Yesterday, 6/29, Anti-Aircraft Peak Trailhead at King County’s Cougar Mountain Wildland Park was renamed in honor of Harvey Manning, the longtime open space advocate and hiking guidebook author. Cougar Mountain is the westernmost outpost of the “Issaquah Alps” – a phrase Manning coined. He was a founding member of the Issaquah Alps Trails Club, and served as their first president. Club representatives were on-hand at the trailhead dedication ceremony, as were King County Senior Deputy Executive Fred Jarrett, former Executive Randy Revelle, and Larry Phillips, former King County Council member and a longtime open-space advocate who worked with Harvey Manning on a number of occasions.

The trailhead is equipped with a large parking lot, bathrooms, trail maps and access to a variety of trails. Manning is credited with the discovery of Coal Creek Falls- the luscious flowing waterfalls in the heart of Cougar Mountain. This is a great hike to take in the natural beauty that Manning devoted his life to preserving. Without his hard work and advocacy we might not have had access to these beautiful open spaces such as Cougar Mountain.

Directions to Coal Creeks Falls from Harvey Manning Trailhead: From the parking lot, walk 0.1 MI on the Shangri La trail, turn right on to Harvey Manning Trail and walk for 0.7 MI, go right on to the Cougar Pass Trail, stay left and continue on to the Klondike Swamp Trail, cross Clay Pit Road, stay left onto Fred’s Railroad Trail and walk for 0.5 MI, turn right on Quarry Trail, turn right onto Coal Creek Falls Trail. Ta-dah! You’ve arrived at Coal Creek Falls! Continue on to make loop or head back the way you came. Happy hiking!

For more information on the ceremony, check out the press release.