Coal Creek Falls Hike

Wallace Falls was the first idea but it didn't exactly happen that way. Weather! We thought it might be okay but an hour drive just to get to the trail head didn't seem like a good idea for the likelihood of being confronted by a terrential down pour. So, we decided instead to check out our very first trail adventure on Cougar Mountain. One thing we learned on this hike...Coal Creek Falls did not have any falls about it. I'm sure the nice little trickle I saw on other's pictures happen every so often but September seems to be the dry season for poor little Coal Creek Falls. Conversation was good though. We talked all about the likelihood of running into an actual cougar on Cougar Mountain. What ever would you do if you ran into a real live cougar in the wild, after shitting your pants that is? Run? Not a good idea. I think they like to chase so that probably wouldn't be a good idea. I read somewhere that you should do what you can to look bigger than the cat and make lots of noise but never ever run or block off their escape route. And if attacked, fight back like you've never fought before. A normal size cat is insane when it attacks. If you have never been through that before, it's not fun. I can't even imagine what fighting with a wild cougar would be. So of course after an hour of having this conversation and being out in the middle of Cougar Mountain, every little noise was making one of the three of us jump every few minutes. Makes me wish I could be a fly on the wall watching us three idiots freaking ourselves out. Silly. But it was a decent hike especially when you're not use to hiking. It was a good uphill sprint to get the heart rate kickin' then it turned into a narrow meander through the carved out trail system. After reaching the "Falls" it winds around a bit then starts back down the mountain. The trail down didn't seem as steep as the up though. And even though it was raining, we didn't really feel much of it as most of the trail is covered by a canopy of trees high overhead. I would recommend this trail to those of us inexperienced hiker in the area but I'd try to avoid the wild animal attack conversations. Enjoy!