Wilderness Peak and De Leo Wall

I'm way behind on my hiking posts, so I'm going to combine these two together, since they are both on Cougar Mountain! (Sorry, all pictures are from De Leo Wall hike and all taken by Tina. I can't find my pictures!)

Wilderness Peak and De Leo Wall are both popular trails on Cougar Mountain. Wilderness Peak is located off SR 900 between Renton and Issaquah. The trail head is rather easy to miss, and I had passed by it a lot of times so luckily I knew where it was.

Old mine shaft

There are no views from the top of Wilderness Peak, but it was still a lovely hike. That went straight up, up and up! There were a few creeks to cross, and lots of bugs out, but it was still a nice after work workout. When we got up to the top, there was a register were we all signed our names and then shared some caramel waffles that Christa brought. They were delicious!

De Leo Wall was also a fun, but much easier, hike on the other side of Cougar Mountain, from the Red Town Trailhead. There was not as much elevation gain as Wilderness Peak, but the De Leo Wall trail had a lot more ups and downs. There were a few parts that were pretty steep!

Tina and a coal car!

The De Leo Wall is this rock formation that you end up standing on at an overlook. We were all expecting to see this large rock wall, when instead we ended up on top of it! The views were not that spectacular (just a bunch of houses and a water tower), but it was an easy after work hike. On the way back, I convinced the gals to stop by a waterfall that was on my map. Unfortunately, the waterfall was tiny and wasn't worth the extra trek out to it.

View from De Leo Wall

I think I would like to do both hikes again. I think running the De Leo Wall trail would be fun, but walking up Wilderness Peak is about all I would want to do!

Wilderness Peak:
Total time: 2.5 hours

Distance: 4 miles, 1200 ft 

Passes: none required
Location: 2.5 miles from I-90 on SR 900 near Issaquah, GPS: N 47 30.612, W 122 05.223

 

De Leo Wall:

Total time: 2 hours

Distance: 4 miles, 350 ft 

Passes: none required
Location: Redtown Trail Head, Cougar Mountain, GPS: N 47 32.096, W 122 07.722

 

Thanks for reading!