There's coal in them thar hills!

...Doesn't quite have the same ring, does it? Nevertheless, there was coal fever back in the day, especially in and near the Cascades I believe, even if it was not as romantic as gold fever. Yesterday I went hiking on the Coal Creek Trail; this will be a long post since I was there for a large part of the day. The trail is 3 miles each way, so 6 miles total. They're relatively low-impact miles, since most of the trail is relatively level with only one rough hill.

The area was mined for coal beginning in the latter half of the 19th century; the mines used electricity from a steam plant along the creak. The area was also the site for a railroad that was intended to connect Seattle to Walla Walla after the first transcontinental railroad had connected to Tacoma; this railroad, however, was never finished. The site of an abandoned farm also sits on the trail.

Disappointingly, there was not much in the way of historical ruins. There was debris of bricks in the paths, a dilapidated old shed from the farm, bits of coal tailings along the trail and the creek, some concrete from a few mining structures and an old hotel, a mine airshaft, and some bits and pieces of the railroad. It was fairly obvious that some sort of mining had gone on there once, but there was nothing really picturesque. The old shed was the most intact thing there, which wasn't saying much. Everything else was pretty subtle.

But, the natural parts of the park were pretty cool. One of the biggest highlights was the waterfall. My little book says that the rocks are this color because of iron oxide (not exactly sure what this means).

The area where the farm used to be was still clear, if overgrown.  The sun was out while I was there, and there were some dark rainclouds rimming the horizon, making for some interesting scenery:

Then, finally, the forest scenery, as most of the park was wooded. Maples - mostly bigleaf, and also vine near the creek - really predominate this park, although there are some stands of alders and other trees.

This was my first experience using a book I bought, Hiking Washington's History by Judy Bentley (my information came from that book and park signs). I'm taking a class in Pacific Northwest history this summer, and I'm excited - a large component of the class involves self-directed "field visits" where we visit historical sites and museums and do independent reading/writing about it. Just my sort of thing, and hopefully the start of many fun adventures! If I visit outdoor historical sites, I can serve two purposes at the same time: classwork and photography. Whoopee!