Did an out-and-back from the Mt Si trailhead to the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River bridge along the entire length of the CCC road / trail. I hope this report will serve as a comprehensive resource to others doing sections or the entire length of the CCC trail. It is broken up into different sections, West to East. (this is my thitd try posting this, this time without pictures. hope it works this time!!!) A few general remarks: This trail is ideal for mountain bikers and those who want to do a long hike or run on "relatively" flat trail. It is 100% runnable and bikable, except for a few creek crossings. If / when they actually pave the middle fork road it will be the only winter season access to the middle fork valley and trails.... Especially the first 4 miles starting at the end of the Mt Si road are not "wild and scenic", and most of the trail has no views. You are in the forest almost all the time. And you will not encounter a large number of people. Distances from Mt Si trailhead: Mt Teneriffe / Kamikaze Falls trailhead: 1 mile End of paved (Mt Si) road: 1.3 miles Blue DNR gate: 2.3 miles End of CCC plateau: about 4.7 miles Bessemer Mt Road: 7.5 miles Intersection with middle fork road: 10.5 miles Middle fork trailhead & footbridge: 13.5 miles Parking and access on the the western end: I parked at the Mt Si trailhead and ran east on the Mt Si road. After about 1 mile you get to the trailhead for Mt Teneriffe, and Kamikaze Falls. This would be a closer option to park, but parking there is limited to may be 15 cars. Another 0.3 miles up on the Mt Si road the pavement ends and a sign says "End of maintained city road. Local residents only". About 100m later another sign telling non-residents to keep out. In my opinion those signs are illegal as they make it sound this is a private road on private land, when in fact it is DNR land. This is further substantiated by a sign 3/4 of a mile later that says a Discover Pass is required to park at this location. It is true that this road is the sole access road to the 1/2 mile by 1/2 mile Mt Teneriffe private estates, but it also is the sole access to National Forest Rd 9010-1, also known as the CCC road. About one mile after the end of the pavement the main road turns left into the private estates (marked by signs, see one of the pictures. One of those signs, in green, is visible in the picture. It says there is no recreation access past this point and keep out and violators will be prosecuted. I interpret that as "don't turn left onto private land."). Going straight will have you stay on DNR land and get you a big blue metal gate. There is parking available for 3-4 cars without blocking the gate.... It is my guess that the private residents pay at least in part for the upkeep of the road on DNR land, so it is understandable that they don't want much recreational traffic on this road. But if you hike or bike up or down this road and someone tells you you can't be here, I recommend that you politely inform them that you are on DNR, and therefore public, land. And you have every right to be there. I did send an e-mail to DNR and asked them about the legality of those "keep out" signs. When (if) I hear back from them I will post a comment to this report. CCC plateau section of the CCC road: After climbing for about 1 mile past the blue gate you reach the high point of the CCC trail. Follow the main road (go straight at the top) on a slight downhill grade for a little less than 2 miles until the main road bends left and starts to climb. Do not go left but go straight over a 3 ft high berm and follow the trail on the old CCC road. (see one of the pictures) You are now on your way to .... CCC plateau to Bessemer Mtn Rd section: After making the turn off the plateau onto the CCC trail you will make several creek crossings. All these crossings are easy, the trail is 100% well maintained. I'm talking heavy machinery was used to construct some of the creek crossings, and well-placed stepping stones are in place at all the larger crossings. After about 3 miles, just after another large creek crossing, you get to the Bessemer Mtn road. There a sign reveals the reason for the great shape the CCC trail is in: "Project financed by the American recovery and reinvestment act". Going down the Bessemer Mtn Rd will take you to the Middle Fork road. Going up (actually flat) will take you the next section of the CCC road. Bessemer Mtn Rd to Middle Fork road section of CCC trail (about 3 miles): Follow the Bessemer Mtn Rd uphill (well, it's actually pretty flat) for about 0.3 miles. When the main road turns left, uphill, go straight onto the CCC trail. This trail starts out flat, then drops down and connects with the Middle Fork Rd about 2 miles before the Middle Fork parking lot & foot bridge. There is parking available for a few cars. This section of the CCC trail also appears fixed with recovery act $$$. Head east (upstream) on the middle fork road for 100 - 150m and you get to the "CCC trail" trailhead .... Last 3 miles of the CCC trail: About 2 miles before the Middle fork trailhead and & foot bridge is a sign for the "CCC trail". It is about a 3 mile long single track trail, well maintained, with a few creek crossings (see one of the pictures) and comes out at the middle fork campground & right by the middle fork bridge parking lot (just follow the respective signs). The highlight on this trail, in my opinion, is the huge, dead, burned-out cedar tree. It is right next to the trail, on the left side if you head east, about 2 miles from the trailhead, one mile before the campground. 5-6 people can easily be inside the tree at the same time. Look up, and you see the sky. Hope this is helpful and will encourage more use of this trail, especially now that it has been fixed with your federal tax $$$.

Road condition: After reading many reports I was afraid I wouldn't make it to the trailhead with my Prius, but the potholes, while worse than last year, were ok to navigate. I parked at the CCC trailhead about 2 miles before the Middle Fork trailhead, but running on the road .... the last 2 miles are not any worse than the rest of the road. Went for a long trail run to Goldmeyer hot springs and back. Trail conditions for each section: CCC trail to Middle Fork trailhead: Trail is well maintained, was recently worked on. There are 2 large trees across the trail that make it very difficult for stock (one is about 4' above ground and right by a bridge / creek crossing), but easy for hikers to navigate. Run time: 26 min First 6 miles of Middle Fork trail to bridge at Dingford creek: (Pratt connector trail had signs: "close to the public" and "blasting zone ahead") Lots of work done on first mile. WTA: please do not covert this trail to the Autobahn, covering it with several inches of gravel. If I want to run on gravel I can go to Dicscovery Park. The huge slides from last year at about milepost 2 did not suffer any further damadge this winter (or it got already fixed). Between MP 3 and 4, where the trail comes close to the edge of the river, the trail is passable, but the river has claimed another 2-4 ft. Some major trail relocation will be reqired soon. Further upriver several large trees came down on the trail but a chainsaw crew went through and made the trail passable, as long as you can duck under and step over large logs. A tree came down onto the Cripple Creek bridge at about MP 5, but only broke the guard rail - no structural damadge to the bridge itself. A few hudred feet from the bridge at Dingford Creek 2 large trees block the trail, but not a problem to climb around (see pics.) Did not see a single person on the trail. Run time: 53 min Dingford Creek (MP 6) to Goldmeyer: Impressive Cedar tree near the bridge (see pic). Passed a group of about 15 people with large backpacks 300 yards from bridge, headed upstream. Trail is in decent shape, again with a lot of large blow-down, but partially chain-sawed out so it is easily passable. Biggest obstacle was Thunder Creek crossing as the logs that were there last year were gone. Got lucky and found a log of the right size and lenght, carried it to the creek and wedged it in between 2 boulders. Also fixed 2 longer but thinner logs as "hand rails". It's not ideal, but better than before. (see pic) The next stream crossing also has no bridge but is pretty easy. The 3-logs bridge across Burnboot Creek (see pic) did not get washed away this winter, so that crossing is easy. After you cross Burnboot it's 200 yards to the hotsprings. Burnboot Creek - Red Mtn Pass (old PCT) trail: Just before you cross Burnboot creek on your way to Goldmeyer, the old PCT follows Burnboot creek upstreams for 200 or so yards, passing "trail not maintained beond this point" and "no bikes" signs. See pic for start of old PCT trail. Shortly after the signs the trail starts climbing towards the pass and becomes a lot easier to follow than the first 200 yards. I went about 1000ft above the river level before I hit snow and turned around. There are some blow-downs, but not to bad. I did the Alpental, Snow Lake, Middle Fork, Red Mtn Pass, Alpental loop run last year. Unless you bring ice axe I would not recommend this trail until the steep, NE facing gully just below the pass has mostly melted out. Run time: 34 min out and back Goldmeyer back to middle fork trailhead: Run time 1:34h. Never saw the group of 15 hikers, bt did see one guy on a mountain bike about 1 mile from the trailhead. The poster on the trailhead relating to mountainbikes on the middle fork trail says that it is open to mountain bikes ever other day from "June 1st 2008 to (sometime in) October 2008". Not sure if the regulations have changed since then. USFS, how about putting up a new poster while you're out there giving those without parking pass a ticket? Trailhead to car: about 2 miles on the road, 15 min of running.

I decided to hike the Pratt River Connector Trail and see what it was like. Overgrown, hard to follow at times and slow going. But also beautiful, quiet, and no people. I also checked out the CCC Trail after fording the river. The CCC was super easy on the legs and the trail is in excellent condition. For a full write up see my site. http://www.adventuresofscatman.com/2010/09/pratt-river-trail-contector-ccc-trail-report/ Scatman Get out there!