In order to fully delve into the craziness that was today, I have to start at the beginning. I downloaded an app called Meetup a while back, which brings together all sorts of people with the same hobbies and interests. I immediately joined several hiking-related groups in the Seattle region, and quickly found a hike I was interested in–an 11.4 mile round-trip trek on Wright Mountain*. The hike is described on wta.com as being “a scramble up a peak near Snow Lake,” which is something I had never done before. The requirements to RSVP included traction (microspikes, crampons, snowshoes, etc.), trekking poles, pants that allow for glissading down snowy slopes, and being in good physical shape. Meeting all but one of these, I signed up and planned on buying snow pants, which I ended up purchasing the day before the hike from a nice lady on Offer Up (Burton DryRides for $80).

Fast-forward to this morning at the Bellevue Park and Ride where I found the crew ready to go. I confirmed it was the Meetup headed to Wright Mountain and we got into our carpool groups, but by the time we arrived at the trailhead, I was certain this group was not headed to Wright Mountain. The person I had asked at the Park and Ride must not have heard me correctly–I was on the wrong trip! I didn’t want to ask my driver to turn back, and I was definitely too late to join the Wright Mountain hike anyway, so I went with it (if you were on today’s SOA Coal Creek Falls Meetup, now you know the real reason my bag was so heavy!). So, if you ever do a hiking meetup, triple check that the hike you’re joining is the correct one.

Cougar Mountain’s Coal Creek Falls and the surrounding trails were beautiful, although I would give the hike an overall 3/10 compared to the other options in the Snoqualmie region. In terms of difficulty, Coal Creek was extremely easy and I would recommend the trek to families with small children–in fact, we saw quite a few couples with kids playing in the creek at the waterfall. My main suggestion for anyone planning on hiking around Coal Creek Falls is to bring a map–despite the clear signage on the trails, they can still be confusing! All in all, despite the mix-up, I had a great time with this fun group of hikers on the easy 6-mile trek around Cougar Mountain!

These falls are best in winter, and will dry up in the hot, summer months.

Beautiful ferns covered the floor of the forest.

If you want to check out the pretty awesome hike I was supposed to do today, click here.