 Bullitt Fireplace |
 One Foxglove Flower |
 September Bleeding Hearts |
 Peak Bleeding Hearts |
 Spring Beauty |
 Colorful Leaves |
 Mossy Fungus |
 Vine Maple Colors |
 Phil's Creek Trail |
 Yellow Flowers |
 On Old Griz Trail |
 Cut Logs |
 More Logs |
 Bigger Cut Logs |
 Dark Forest No More |
 Big Shelf Fungus |
 Different Fungus |
 Small Fungus |
 Mossy Forest |
 Wide Smooth Trail |
Click on thumbnails to get larger pictures.
Trips - 2025
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