this was a beautiful hike! ive been there a couple times before but it is fun every time. a little muddy but not too bad and can be hopped over. LOTS of beautiful tall trees and fallen leaves of many colors although they were soggy. we saw many mushrooms along the way. we saw a couple of horses, all very well behaved and the trial was genraly not crowded. there was ample parking and the restroom was well maintained, and my dog had a great time!

Blog version (disclaimers)

Access: West entrance (trail map)
Round Trip: 5.4 miles
Elevation Range: 400′-540′
Essential Gear: none
Dog-Friendly: yes

Route

1. Use a combination of any park trails to put together a route.

Highlights

• Enjoy a quiet morning walk through the old forest if starting early

Lowlights

• None

Hit up the local Bridle Trails SP to stretch my legs (and digest), but mostly to look for candy cap mushrooms.

Trail was beautiful as always, if not a little muddy. The typical horse droppings littered the trail, but we only saw one equestrian. Otherwise, lots of families out hiking with their well-behaved doggos.

Don't let the beautiful trail conditions distract you from the fact that we were in luck in our mushy search! Once taken home, I dehydrated them at 95 degrees for about 12 hours, then ground them with a mortar and pestle. We made candy cap shortbread cookies for a Friendsgiving the day after.

Luckily we have a ton of ground candy cap left over for additional holiday cookies. Merely one drying cap is enough to fill a room with a maple aroma!

Walked the Bridle Trails State Park trails Sunday morning between rain showers.  We parked in the main, gravel lot off 116th Ave NE, Discover Pass required as per normal.  Full restrooms were open and in good condition.  Our route was a messy double figure 8 around and through the middle of the park for a total of a little over 6 miles.  There are organized loops with signage, but it’s just as fun to wander around on all the various secondary trails too.  Traffic noise from 405 is present but recedes the farther east in the park you roam.  The whole park and trails are in great condition - the State Park crew here do a consistently great job, kudos.  

Note - there are warning signs about recent sightings of dive bombing Barred Owls, cranky black bears, feral iguanas with a chip on their shoulder, etc but even after considerable effort we didn’t see any of those.  A few Juncos, Chickadees and squirrels were about all the wildlife out this morning.  We didn’t see a single horse, though the area does attract quite a bit of equestrian traffic.  Fall color is just about done with most of the bright yellow big leaf maple leaves on the ground now.  One further item of note - the big water tank utilities project on the south end of the park is completely wrapped up and no longer presents any kind of detour.  A nice, easily accessible walk in the woods

Link to more info about the park - https://parks.wa.gov/find-parks/state-parks/bridle-trails-state-park

Link to further history of the park - https://www.bridletrails.org/blog/uxreypvy10yaso7x5jsi29r8zmw2y5

Did the trillium trail (1.7 miles) with some friends and children between 3 and 6. The trail is flat and wide, without mud. Occasional piles of horse poop (we saw about 5 horses altogether and one of the owners let the kids pet one). The trail map has picnic table signs but these are actually just a single bench and a step ladder (for horse-riders). There are many mushrooms along the trail which kept the kids engaged. This was our first time in the park - it felt remote despite its actual location. Will probably go back again! Great hike for kids.