When I saw the weather forecast for this past weekend, I knew it would be a great day for a short warm-up hike. Looking for something close to home, we ended up deciding on Anti-Aircraft Peak in the Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, just west of Issaquah, and about a 20-minute drive from downtown Seattle. At most, the trail is 3.5 miles long with only 300 feet in elevation gain. With a few provisions stuffed in our packs and the Green Trails map for Cougar Mountain, we set off.
Directions:
From Seattle, travel on I-90 East to Exit 13. Bear right on the exit ramp, toward Lakemount. Turn right onto Lakemount Boulevard and drive 2.5 miles. Turn left onto SE Cougar Mountain Way and drive 1.2 miles to SE Cougar Mountain Drive, on the right. (This street is unmarked.) Bear right onto SE Cougar Mountain Drive and drive 1 mile, where the road will open into a parking lot at the trailhead.
While the weather forecast was spot-on, our timing was not perfect; upon arriving at the trailhead we discovered that a trail run was schedule for that morning in the park. Not to be turned away, we decided to how far we would get before running into traffic.
The trail starts out on the easy, wide Shangri-La Trail and trail junctures are well marked. The entire Anti-Aircraft Peak area has a large network of trails so choosing the length of your hike is very easy. After turning onto the Protector Trail, the path narrowed and made its way through lush forests. However, it’s advised to use bug spray, as much of the trail is surrounded by marsh and bugs are plentiful. In places, the trails were quite muddy as well, and we could see many different animal tracks. As we followed the path and turned onto Tibbetts Marsh Trail, we started to see signs of people (and trail flags for the race slated for that morning). As we reached the juncture with Anti-Aircraft Ridge Trail, we chose to continue straight and loop back towards the trailhead (as the runners had caught up with us and would be heading up that trail).
Overall, the trails are very well maintained, and the close proximity to the city makes it a great place to go for a quick hike. And for those who love to hike with their dog, the trails in Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park are open to dogs, as long as they are on leash. We’ll definitely be back to check out some of the other trails in the area, as we didn’t have the chance to explore some of the sites that give the area its name; during WWII, the area housed large guns designed to shoot down invading airplanes, and later during the Cold War, Minuteman missiles.
