Hike to Coal Creek Falls

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of the scenery up here in the Pacific Northwest. The evergreen trees (they’re green all year, duh) are cool, but even all the dead trees are beautiful because a lot of them are covered in bright green moss. I remember thinking how beautiful the green moss was when we visited the Hoh Rainforest in 2012, and how different is was from the Spanish Moss we have in Florida. There’s a lot of different waterfalls and hikes up here near Seattle, too.

The other day, I noticed the weather forecast showed no rain for a few days, so I knew I wanted to get outside. So, I went on my first solo hike and went up to Coal Creek Falls in the Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park. Well, “solo” as in while baby wearing, of course. Cougar Mountain was used for coal mining from the mid-1800s to mod-1900s. They had signs along the trail for “cave holes” from during the time, that could obviously be dangerous, so it’s a good idea to stay on the path.

Moss. Bears. Waterfall.

The hike to Coal Creek Falls is 2.5 miles roundtrip, and requires a fairly steep hike up on the way there. Granted, I’m out of shape and was wearing a 20lb baby, so it probably felt much steeper to me. It looked like there were a lot of different trails in the park, but we just stuck to the path to the falls. You have to pay attention to the signage though because you hop onto a few different trails to get to the waterfall. I didn’t notice any signs specifically for the falls, but the Washington Trail Association website was helpful in showing how to get there and which trails to take.

Aside from it being a steep hike up, there were some parts where the path got kind of narrow and dropped off on the side. I read that it’s a good hike for families, but it seemed a little dangerous for small children. Between that and the cave holes i mentioned earlier, I would recommend bringing older kids that listen and are more aware of their surroundings.

The waterfall is only flowing during rainy season, so don’t expect to see it during the summer because it’ll be dried up. I guess it used to be known as a pretty muddy hike, but they fixed it a few years ago, and it isn’t as bad. Although, I did start to slide going downhill once, so I just quickly jogged down to a less muddy area.

Dress for the weather

I’m still trying to figure out this cold weather gear thing, for me AND the kids. Babywearing keeps my torso warm, but our limbs still get cold. Walking up the hill, I was sweating in my jacket bc it was like a workout. But walking down, I was happy to have my jacket. And I never know if I have the kids dressed too heavily or too lightly. But I’m sure we’ll figure out what works for us eventually; just in time for summer, if I had to guess. Lol.

There’s so many waterfalls up here, I’ve made a list of our favorite family friendly waterfall hikes, you can read it here. Another one of my waterfall posts is about Snoqualmie Falls (read that post here).

Do you have a favorite hiking spot? Bonus points if it’s in the Pacific Northwest 😉

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