Suburban Hiking in Newcastle, WA 9-4-2011

Red Town Trail, Newcastle, WA September 4, 2011

Suburban Hiking with the Family

Sign at the trailhead

Martine, Doug, and I took a break from the US Open tennis tournament to enjoy an afternoon hike in the suburbs.  The trailhead is just above the Newcastle Golf Course where Lakemont Blvd transitions into Newcastle Golf Course Rd.  The trail follows Coal Creek both up and down the creek- we chose to begin by descending.  The lovely layer of fresh beauty bark  was a clear indication of our suburban location. 

Within a few hundred feet we came upon the first sign of the former mining activities in the area.  A partially filled mine opening slopes down and away from the trail dropping about 15 to 20 feet below the general grade.

Doug above a mine opening.

There are many amenities along the trail including benches, well-maintained bridges, and signage.  Most of the trail is flat and smooth. Coal Creek is sometimes in view and at other times the trail is several hundred feet away from the water.  This time of year there is barely a trickle of water flowing but during the rainy season, the force of the water has cut down and exposed some remarkable colored rocks.

Large chunk of coal in the creek bed.

Tree curving over a bridge.

  

There is a network of interwoven trails and gravel tracks that proved tricky on the way back.  Rather than hiking to a specific destination, we decided to hike an even two miles downhill, based on my new favorite phone app: “My Tracks.” 

Coal seam dipping into the creek.

Chunk of coal.

C

Petrified Wood

Pretty view looking downstream.

Looking upstream is not so bad either!

Trees angling over the creek.

We noticed the blackberries are starting to ripen so we sampled a few along the way.  Although there were few ripe ones, they were delicious and reminded us of berry gathering under the power lines when the boys were young.  I made killer cobbler back then from a shortcake recipe on the back of a Bisquick box.  Who knows, I may revive the tradition if the mood is right.

Water tricking down an orange face.

 After we doubled back, we took a left down a gravel road but it turned out to be a fortuitous mistake.  A short distance down the road we spotted a deer enjoying the tall grass.  He watched us as we watched him until finally he strolled across the road into the trees as we approached a little too close for his comfort.  Clearly, he was accustomed to people and wasn’t very worried. 

Deer grazing in the grass.

Deer strolling across the road.

The road dropped steeply toward the creek and we scrambled down the bank to the creek itself.  The creek bed was full of boulders and layered rocks pierced the far bank.  Some of the rocks were low grade coal, others were tan-colored cylinders of petrified wood.  I pulled a chunk of finely layered low grade coal out of the stream bank as a souvenir and also brought home a piece of tan sandstone about the size of a Frisbee. 

Martine and Doug.

Beetle- true colors.

We walked back toward the main trail, took a left and continued back to the car.  A beetle caught our attention along the way.  I snapped shots in two different modes, the one with the reddish beauty bark is probably closer to true colors but I sure do like the purple shades in the other shot!

Beetle- looking cool and blue.

It is so cool to be able to hike in a beautiful spot so close to home.  Next time we’ll head up the hill.