President Kennedy had a bad cold.

The leader of the free world begged off public appearances in October 1962, blaming a respiratory infection. Kennedy skipped a planned appearance in Seattle to close the Century 21 World’s Fair.

Except, the president had no cold, bad or otherwise.

The discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba pushed the United States and the Soviet Union — both nuclear-armed superpowers — to the edge of annihilation. The ersatz illness provided a ruse for Kennedy to duck the limelight and address the crisis.

U.S. military installations around the globe operated at heightened alert in case a spark ignited the Cold War flashpoint.

Sidewalks that connected barracks 50 years ago at Cougar Mountain's Radar Park are among the few signs that remain of the Nike Ajax Integrated Fire Control radar site, now a King County park. By Greg Farrar

High above tiny Issaquah, anti-aircraft missiles sat poised on Cougar Mountain. Installed less than a decade earlier, the system had been devised to protect the Puget Sound region in case bombers came screaming across the Bering Strait from the Soviet Union.

The program debuted in the late 1950s as a technological triumph — the first operational, surface-to-air guided missile system used by U.S. forces.

The military positioned more than 200 Nike Ajax installations nationwide — including 13 around Puget Sound — near major cities and key military and industrial sites as a last line of defense against a Soviet air attack. The missile network defended the economic and political center of the Pacific Northwest, as well as Boeing aircraft factories, shipyards and military installations.

The mountaintop Issaquah site originated during World War II as a lookout post for incendiary balloons launched by the Japanese. The then-high-tech Nike Ajax missiles replaced radar-guided anti-aircraft guns.

Cougar Mountain remained strategically important as the conflict ended and postwar tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union hardened into the Cold War.

Ezio Nurisio, national secretary for the Nike Historical Society in Alameda, Calif., said the actual number of close calls remains unknown to civilians.

“There were many, many situations when sites were alert to potential threats that the public never knew about,” he said.

Winged victory

Project Nike, named for the winged goddess of victory in Greek mythology, germinated during the closing days of World War II. Military leaders needed a system to counter the jet aircraft developed during wartime. Jets operated at altitudes and speeds beyond the reach of traditional ground-based defenses.

The effort took on greater urgency after the U.S.S.R. developed the atomic bomb in 1949 and the mightier hydrogen bomb in 1955.

Nike Ajax missiles — sleek, more than 40 feet long and called Ajax after the legendary warrior in Greek myth — could knock enemy planes from the sky from 30 miles distant and up to 70,000 feet. Propelled by a liquid-fueled rocket, the 2,460-pound projectile reached speeds more than twice the speed of sound.

Bulky computers packed with vacuum tubes ran the guidance system: LOPAR, the radar used to acquire the target, and Target Tracking Radar. The system could handle a single target at a time, and fire a missile every 45 minutes.

The missile site at Cougar Mountain came online in 1957. Designated as Site 20, the launcher sprouted just east of 166th Way Southeast — not far from neighborhoods in nearby Bellevue. The fire-control area — complete with the radar equipment — sat atop the mountain. The military built barracks, offices and a cafeteria on the mountain, too.

Fences patrolled by armed soldiers and guard dogs kept onlookers — a more frequent sight than communist spies — at bay.

Rick Patterson, deputy to the joint chief of staff for the Washington National Guard, served as a guardsman at Nike sites in the late ’60s and early ’70s. By then, the Nike Hercules — a more advanced missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead — had supplanted the Ajax.

Despite the change in technology, secrecy remained paramount from the Ajax to Hercules eras. Regardless, Jane’s — the series of British guides to military matériel — had details.

“There was more information in Jane’s and even in the encyclopedia than I was allowed to talk about,” Patterson said.

The deterrent next door

Though the military shrouded the Cougar Mountain site in Cold War secrecy, neighbors knew the post contained sensitive equipment.

“The Army points out that a Nike site is not dangerous, but as safe as a gas station and as important to security and as much a part of the local community as the police and fire departments,” a pamphlet prepared by Project Nike contractors read.

Contemporary accounts regarded the Nike Ajax program as the pinnacle of Yankee ingenuity. A piece in the former Bellevue American newspaper billed the Nike Ajax missile as “the modern musket” and likened the guardsmen at the site to colonial minutemen.

Charlie Staggers served on Cougar Mountain as a young soldier in 1958. From the site atop the mountain, he manned radar.

The team of about 100 men slept and worked in low buildings surrounded by forest and sweeping vistas of the surrounding peaks. Staggers and others rode buses from the mountaintop down to the launcher-area cafeteria for meals. On snowy days, soldiers kept the road to the site open using a dump truck outfitted with a plow.

Soldiers trained and trained and, each year, traveled to White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to fire live missiles.

The site also made for a potential target, but residents did not complain or, at least, kept their reservations quiet.

“The only time they would have been in danger is if war had been declared,” Newcastle historian Milt Swanson said.

Megan Carlisle, archivist at the Eastside Heritage Center in Bellevue, said the lack of dissent about the proximity of the site provided “a good indication of the way the average person thought in those days.”

Matthew Seelinger, chief historian for the Army Historical Foundation in Arlington, Va., said residents treated the missiles in the neighborhood as “a necessary evil.” Memories of the Korean War and the omnipresent threat of Soviet attack shaped attitudes.

“People had a different attitude,” he said. “You couldn’t just walk in — the sites were secure — but people knew they were there.”

Cold War relics

Nowadays, only worn concrete pads dot the site. The forest, once shorn to accommodate the barracks and fire-control buildings, has encroached again.

Issaquah Alps Trails Club President Steve Williams recalled how he assisted a Boy Scout working to attain Eagle rank to develop the interpretive signs at the site. The placards remind hikers about the important role Cougar Mountain played in the Cold War. The names Radar Park and Anti-Aircraft Peak recall the past, although Williams said parkgoers sometimes fail to make the connection.

Williams, a former King County parks employee, recalled cleaning up the site after neighbors complained about motorcycle gangs and teenagers carousing in the abandoned structures.

Crews later removed the structures due to the threat from asbestos used in construction. The subterranean missile-storage facility also posed a hazard, so workers welded shut the metal hatch covers in the effort to transform the site from a military installation into a county park.

In 1965, the military started the process to transfer the land to King County. The old missile site turned out to be some of the initial pieces of modern-day Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, a forested 3,100-acre preserve.

By the time the Cuban Missile Crisis ratcheted up Cold War tensions from a simmer to a boil, the Nike Ajax missile site near Issaquah represented a program already on the wane.

The system became obsolete as intercontinental ballistic missiles turned the entire continent into a target and fighter jets supplanted ground-based defenses.

Other Nike Ajax sites around Puget Sound — Kingston, Redmond and Vashon Island — had been upgraded to handle next-generation Nike Hercules missiles, but the Issaquah facility had been deemed obsolete.

The military deactivated the Cougar Mountain site in March 1964. The entire Nike program had been pulled from service by 1979. The last line of defense remained reliable, but more advanced weaponry and détente between the United States and the Soviet Union meant the end had arrived.

“All of us saw that its day had sunset-ed,” Patterson said.

Every trip through a cavernous Costco Wholesale warehouse feels like a treasure hunt.

The company brings Dom Pérignon and Bud Light, platinum-set diamonds and scoopable cat litter, Prada handbags and Michelin tires together under the same flat roof.

Costco members line up to check out with carts full of their purchases at the flagship Issaquah warehouse. By Greg Farrar

The quest has been carefully designed for shoppers — 57.4 million Costco members worldwide. Shoppers must traverse vast retail plains and scan the jungle of exposed metal shelves for bargains in order to find loot — discounted Ugg boots, say, or smoked salmon.

Inside the Issaquah warehouse, customers hunt for deals in a retail ecosystem spread across 155,000 square feet. Costco cachet knows no class, no income. Part of the appeal, executives and industry watchers said, stems from the treasure hunt concept. Shoppers return to Costco for basics, yes, but also for the thrill of a surprise bargain.

“No matter what level of economic strata you are, you like good stuff,” company Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said. “Now, sometimes you have to choose to buy the chicken versus the steak, but the fact is, we’ve got some great stuff.”

The philosophy has made the Issaquah-based company the third largest retailer in the United States, the eighth largest on the planet and No. 25 on the Fortune 500.

The average Costco in the United States pulls in just under $140 million in sales per year. The closest rival, Wal-Mart wholesaler Sam’s Club, rakes in about half as much per warehouse.

Costco — the empire built upon limited selection, generous sizes and a frills-free atmosphere — employs 2,700 people in Issaquah, more than any other business.

CEO Jim Sinegal, a company cofounder and a millionaire septuagenarian famous for lunching on the $1.50 hot-dog-and-soda combo at the food court, runs the retail colossus.

Under Sinegal, Costco has consistently earned plaudits from employees and members — as well as occasional ire from Wall Street — for how the company does business.

Main Street appeal

Like the sprawling warehouse looming 400 yards away, Costco corporate headquarters has no frills.

Sinegal occupies a nondescript office open to passers-by. Galanti works in a barebones space punctuated by a mini-fridge stocked with store-brand, Kirkland Signature bottled water.

The main building served as a Boeing communications center before Costco relocated there. Sinegal thought the marble foyer looked too fancy, but after he realized the cost to rip out the marble, he balked.

The thrifty Sinegal offers some of the most generous wages and health benefits in the industry.

Jody Heymann, director of the Institute for Health and Social Policy at McGill University in Montreal, examined Costco as part of a six-year study — published in May — of the wages and benefits offered to low-level employees.

“While Wall Street sometimes rewards in the short run, in the long run, the companies that are outperforming are the ones taking a social-investment strategy,” Heymann said.

Companywide, employees earn, on average, about $19.50 per hour — or, the study showed, about 42 percent higher than average wages paid by Sam’s Club, the closest competitor. Costco also pays almost 90 percent of employees’ health care costs.

“Wall Street sometimes asks, ‘OK, well, it’s great that you pay more, and yeah, your employees are great, but have you tried 18? Or 17.50?’” Galanti said. “And the answer is no.”

Costco rewards employees in other ways, too.

The company doles out prime parking spots — situated beneath the headquarters buildings — to employees based on tenure, not hierarchy. So, the accounts payable clerk parking next to Galanti, a Costco employee for 26 years, has worked for the wholesaler for almost as long.

“We’ve done a good job of walking the walk, not just because it plays well in Peoria, but because it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

Kirkland Signature, Issaquah address

Costco dwarfs all other Issaquah-based businesses in size and scope — a multibillion-dollar retailer with 568 outposts spread across 40 states and four continents.

But the headquarters campus could just as easily be in Redmond. Costco planned to relocate there from Kirkland in the early 1990s, but the proposal collapsed amid concerns about traffic congestion.

The same unease almost kept Costco out of Issaquah. The chain vowed never to open a warehouse in Issaquah after city officials and residents thwarted a 1989 attempt to build a store along Northwest Gilman Boulevard.

Bolstered by a survey of Issaquah residents showing demand for a warehouse, Costco opened a warehouse at Pickering Place in September 1994. The company completed the headquarters move to Issaquah in 1996.

Former Mayor Rowan Hinds said welcoming Costco to the city required a gamble.

“Do we leave it like it is and let the land sit vacant, or do we change the zoning to allow something else to happen?” he said.

Hinds recalled spending a day at the Salmon Days Festival with Costco cofounder Jeffrey Brotman before the company established a beachhead in Issaquah. Brotman assuaged concerns about the mega-development.

Mayor Ava Frisinger, then a councilwoman, and other officials toured a local Costco to prepare. The super-sized products awed the future mayor, a onetime medieval literature student, as she “walked around with the kind of gaze I usually give to the tracery in Gothic cathedrals,” she recalled.

The project still caused public outcry — for a time, anyway. Frisinger recalls bumping into former Costco opponents shopping at the Issaquah warehouse.

Bare necessities, in bulk

Trips to Costco warehouses started to inch upward in early 2008 — about the same time gasoline prices climbed into the stratosphere and the national economy nosedived.

“Every night on the news, somewhere — whether it was Missoula, Mont., or Los Angeles — where’s the cheapest place to buy gas? Costco,” Galanti said. “We got new sign-ups because of it, and then that segued into the bad market. Turns out that the bad economy also helped us some.”

Customers curbed spending on high-end items — furniture and jewelry, for instance — but Costco continued to do a brisk business in groceries and other essentials, like toilet paper and laundry detergent.

Spending on extras has boosted the chain this year. Galanti said the recession-induced drop-off in travel created a run on patio furniture.

Dan Geiman, a Costco analyst at Seattle brokerage firm McAdams Wright Ragen, said competitive prices for staple items buoyed the company during the recession.

“Costco has held their own,” he said. “There’s no question about that.”

The chain earned high marks from more than 30,000 shoppers in a Consumer Reports study released in early June. Survey respondents declared Costco to be the best among the 11 most-popular chain stores in the nation.

Because bargains and bulk carry international appeal, Costco has successfully exported the brand. The company operates warehouses in seven nations outside the United States.

Costco opened a store in Australia last August, and the company plans to expand into a still-undisclosed nation in Western Europe next.

Despite dominance by global brands, national tastes influence the products offered at international warehouses.

Costcos in Taiwan sell the rotisserie chickens with the heads still attached.

Japanese customers buy jumbo containers of Downy fabric softener, because customers claim the soapy scent smells like America.

The chain yielded to local custom in Korea, and added tanks populated by live fish to warehouses. The company planned to offer “the freshest dead fish,” Galanti said, but after seafood failed to sell, Costco ripped out the coolers and added tanks.

Super-sized wining and dining

Costco relies on customers to build buzz about the bargain-hunt atmosphere. The company does not advertise.

No inescapable TV commercials. No radio jingles. No sales circulars in the Sunday paper.

But Costco products appear in unlikely places, although the wholesaler does not pay for product placement in films and TV shows. The infamous pastry in “American Pie” and the food arrayed on banquet tables at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the “Harry Potter” film franchise — all Costco products.

The retail Goliath has amassed impressive superlatives in the 26 years since the first warehouse opened in South Seattle.

Costco sells more fine wine than any other business on the planet — racking up $597 million in sales during the 2009 fiscal year.

Costco represents more than 40 percent of the Tuscan olive oil sold in the United States. The company has relationships with more than 700 growers in Tuscany to meet consumer demand.

Costco imports more than 25 percent of lamb exported from global sheep capital New Zealand to the United States.

The company sells more U.S.D.A. Choice beef than anywhere else and roasts almost 1 million birds per week for grab-and-go rotisserie chickens.

The bestselling item at Costco might also carry the least cachet: toilet paper.

Michael Clayman, editor of Warehouse Club Focus, a trade publication, said the aggressive approach makes good business sense for Costco.

“They basically view every item out there as a potential item,” he said.

Costco touts high quality — think bigger stitches in Kirkland Signature underwear, larger cashews and plumper shrimp — as a reason why customers keep coming back.

“Everybody likes a deal,” Galanti said. “Everybody likes big. And we do both.”

Richard Gradwohl, owner of Happy Mountain Miniature Cattle Farm, shows the bite-size bovines he raises. By Warren Kagarise

Farmers from throughout the Evergreen State gather at Pickering Barn every summer Saturday to cajole customers to sample something unfamiliar — green garlic, perhaps, or Japanese eggplant, or maybe grass-fed beef.

The group acts as evangelists for more than just food. Customers in eco-conscious Issaquah ask pointed questions about the route from farm to fork, and their tastes run to the organic, or at least to produce and livestock farmed using sustainable practices. Interest in local food — and the burgeoning locavore movement — has also bloomed. Locavores attempt to eat food grown not far from their homes.

Market-goers encounter a formidable resource in the booths and tables lined up outside the restored barn. The farmers growing goods for the Issaquah market skew less toward Old MacDonald and more toward Michael Pollan — author of the foodie bible, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” and a leading locavore.

Before the first sprout, sprig or stem reaches the Issaquah Farmers Market, growers rely on back-aching work, ingenuity and luck to coax a bounty from the land.

Meet some of the farmers using sustainable methods — sans pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics and other manmade conveniences — to supply the Issaquah market from April to October.

Issaquah Farmers Market

Pickering Barn, 1730 10th Ave. N.W.

Saturdays through Oct. 9

9 a.m. – 2 p.m.

www.ci.issaquah.wa.us/market

Growth potential

Changing Seasons Farm sits on the same fertile belt as other growers supplying local markets and pantries. The farm rolls across almost 20 acres in rural Carnation. The serpentine Snoqualmie River coils around the land.

Laura and Dave Casey bought the land almost a decade ago. Laura, a wetland biologist with dirt beneath her fingernails, and Dave, a civil engineer by day, returned to the Issaquah market for a sixth season this year.

During the spring and summer months, the Caseys spend most evenings at the farm, readying fruits and vegetables for the market — a labor-intensive process complicated this year by a cold and rainy spring. The process starts in winter, when the first seeds get planted inside greenhouses picked up from a defunct nursery and reassembled at Changing Seasons Farm.

The farmers employ crop rotation to avoid depleting the land, and rely on ladybugs and other natural predators to dispatch pests. Produce grown on the farm is certified “naturally grown” — organic in all but name.

From soil the same consistency as chocolate soufflé, the Caseys grow artichokes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, garlic, kale, leeks, onions, shallots and more — a cornucopia bound for Issaquah. Potatoes — red chieftain and buttery Yukon gold — sprout not far from a rainbow of beans.

In early June, Dave Casey spent a cool evening in the fading light, planting beans in neat rows near the circa-1930 farmhouse.

Outside the old farmhouse, apple — including a summer red, purchased at Kmart in 1985 by a previous owner of the farm — and pear trees yield a crop sizeable enough to sell at the market.

Laura Casey tends to eight tomato varieties — including red-and-yellow-striped tigerellas as bright as the candy in a Willy Wonka fantasy.

The peppers arranged in rows inside the greenhouse serve dual purposes, as market wares and as the base for the spicy sauces Dave Casey concocts. Nearby, eggplant, peas and tender lettuces poke through the soil.

Laura Casey, a lifelong gardener, said the transition to farming required some adjustments.

“I’ve had to learn that it’s a farm, not a garden, and that it’s going to look different,” she said.

Changing Seasons Farm

722 W. Snoqualmie River Road N.E., Carnation

333-4199

www.changingseasonsfarm.org

Future farmer

The juxtaposition at Westover Farm in Maple Valley feels part Epcot, part “Little House on the Prairie.”

The family farm turns out tomatoes and strawberries for markets across King and Pierce counties — including the Issaquah Farmers Market — all without a single shovelful of soil. Instead, farmer Darrell Westover, 79, grows the plants hydroponically in fibrous coconut husk. The system uses a network of tubes to send a nutrient-rich solution to the plants.

The greenhouse holds almost 1,000 plants in a balmy, climate-controlled environment shielded from the June chill outside. Westover keeps a bumblebee hive in the greenhouse to pollinate the tomato plants.

Ripe bananas hang in mesh bags above the plants. The ripening fruit releases ethylene gas and, the thinking goes, provides a chemical reminder for the tomatoes to ripen, too. Westover Farm should produce about 12,000 pounds of tomatoes by late October.

Outside the greenhouse, rusting farm equipment and acre upon acre of evergreens grown for Christmas trees add rustic touches to the futuristic setting.

Westover Farm also hosts international farmers through the Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture, or MESA, a California nonprofit organization set up to promote sustainable agriculture and help farmers in the United States and elsewhere trade techniques.

Though Westover started dabbling in hydroponics seven years ago, and started selling at local farmers markets not long after, this season marks the first time he set up a booth at the Issaquah market.

“I love that little market already,” he said during a walk through the greenhouse in early June.

Westover Farm

24030 S.E. 192nd St., Maple Valley

432-1597

Less equals more

Not far from subdivision-and-strip-mall suburbia, Richard Gradwohl raises cattle more suited to backyards than boundless acres of rolling ranchland.

Gradwohl has raised cattle for 44 years and, through perseverance and creative genetics, has re-engineered the animals from 1,000-pound behemoths to Lilliputian cattle between 600 and 800 pounds. Mature animals stand about waist high.

Happy Mountain Miniature Cattle Farm in Covington raises some of the cattle for beef and others for pets because, naturally, some people refuse to eat the cute-as-a-button bovines. Gradwohl developed mini cattle meant to resemble a panda — black on the front and hind thirds, white in the middle — as a pet breed. The farm also has a mini-Holstein, the popular black-and-white dairy breed.

Gradwohl said the process requires six to 10 generations for cattle to shrink from full-size to miniature.

Because the farm has more cattle on less land, the squat, tank-like animals cause less ecological impact.

The animals roam pastures and munch grass, before Gradwohl finishes the animals on barley. Gradwohl said the sweet grass counteracts the gamey flavor often noticed by beef eaters accustomed to corn-fed beef.

Ben Baumann runs the Issaquah market booth for the farm. Every Saturday morning, he slings briskets, roasts and short ribs, and then returns to the farm to load coolers for a Sunday market in Lake Forest Park.

“You feel good eating it, because you’re getting something sustainable,” Baumann said.

Happy Mountain Miniature Cattle Farm

25204 156th Ave. S.E., Covington

253-631-1911

www.gradwohlsfarmbeef.com

High on the hog

Besides the farmers growing produce and raising livestock for the Issaquah Farmers Market, artisans turn local goods into pantry staples.

The artisans at the market include Proper British Bacon Cheese & Meats, which transforms Washington-raised pork into the top-billed item, as well as ham, sausage and fat bangers — the English sausage.

Owner Robin Halbert got into the bacon business after a Scottish friend complained about the quality of bacon in the United States. The initial batch flopped, but the second round pleased the Scot, and she spread the word among her Microsoft coworkers. Before long, Halbert had hundreds of orders.

“It wasn’t what I would say viral, but it was darn close,” Halbert recalled.

The surge prompted Halbert to expand, and open a shop in Auburn.

Unlike the belly bacon known to most Yanks, British bacon comes from the loin, a leaner cut. Halbert said farm-fresh eggs and the eponymous bacon make for the most popular seller at the Issaquah market.

Proper British Bacon Cheese & Meats

625 Auburn Way S., Auburn

253-709-8294

www.properbritishbacon.com

Christopher Brown, executive chef at sip. at the wine bar and restaurant, sprinkles the final touches onto his grilled trout with brown-buttered leeks. By Greg Farrar

Sunshine, swimming at local lakeside beaches and dropping your line in the water for a leisurely afternoon of fishing is part of what summer is all about.

Whether you’re a fishing pro, a novice or beginner, the fish can start piling up faster than you can eat them. While plentiful and tasty, more often than not, trout can leave home cooks confounded for ways to prepare it.

So, we’ve asked for help from our local palate perfectionists — chefs from some of Issaquah’s most well-known restaurants.

Each restaurant’s chef was asked to submit his favorite or a creative way to prepare trout, so your culinary know-how can move from butter, salt and pepper into gourmet-inspired creations that will be anything but boring.

Bon appétit!

sip. at the wine bar and restaurant

Whole grilled trout with brown-buttered leeks (serves two)

Chef: Christopher Brown

Ingredients

• 2 scaled whole fresh trout
• Sea salt
• Olive oil
• 1 ounce fresh oregano
• 1 ounce fresh flat leaf parsley
• 3 ounces unsalted butter
• 2 leeks, sliced
• 1 ounce minced garlic

Directions

Season the whole fish inside and out with sea salt. Stuff with the fresh herbs and coat with olive oil. Place on a well-seasoned, hot grill. While the first side of the trout is cooking, place the unsalted butter and brown it in a sauté pan over medium heat. Be careful not to burn the butter. Place the leeks and garlic in the pan and sweat the leeks as they cook. Season with salt and pepper. While cooking the leeks, flip trout and continue cooking. Once trout is finished, place it on a plate and pour the brown-buttered leeks over the entire fish and serve.

Coho Cafe

Macadamia crusted trout with papaya mango salsa and orange cinnamon couscous (serves two)

Chef: Bruce Nacion

Ingredients

Papaya mango salsa

• 1 pound papaya (ripe), peeled and diced to 1/4 inch
• 1 pound mango (ripe), peeled and diced to 1/4 inch
• 1 tablespoon jalapeño (seeded), minced
• 1/4 cup red onion, diced to 1/4 inch
• 1/4 ounce cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 ounce lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate.

Trout fillets

• 1/2 pound panko
• 1/2 pound coarsely minced macadamia nuts
• 1 ounce lemon zest, minced
• 1 pint buttermilk
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 5-ounce trout fillets (skin on)

Combine panko, nuts and lemon zest on a sheet pan. Season the skinless side of the fillets with kosher salt and pepper, and then dredge the same skinless side in flour. Dip the seasoned side in buttermilk and press into panko mixture. Only bread the skinless side. Lay on waxed parchment and refrigerate.

Cilantro oil

• 1 ounce chopped cilantro
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 ounce lemon juice

Add all to blender and purée until cilantro is minced. Refrigerate.

Cinnamon orange couscous

• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon tumeric
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon orange zest, minced
• 2 cups Israeli couscous

Add all ingredients except couscous to pot and bring to simmer. Add couscous to liquid and cook for 8 minutes.

Beurre blanc sauce

• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/4 ounce minced shallots
• 3 black peppercorns
• 1/4 cup heavy whip
• 1/2 pound unsalted butter

Reduce wine, shallots and peppercorns to almost dry in heavy-bottomed sauce pan. Add cream and reduce to a thick sauce consistency. Slowly add butter while rapidly whipping to emulsify. Hold sauce at 125 degrees, so as not to break.

Assembly

Pan fry with oil trout fillets until golden. Place 5 ounces of couscous off center plate. Lay fillet atop couscous. Top fillet with 3 ounces papaya mango salsa. Drizzle beurre blanc sauce and cilantro oil on one side of couscous.

Fins Bistro

Fins crab-stuffed trout (serves two)

Chef: Zul Megji

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 8 ounces crab meat (This recipe was made with Dungeness, but the selection is up to you.)
• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 8 ounces fresh trout, boned
• Hollandaise sauce (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat and sauté onions until soft. Remove from heat and stir in all ingredients except trout.

Using a spoon, fill each trout with stuffing so that both sides of the trout come together. Brush with olive oil or butter and season with salt and pepper. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake in oven for about 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve topped with Hollandaise sauce, if desired.

The Flat Iron Grill

Trout Tacos (serves two)

Chef: Cody Reaves

Salsa criolla

• 4 diced roma tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon garlic
• 1 ounce diced red onion
• 1 ounce diced poblano peppers
• 1 ounce red wine vinegar
• Chili flakes, to taste
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste

Combine ingredients, stir together and then set aside. Makes about 6 ounces.

Chimichurri

• 1 bunch chopped cilantro
• 1 bunch chopped Italian parsley
• 2 ounces chopped oregano
• 2 ounces chopped basil
• 1 ounce champagne vinegar
• 1 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoon minced garlic
• Pinch of chili flakes
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Combine ingredients in a blender or food processor. As it is blending, drizzle 1cup Can-Olive oil. Makes about 2 ounces.

Taco extras

• 6 ounces refried black beans
• 12 grilled white corn tortillas
• Half of a grilled lemon
• 2 ounces crème fraiche

Trout

• 1 whole, fresh trout, scored three times across each side
• Cornstarch
• Oil

Dust trout in cornstarch. Place oil in a pan. Place trout in hot oil and cook for 4 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Arrange all ingredients on platter to be shared.

Just off of Interstate 90 is Lake Sammamish State Park, nestled snugly beside the lake and free of noise or congestion from the nearby freeway. Spread out across 512 acres and boasting 6,858 feet of waterfront, the park serves as a popular summertime destination for swimmers, boaters and sunbathers alike.

“The lake is the major draw,” Park Manager Rich Benson said. “Our boat launch parking lot can take up to 250 cars and trailers, and in the summertime it’s often completely full.”

Annually, the park averages anywhere between 1.1 million and 1.4 million visitors in the summer months. Yet, during the off months and on even the slowest of weekdays, the park is the destination for a wide range of visitors — senior citizens taking peaceful afternoon walks, children bouncing around inside the park’s playground areas, nearby employees getting some leisure or exercising during lunch breaks. In off months the rest of the year, the park averages about 100,000 visitors per month.

Benson noted that being a state park allows for more relaxed policies than other nearby parks that are owned by the city.

“Unlike some of the city parks, we do allow dogs,” he said. “Also, we do allow alcohol, so people can come and enjoy an afternoon and have a beer if they would like.”

The park’s expansive, grassy picnic grounds are ideal for groups of weekend picnickers and barbecuers, perfect for enjoying hot summer days with friends and family.

“Picnicking is very popular,” Benson said. “There is a nice view of the lake and there’s usually a lot of park staff present. We try to make ourselves very visible.”

While many areas in Issaquah are becoming more developed each year, the state park’s landscape has remained untouched. And Benson plans to keep it that way.

“If you want to come down and experience what’s left of the Issaquah valley floor, this is a great place to come. This is by far the largest area that has remained development free,” he said. “One of our missions now is to restore some of the park’s areas to their natural conditions, improve forested areas, get rid of non-native plants and bring back what has been traditionally grown here.”

By the numbers

• 1.5 miles of hiking and bike trails
• 2 softball fields
• 5 sand volleyball courts
• 5 horseshoe pits
• 2 bathhouses
• 9 boat ramps — with enough parking for 250 car/boat-trailer combinations
• 2 children’s play areas
• 475 unsheltered picnic tables
• 4 sheltered picnic areas, 3 of which are reservable — accommodating anywhere from 100 people to 400 people
• 80 barbecue grills on stands

Get your boat in the water

Watercraft launching is available for $7 and trailer dumping permits for $5 are available online, at regional offices and at the park when staff is available. Annual permits are available for purchase at State Park Headquarters in Olympia. To reserve any day-use facilities call 888-CAMPOUT (226-7688) toll free. Park hours are from 6:30 a.m. – dusk in the summertime and from 8 a.m. to dusk in the winter. Park Manager Rich Benson can be reached at 455-7010.

Day-use group areas

Reservable kitchen shelter

• two sinks and counter with electrical outlets
• horseshoe pits and volleyball area nearby
• accommodates groups up to 400

The rotunda

• three sinks and central fireplace
• accommodates groups of up to 100

The creek shelter

• view of the lake
• reservable for groups up to 200
• volleyball area

Hans Jensen youth group camping area

• ideal for large, group accommodations, like day camps
• accommodates 200 people and 40 cars
• 36 picnic tables
• 12 stoves
• covered picnic shelter
• four vault toilets

Of all of the horse trails in Western Washington that Issaquah resident Joann Reider has traversed, Squak Mountain offers some of her favorites. She boards her horses — Luke, an 18-year-old Missouri Foxtrotter, and Ranger, a 5-year-old Rocky Mountain — close so she can grab them at a moment’s notice and hit the trailhead.

But Squak Mountain is not just a good place to ride your horses year round — it also offers miles of hiking trails and a good dose of area history along the way.

Dan Terry, of Bellevue, rides Luke, an 18-year-old Missouri Foxtrotter, through Squak Mountain State Park. By Christopher Huber

“It’s very good riding,” said Reider, a serious equestrian for the past roughly 30 years. “You can ride in winter and it’s not muddy.”

Reider said she likes the approximately six miles of horse trails (which also serve as hiking trails) because they provide a versatile training and conditioning ground for her horses. The trails climb up and down to the approximately 2,000-foot Squak Mountain peak, never truly flattening out, she said.

“You get such a good workout for your horse,” she said.

And outdoors enthusiasts of all sorts tend to respect the trails and each other.

“The hikers and horseback riders get along,” Reider said.

Friend and longtime rider Dan Terry agreed and noted another highlight.

“One of the nice things is everything is basically a loop,” said Terry, of Bellevue, while riding Luke.

Many equestrian trails are essentially gravel access roads, but these trails are tighter and more rugged, yet well maintained, Reider and Terry said.

“They’re real trails,” Terry said.

Reider, a member of the Tahoma chapter of the Back Country Horsemen of Washington, said she participates in numerous equestrian gatherings and rides throughout the state. Other popular equestrian trails include Cougar and Tiger mountains, Taylor Mountain, Mount Baldy, Mud Mountain, Soaring Eagle Park near Sammamish and the Snoqualmie River Trail near North Bend.

Many riders love riding so much they volunteer to help maintain the trails, she said. The Over the Hill Gang even uses mules to haul in materials to fix damaged bridges and such, Reider said. Although the state parks system, state Department of Natural Resources and other agencies work to maintain many of the trails, volunteers make it happen.

Maintenance “wouldn’t get done otherwise,” Terry said.

The other state park

Located just outside Issaquah’s southern boundary, Squak Mountain State Park is a 1,545-acre day-use park surrounding the 2,024-foot-tall Squak Mountain.

Visitors can view Issaquah from various clearings or lookout points and enjoy crossing over ravines and creeks along the winding trails. The park also has numerous loop-trail options.

It became a state park in 1972 after the Bullitt family donated 590 acres at the top of the mountain. The family stipulated that the state must preserve the land in its natural state, according to Washington State Parks.

Washington eventually acquired numerous other parcels of land nearby throughout the years. A few artifacts from past land users remain in the park, including old coal-mining rail trails, overgrown logging roads and even the Bullitt family fireplace, the only remaining piece of their home.

Squak Mountain State Park basics

• Park hours: summer — 6:30 a.m. – dusk; winter — 8 a.m. – dusk; open year round for day-use.
• Hiking trails: 13 miles
• Horse trails: 6 miles
• Animals: bears, chipmunks, coyotes, deer and elk, foxes, rabbits, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, weasels, ravens, hawks, jays, owls, woodpeckers and wrens
• Plants: cedar, Douglas fir, hemlock, noble fir, spruce, alder, birch, maple, daisy, foxglove, lupines, orchids, paintbrush, rhododendron, rose, berries, ferns and moss or lichens

Getting there

From I-90, take exit 17. Head south on Front Street, which turns into Issaquah-Hobart Road. Drive four and a half miles, then turn right on Southeast May Valley Road. Drive a mile and a half, and turn right into the park.

But for Issaquah residents who just can’t wait for October’s annual Salmon Days, the summer is packed with other nearby festivals from which to get their fix.

Following the main points of a compass, here’s a look at what four neighboring cities have to draw locals to their backyard.

Bumbershoot

Sept. 4-6

Bumbershoot enters middle age Labor Day weekend.

The must-do Emerald City music and arts festival — returning for a 40th year — enlisted a baby boomer icon to headline the celebration: Bob Dylan.

The craggy-voiced and craggier-faced legend kicks off the three-day festival Sept. 4. Indie folk rockers The Decemberists and singer-songwriter Neko Case round out the first day.

Weezer, punk rockers Rise Against and the Courtney Love-fronted band, Hole, bring high energy — and some ’90s-era sensibility — to day 2. Mary J. Blige, J. Cole and hip-hopper Drake bring the festival to a close the following night.

Besides the big names, Bumbershoot features up-and-coming acts by the dozen, comedians, a film festival and visual-arts exhibits.

Though geared for grown-ups, Bumbershoot also features fun for the Nickelodeon set. Youngershoot — the kid-focused festival-within-the-festival — offers family-friendly music, hands-on activities and arts programming.

Learn more about Bumbershoot, buy tickets and scan the entire festival lineup here.

Derby Days

July 9-10

When traveling north of Issaquah, go no further than Redmond to discover the city’s Derby Days.

The festival, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, began with simple aspirations. The city hosted a bike race to raise money to purchase holiday decorations. That charity event has grown into the nation’s longest running criterium, a multilap race on a closed course that takes up about four city blocks. Between 300 and 500 participants in three categories compete/participate each year.

The Kids & Grande Parade has taken on a life of its own over the years, with about 1,000 participants involving 45-75 entries, including floats, bands, nonprofit organizations and youth groups.

Up to 12,000 visitors each year meander between the vendor booths, food hawkers, the entertainment stage, carnival activities and a Field of Fun for the youngsters.

New this year is the city’s IMPACT Redmond Eco-fair that emphasizes sustainability activities. There is a green car show, a solar-powered entertainment stage, a green business showcase and vendors with living-green tips.

Festivities are capped Saturday night with a fireworks show promptly at 10 p.m. Learn more here.

Renton River Days

July 23-25

If you’re heading south, be sure to stop by Renton to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of its festival, Renton River Days.

The city first celebrated the cowboy culture with Frontier Days and later Western Days in the 1970s. The first Renton River Days consolidated the summer activities into one festival, debuting in 1986 at Liberty Park.

Since, about 45,000 per year flock to myriad activities. The mid-week Kids’ Day has been eliminated and its festivities merged into the main three-day festival. There will still be the Wenatchee Youth Circus for the kids, a parade, and a Senior Day BBQ Picnic for the kids at heart.

For those looking for sports to go with their festival activities, Renton River Days has them in spades, including a golf tournament, two tennis brackets, soccer and fun walks and, new this year, a volleyball tourney and skate park exhibition.

Then, there is the entertainment, showcasing the best in local and regional talent, plenty of mouth-watering food vendors, art displays and more.

The weekend culminates with the annual Rubber Ducky Derby, where thousands of people line the banks of the Cedar River, cheering on thousands of the little yellow guys in a to the finish line. Learn more here.

Railroad Days

Aug. 20-22

Pull the car over when traveling east into Snoqualmie to catch the 72nd year of Railroad Days to celebrate the town’s history as a railroad and logging town.

This will be the Northwest Railway Museum’s second year running the show and its staff saw no reason to try fixing what ain’t broke. The Grande Parade returns for its 70th year. Sign up for the fun run to kick off the festival and stop by the pancake breakfast for some quick, tasty carbs afterward.

The car show also returns, run by the Legends Car Club, featuring more than 200 classic hot rods. While gawking at the attractions, be sure to take a gander at the displays the museum breaks out, touting the railroad’s historical impact on the region.

There’s also entertainment booked solid throughout the weekend.

In addition to the arts and crafts booths, local artists will be in action at the train depot demonstrating their craft. Don’t forget to stop by the beer garden, where youngsters can saddle up for a frosty mug of rootbeer.

True to its namesake, Railroad Days’ signature features are the train rides running between North Bend and Snoqualmie Falls, wagon rides and the human-powered speeder car rides.

Expanded from just one day last year, museum officials hope returning to a three-day weekend will draw in thousands more to Snoqualmie’s ode to the railroad. Learn more here.

Salmon Days Festival returns for 41st season

Salmon Days Festival

Oct. 2-3

When you’ve traveled all four directions of the compass and have had your fill of other city festivals, it’s time to return to Issaquah for the biggest one of all, Salmon Days.

Having just celebrated its 40th anniversary, Salmon Days continues to attract more than 150,000 visitors to a two-day extravaganza that is an ode to the salmon returning to the lakes, streams and hatchery in Issaquah.

The award-winning festival, whose theme this year is “Something up Our Leaves,” features something for everyone. For the active, the festival kicks off early with Sporting Weekend, Sept. 25 and 26, with geoteaming, a golf tournament, a Salmon Cycle Family Bike Ride and orienteering. Festival weekend itself features the 5K and 10K Rotary Run.

Saturday’s Grande Parade attracts dozens of entrants each year, from floats and marching bands to clowns and equestrians.

Then, the streets clog for two solid days as visitors browse a marketplace of more than 350 artists and crafters and the Field of Fun for the youngsters. Scattered throughout the downtown area are five entertainment stages, sure to offer something for every musical taste.

And speaking of tastes, come hungry. The Foods of the World first lures you in with its aromas of promise, and the varied flavors keep you coming back for seconds, thirds and more.

Be sure to visit the centerpiece of the festival, the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery. Be enraptured by a volunteer docent’s tale of the completion of a salmon’s lifecycle — grown from fry, released into the nearby stream, journey out to sea and back, spawning anew along the way. Learn more here.

But some of Tiger Mountain’s most unique treasures are the ones that lie beneath the ground.

A history of uniqueness

The Issaquah Alps themselves are unique.

Tim Walsh, geologist with the state Department of Natural Resources, holds the fossil imprint of marine life from 45 million years ago on Tiger Mountain. By Greg Farrar

“In general it is an east-west trending chain of mountains that are riding the back of an east-west fault that is active,” Tim Walsh, a geologist with the state Department of Natural Resources, said during a trip to the mountain.

The Issaquah Alps stretch from Cougar Mountain in the west to Rattlesnake Mountain in the east, and have been part of extensive studies for many years. But recently, they are getting more attention.

New technology is enabling geologists to take a much closer look at the mountains than ever before. Peeling back vegetation, lakes and other human developments with radar technology, geologists are able to accurately map the area and confirm what they’ve long suspected is part of the region’s active faults.

The new maps will enable geologists and state officials to better understand how the active faults are shaping our region, said Joe Dragovich, a geologist with the state Department of Natural Resources.

Unlike the barren lands of California along the San Andreas Fault, the vegetation of the Pacific Northwest has made it nearly impossible to see how the Issaquah Alps connect into the South Whidbey and Seattle faults that are active, he said. But today, they are making great strides.

“As a land formation, that whole area is part of the Seattle uplift. That’s interesting,” he said, adding that it also borders the Whidbey Fault to make it an active earthquake area. “It’s an example of plate tectonics in action.”

The information will help geologists and state officials understand what areas are prone to earthquakes and what repercussions a large quake may have for surrounding communities, he said.

By taking a six-mile hike to the 15 Mile Creek Trail gorge, you can see what an active fault is doing to the mountain’s geology.

Once there, you’ll see how the exposed gorge walls take on color striations similar to a sunset. Millions of years of soil deposits from glacial formations and changing climates are inscribed in them, layer upon layer.

Where a belt of specifically colored soil dips drastically and continues in a straight line again, you are more than likely looking at the work of an active fault, Walsh said, pointing to two instances on the gorge walls above the swift creek.

Amber

A few hundred feet away, before you get to the 15 Mile Creek gorge outlook, there is a fork in the trail. At the end of the upper fork, be ready to use your eyes and exercise patience. To find small globules of amber on Tiger, you’ll need both.

Amber was discovered on Tiger during its mining days, in the early 20th century, Walsh said. Amber is popular as a semi-precious stone in jewelry.

Cougar Mountain was the most well-known location of coal mining in the Issaquah Alps, but there are plentiful deposits on Tiger, too. You can see the remnants of foundations for crushers, railroad ties for mining carts and locomotives, and even a sealed coalmine while walking along the trail.

The mines on Tiger, however, never saw their full operational potential. The way the coal seam formed geologically made it difficult to extract coal. The creek gorge cut through the center of one of Tiger’s largest deposits, making it difficult and expensive to mine, Walsh said.

You might be surprised to learn that Tiger Mountain was once part of a vast delta plain that extended from Idaho to the coast, with meandering rivers during the mid-Eocene years, about 50 million to 45 million years ago, said George Mustoe, a research technician for Western Washington University’s geology department.

Mustoe spent time at Tiger Mountain studying its amber deposits in the 1980s.

“The climate in this region was sub tropical, so the vegetation was very different from what we know today. In fact, there were plants that we would consider modern relatives of plants that live in Asia and Central America,” he said. “The amber is a really interesting story, because it is the resin from trees, and woody trees at that. It is nature’s Band-Aid.

“For a tree to drip resin, it’s like a person bleeding, in that it takes energy and you lose a vital resource, so something must have allowed for the accumulation of resin to occur.”

The resin, Mustoe said, most likely came from a Metasequoia, a tree that many in the scientific community thought was extinct until recently. The tree has large, sticky feathery needles that dropped each fall like a deciduous tree and regrew them in the spring, Mustoe said.

You can find the amber at the top of the fork in the upper path and roughly 60 feet up a fairly steep hillside. To unearth it, you’ll need to take samples from the coal seam at the top of the hillside and below a grouping of trees.

After taking a piece from the seam, break it open several times and look for nearly transparent red, orange and brown pieces of amber, often no bigger than a small fingernail.

Fossils

Another fun family adventure allows you to get dirty and dig in at one of Tiger’s several fossil locations.

As surprising as a subtropic forest may have been, imagine Tiger Mountain with large marine embayments, Walsh said.

“They are kind of enigmatic fossils,” he said. “To our best knowledge, it was lower here, so it flooded with marine water or there was a finger outlet here that allowed the marine water to pool.”

Roughly 45 million years ago, during the middle Eocene period, marine life thrived in sea waters where Tiger Mountain stands. You can see them still in the mud and sandstone rocks and hardened sediments making up parts of the mountain.

Echinoderms, gastropods, pelecypods and scaphopods were among the species that called the embayments home. Today, we’d know them best as sea urchins, sea snails and slugs, clams and mollusks.

The easiest trail to access a fossil site from is a state logging road, located off state Route 18 as you head west. About a mile or so from the highway summit, you’ll see the road, blocked by a blue gate, on your right hand side. You can’t take your vehicle in, but you can park near the gate and walk or bike in about a half-mile to the last high voltage power pole, which sits on the road’s first plateau.

Bring your camera, as the views of the Cascades and of North Bend from the site are spectacular.

About 50 yards up the hill to the left of the roadway, there is a standing outcrop of exposed rocks. Make sure you expose a new rock surface, as areas that are fractured have likely been damaged by the weather and the fossil imprints have more than likely been eroded away by the elements, Walsh said.

You can use another piece of mudstone and gently chisel pieces off the face to expose the surface.

With a sharp eye and about 10 minutes, you can easily find a fossil imprint.

Looking at a small clam-like imprint, Walsh pointed to the ridges on the shell and where it connected. Most of the time, you won’t actually see the critter itself, he said.

“Those are long gone, but you do see where they were clearly,” he added.

Whatever geology adventure you choose, you won’t be disappointed at Tiger Mountain.

“We talk about traveling all the time. What we don’t talk about so much is the idea of time traveling in the area we live in, wherever it is,” Mustoe said. “Amber and fossils are the closest things we have to a time machine.

“When you look at a rock or see a dried up tree globule, you get a glimpse of the world we live in and how it looked 45 million years ago. How cool is that?”

Getting there

Amber and coal

Access the trail system through the state Route 18 summit at Tiger Mountain. The logging road to the trail is gated, so you will want to ride a bike or hike to the trailhead. Take the 15 Mile Creek Trail Head, about five miles up the logging road. Bicycles aren’t allowed on the trail, but there is a lock-up area to keep them safe. The 15 Mile Creek Trail is roughly one mile, well-maintained and fairly flat. At the fork in the trail, take the higher trail to the coal seam and amber outcrop. The amber is in the coal and rocks up a steep incline and below a grouping of trees. Use tools to dig into the seam and break apart the rocks. The globules of amber are orange, red and brown, and are typically the size of a fingernail.

Fossils

The easiest site to access on Tiger Mountain is from state Route 18 west. About a mile from the highway summit, turn right onto a logging road. The road is closed to traffic, but you can park near the gate and walk to the site.

General rules

Tiger Mountain State Forest is owned by the state Department of Natural Resources. It is a working forest, and money collected from logging and mineral sales goes toward the state’s public schools trust. Therefore, anything found onsite is the state’s property.

Under no circumstances is money to be made from the sale of minerals, stones or fossils, or money to be made from leading tours on public lands.

“‘Casual Use’ activities causing only negligible disturbance (such as hand sample collection) are allowed on most public lands without advance notifications,” according to the 2009 edition of the Gold and Fish Pamphlet from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

On the Web

Check out the state Department of Natural Resources’ website and the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website.