By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

North Bend -- Where wilderness and suburbia meet ... and clash (continued)

Northeast of downtown is Mount Si, a 4,167-foot monolith created during the Jurassic Period, when the first primitive birds appeared on Earth. The steep, rocky trail up Mount Si is one of the most popular in the state, attracting tens of thousands of hikers a year.

The 8,000-acre state conservation area around the mountain is habitat for elk, blacktailed deer, mountain lions, bobcats, black bears and birds of prey.

A pair of peregrine falcons were spotted last year. They were the first to be seen in King County -- outside a pair in Seattle -- in 30 to 40 years, says Rocky Spencer, a district wildlife biologist for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Mount Si also offers an extraordinary opportunity to watch mountain goats. Between 25 and 35 goats live there. In fact, North Bend may be one of the only cities in America where you can stand in the middle of town and watch wild goats climb nearby peaks.

But the flip side of North Bend is not so winsome. It is increasingly a suburban bedroom community, perhaps even the region's next Issaquah, where residents buckle up and drive west each morning to earn a living.

The proximity to expanding urban centers such as Seattle and Bellevue has other unpleasant side effects. Despite the natural beauty, the woods around North Bend have become a dumping ground for "idiot trash dumpers," says Wade Holden, who lives near the Snoqualmie River's Middle Fork.

Holden and his wife started Friends of the Trail last year and have helped scoop up 50 tons of trash, including abandoned cars, racing tires and barrels of contaminated oil. While a few members of the group are volunteers, most have been ordered by the courts to work as community service volunteers.

Holden, who moved to North Bend from Texas five years ago, says: "You Northwesterners don't know how lucky you are. There's so much beauty here. The quality of life is good. But a lot of people up here take it for granted."

Continued:

• As century comes to close, city searches for new niche
• New development threatens area's 'rural aesthetic'
• Small-town feel continues to draw newcomers