Where do you start a Coal Creek walk when the trailhead on Coal Creek Parkway has a construction fence across it and a tunneling machine working 120 feet below? From Newcastle, the closest answer is a small parking area on Newcastle Golf Club Road. The answer won't change soon. The Washington Trails Association says the Red Cedar Trailhead will be closed for several years while King County finishes its sewer upgrade.
The Cinder Mine Trailhead is in Newcastle. It leads straight to the east end of Coal Creek Trail, where you'll find the waterfalls, the mine airshaft and the old rail turntable. For the next few fall and winter seasons, Coal Creek's natural starting point is Newcastle's own trailhead.
What's happening under the old trailhead
King County's Coal Creek Sewer Upgrade replaces a regional sewer line that serves Bellevue and Newcastle. The existing pipe was built between 1966 and 1991 and has reached its maximum capacity. The project adds about 2 miles of new pipe and moves the active line away from Coal Creek's environmentally sensitive areas.
In its October 2026 update, the county says tunneling is running around the clock at the Red Cedar Trailhead in Bellevue. That means temporary lane closures and construction traffic on Coal Creek Parkway SE, plus normal construction noise during work hours. The trailhead is closed, and the county directs trail users to the Forest Drive, Red Town, Cinder Mine and other trailheads. WTA adds that some trail sections near Red Cedar are closed too, and asks hikers to follow posted detours and stay out of fenced areas and off the creek bank.
The closure does end. According to WTA, the county's contractor will restore the natural area after construction, and the rebuilt Red Cedar Trailhead will keep its look and feel while becoming more accessible to visitors of all abilities. Until then, the creek is reached from the other end.
The Cinder Mine route, step by step
The City of Bellevue's Coal Creek Natural Area page lists the Cinder Mine Trailhead at 15484 Newcastle Golf Club Road in Newcastle, part of a trail system of about 4.5 miles. An older city page gives a slightly different street number, so look for the trailhead signs as you drive in rather than relying only on the address.
WTA's Coal Creek Trail guide calls Cinder Mine a newly built 0.3-mile trail from the parking area down to the main route. From there, a short walk passes some of the area's best features:
- North Fork Falls. At the bottom of the Cinder Mine Trail, turn right onto Coal Creek Trail. The falls appear on your left in about 0.2 miles, with wooden benches at the spur.
- The mine airshaft and kiosk. Head east toward Lakemont Boulevard to reach an information kiosk on the railroad and coal mining that went on here from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s. Across from it is a coal mine airshaft that reaches more than 500 feet below sea level, along with a 0.1-mile interpretive trail.
- The locomotive turntable footing. Head west instead, and about 400 feet past the Cinder Mine sign you'll see a square cement footing roughly 8 by 8 feet. It once held a turntable that turned locomotives 180 degrees.
- Primrose Trail and Sandstone Falls. Keep going west, climbing a staircase and then following a gravel road. At a signed junction, the Primrose Trail follows Coal Creek closely, crosses a large wooden bridge and passes Sandstone Falls. It rejoins Coal Creek Trail after about 0.7 miles and adds only about 0.1 mile.
WTA's own tip lines up with the closure. Its guide recommends starting from the east, at the Red Town or Cinder Mine trailheads, if you want the abandoned mine, North Fork Falls, the turntable site and the Primrose Trail. The west side, near Coal Creek Parkway, is better for wading spots along the creek. The Red Cedar closure affects the west-side lot, so the east-end highlights are still reachable from Cinder Mine and Red Town.
When Cinder Mine is full, or you want a longer day
The Cinder Mine lot is small. WTA describes it as a small parking area. Each of the other open trailheads suits a different kind of outing.
| Trailhead | Where | Parking | What it reaches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cinder Mine | Newcastle Golf Club Road, Newcastle | Small lot | North Fork Falls, turntable site, Primrose Trail |
| Red Town | Lakemont Boulevard SE, Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park | About 35 cars; fills on fair-weather weekends | Wildside and Red Town loops, Ford Slope and Steam Hoist exhibits, Coal Creek Falls |
| Forest Drive | East of Coal Creek Parkway SE and Forest Drive SE | Limited, per a 2025 county notice | Middle of Coal Creek Trail, creek access points, Washout Way area |
| Coal Creek Family YMCA | Listed by WTA as an open trailhead | Parking available | Coal Creek Trail network |
Red Town is the bigger outing. From that lot, the Wildside and Red Town trails form short loops past mining-era artifacts and the Ford Slope and Steam Hoist exhibits. The longer Wildside route continues to De Leo Wall and Far Country Falls. WTA lists Coal Creek Falls, reached from the Red Town and Cave Hole trails, as a 2.5-mile round trip with 416 feet of elevation gain. If the Red Town lot is full on a dry Saturday, Cinder Mine is the closest alternative, and the two connect along Coal Creek Trail.
Forest Drive is the way to reach the part of the creek the closure made harder to get to. WTA's guide describes a wide, flat stretch with shallow creek access points about 2.5 miles from the Red Town end, with signs for Forest Drive and the Washout Way Trail nearby. Starting at Forest Drive puts you near that section without the walk from the east.
Trail conditions this fall
A September 26 WTA trip report noted a large downed maple across Coal Creek Trail about 1,500 feet south of its junction with a Bellevue neighborhood access trail. If you're walking that section, plan on stepping over or around it unless it's been cleared since.
Closer to home, a September 24 WTA report found the Waterline, May Creek, Highlands, Terrace and CrossTown segments dry and hard-packed, and the Lake Boren Park restrooms open and clean. The Waterline Trail is listed as open by Newcastle Trails and runs past Lake Boren Park to May Creek Park. That makes it the easiest no-drive option when you don't want to deal with Coal Creek Parkway at all.
One in-town gap remains. The city had scheduled the Hazelwood Park boardwalk replacement on the CrossTown Trail for August into early October. Newcastle Trails still shows the 3.3-mile CrossTown route as "Open with Trail Notice," with a temporary construction closure at the boardwalk. Expect a detour at Hazelwood if your loop uses that section.
Driving to the trailhead through the paving work
Your drive to Cinder Mine runs through Newcastle's pavement overlay program. Site #4 covers Newcastle Way from 128th Pl SE to Newcastle Golf Club Road, and Site #5 covers Coal Creek Parkway SE from Newcastle Way to the north city limit. The city scheduled paving on those sites for the week of September 28. Its mid-October updates list utility-cover adjustments continuing at Sites #4 and #5 and permanent signing underway at all sites. The final phase also includes repainting lane striping and adding the sensors that help traffic signals detect vehicles, and the city expects that work to wrap up the week of November 17, weather permitting. North of the city line, the county's tunneling work keeps temporary lane closures on Coal Creek Parkway SE in play. For a Cinder Mine start, coming in from Newcastle Way keeps you off the stretch of Coal Creek Parkway next to the construction site.
What's on the trail calendar through December
October 31 is the busy day, with three things happening:
- Pumpkins in the Parks wraps up. The all-ages scavenger hunt through Newcastle city parks runs October 6 through 31, with clue sheets online or at City Hall.
- Attack of the Blackberry Root Ball begins at Lake Boren Park. It's a two-part volunteer event: invasive blackberry removal on October 31, then tree planting on November 7. No registration is required.
- The Cougar Mountain Trail Run Series is scheduled at the Sky Country Trailhead. It's a race, so expect more cars on that side of the park.
On November 7 and December 5, Bellevue Parks runs free ranger-led walks of about 1.5 miles at Lewis Creek Park. They meet at the Lewis Creek Visitor Center, 5808 Lakemont Blvd SE, and advance registration is required. From December 1 through 31, the city's Lights of Newcastle contest invites residents to enter holiday displays on their homes, yards and balconies.
For more trail ideas close to home, our Newcastle weekend guide from Cougar Mountain to Lake Boren and our look at everyday life in Newcastle cover the rest of the city's outdoor routine.
At Stephen Snee, we keep track of the changes that shape daily life in each neighborhood we serve, from a trailhead closing for years to a road project finishing up. If you'd like to talk about how projects like the Coal Creek sewer upgrade fit into the bigger picture for Newcastle, let's connect.
