I walk in this park a lot and every so often or so I like to write a trip report for it - just to give it a little clout on here and highlight it. It truly is a unique and awesome park. No where else that I can think of in the region has an urban park you can get so "deep" in and truly feel remote.

Came out here after work for a quick solo walk. Parked in the NW corner of the park and entered through this entrance. I often enjoy entering through this entrance to switch it up since it give immediate access to a remote area of the park from the main parking lot. I hiked down around the lake (verdict is still out on if it is actually a lake or just a marsh, I've never been able to see it with my own two eyes from the trail). Then I explored some less-traveled trails that I've never been on before. For some reason I was expecting the trails to be dry I guess because it has been so warm, and I soon remembered it even rained today(!) when I got out there and it was a bit muddy. Soon the sun was setting and the forest became dark so I headed back to the car. Especially spooky on the narrow, remote trails. Used my phone light to help a bit towards the end. I was trying to get exclusively pictures of fungus on the end of fallen and logged out trees, but had to sneak a picture of the sunset through the trees in there at the end. Did a 2 mile zig-zaggy loop in the woods then walked an extra mile along the road under the streetlights to get up to about 3 miles total. Trying to slowly increase my step count as I try to come back from a long hiking hiatus due to injury. Didn't see another soul the whole time I was in there. No wildlife either besides a few birds.

Happy Trails!

Started hiking ~5:00pm from the south entrance, on a Saturday. Only passed two groups of people, so it was a quiet time in the park.

Warning that a black bear was sighted nearby and still believed to be in the area. OtterTravelMore noted the same sign in a trip report from August 9, 2022 (https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report-2022-04-09-5327112425). Not sure if the bear has been seen recently or moved on since the sign was posted. Apparently this has happened in the past, as noted in this informational post about mammals in the park from the Bridle Trails Park Foundation (https://www.bridletrails.org/species-mammals).

On the bright side, our only animal sightings were a deer, assorted birds, and a snail shell. The deer watched us intently as we walked by but wasn't too fazed by our presence. Could have stayed there watching her for hours but we moved on quickly to give her space.

A surprising development was the lack of mud on the trail. We saw lots of footprints sunk deep into the ground, indicating that mud had been there recently, but were happily didn't encounter any of it ourselves.

My partner and I bet on how many piles of fresh horse poop we would encounter on the trail - I disappointingly lost. There were many more than my estimate of two. Ended up being a triple estimate of his guess of five so neither of us were close. Need to better take distance into account for our guesses next time!

I recommend this trail if you're craving nature but don't want to drive to the mountains. Once you move deeper into the park, away from the cars passing by on the street, the forest feels similar to the beginning of many hikes in the Snoqualmie Pass corridor. Especially with the occasional up and down hills!

Walked a messy crosscross “X” along the trails at Bridle Trails state park early Sunday morning in the surprisingly nice sunshine.  Parking at the main gravel lot off 116th Ave NE is plentiful and requires a Discover Pass as per normal.  There is some signage indicating restrooms were closed for the season, but that was not the case today and they were open, fully functional and in good condition.  

The trails remain a combination of wide double track and single track dirt and are in surprisingly good condition given the amount of recent blowdown.  I talked with the ranger as we were leaving for a bit to thank him and his crew for getting everything cleared.  He said it was not the worst storm they’ve had but they did have over 60 significant trees they had to clear.  One other side effect of all the recent cut up trees is that you can count the rings to see exactly when the forest was replanted after the initial logging years ago - I counted 73 years, so the replant must have been about 1950?  One additional trail note - the local water dept is still working on their project on the very southern end of the park right where the power lines run through so that area is closed to the public during the week requiring some easy trail detouring.

Not an overwhelming amount of wildlife out, some little douglas squirrels, woodpeckers, towhees, chickadees, etc.  There is signage about a recently spotted black bear though we saw/heard no evidence.  We did however see some coyote sign so keep little fluffy on a leash for safety.  One final kind of unusual thing - everybody was so darn friendly and full of smiles.  I guess a little chunk of woods can be a very good thing sometimes.  A beautiful morning. 

Fun, easy hike with kids. Little muddy in spots; watch out for horse droppings. One of the small side trails off Trillium trail had some fallen trees that we had to crawl under (which the kids enjoyed!).

Just a quick update of the trail conditions in Bridle Trails State Park.  I took the 3.3 mile Coyote Trail loop, and in spite of the heavy rains and severe wind events we have had recently, the trails are still in great condition making them accessible to all.  Apparently, quite a few trees fell across the trail recently, but they have _all_ been sawed through and cleared.  The trail is muddy, to be sure, and there are sporadic puddles, but none are too big to sidestep.  A huge thanks to all the trail maintenance crew. 

*** Note: there were signs posted saying, "A black bear has been sighted near the park and is believed to still be in the area." ***