There was plenty of parking at 3:30pm on a sunny Friday, we only saw one other group the whole time. Any car can get into the parking lot, it's gravel but well maintained gravel.

I did a 7 mile loop starting on Road A then briefly on Sherwood trail then Elk Ridge to where it met up with Road G and took that back to Road A and then went back to the parking lot. 

Road A is almost all a gravel road, but it's a good type of gravel road, there's not much loose gravel so it's easy to walk on. About 2 miles on Road A its blocked off because the whole road got washed away somehow. If the way your going continues on Road A its easy to get around. By the red-orange cone-pole thing there's another little trail people made that goes down near the creek and back up around the blocked off section. It doesn't go in the river as there's a storm drain so you don't get wet. I don't think horses can do this part but most dogs and humans should be able to.

Elk Ridge is an actual hiking trail. There's a lot of no trespassing sign but I think this is just so you don't go off the trail. The trail ended up going in a different direction than what it said on Alltrails but it just connects up back with Road G.

Road G is partially dirt road and other part annoying larger gravel. This was just a standard road it was all clear.

If it's a sunny day when you're going watch out for snakes sunning themselves we saw several and one almost got stepped on cause he slithered to our shoes. Quite a bit of horse poop on the trail most is easily avoidable. 

MON 24May2021 ~06:45, i arrived to at the parking-pullout for my hike of the "Elk Ridge and Carey Creek" Loop. My planned route:
CW: Trailhead > Ellk Ridge > Sherwood > Road_F > Boot > Mt Beaver > Carey Creek > Trailhead

However, after exiting from Sherwood, the supposed-Trail-or-Bridge-or-Road (that goes across to the West Bank of Carey Creek) is "MISSING". And this"void" was blocked behind fences with signs of: "Trail Closed Due to Unsafe conditions". As such, i re-routed, got on Road_G and went towards the Trailhead. < Stats: ~3.9 miles / Moving Time: ~1:40 / Total Time: 1:55 >

Now that i am at home, re-reading those recent (Alltrails) Reports, including the ~1-month ago report which mentioned of "some wash out parts, but were able to navigate around" - i am not sure whether that report or my this morning "finding" is/are correct, or accurate. Perhaps, "that" report was of a different "washout"? Anyway, if you plan to this "Elk Ridge and Carey Creek" Loop do be aware of the possiblity of "washout(s)".

Weather: High ~40s_F, light drizzle (since earlier morning and it continued till i was ~30 mins out on the Trail). No surprise that the Elk Ridge Trail was wet; there were a few short muddy sections, or small puddels of water/ though all were easily passable .. i had my Trekking Poles which was helpful.

The Taylor Mountain Forest was beautiful .. its "understory" .. ferns, moss, trees were so very green .. The peacefulness and silence of the Forest was occasionally "interrupted" by the birds singing happily 👍. i didn't see any other person or wild animal during my ~2 hours in the Forest .. sweet solitude for me 😄

Happy Trails Everyone!

Taylor Mountain Forest Info/Map available at: https://aqua.kingcounty.gov/gis/web/VMC/recreation/BCT_TaylorMtn_brochure.pdf

I have never hiked on Taylor Mountain and we opted for a close to home hike today. We started at the Elk Ridge / Carey Creek trailhead just before 9:00. No other cars were parked there and it was a reprieve from all the crowded trailheads on nearby Issaquah Alps trails. It was 44 degrees, all the trail foliage was very wet and skies were overcast with heavy dense clouds just south of us. We hiked up Elk Ridge, turned right on Sherwood and left up Road H. We went all the way to the unofficial summit but no major views today with the low cloud ceiling. It was surprising you could see the Olympics in the distance but nothing of the Cascades. Several places had cable chains across the trail stating closed. These were easy to step over or walk under. Another hiker mentioned these are put in place October through April to discourage equestrian use during that time to limit trail degradation.

  The trail had a few muddy sections, most of the maple leaves have fallen and they made the rocky sections dicey as you could not see potential ankle twisting situations. The forested area was beautiful as well as the rushing stream. On our descent, we started down Knee Knocker Trail  and poked around checking out a couple side spurs. I would not recommend this trail it’s surface was very uneven and super rocky.  We did have a pheasant walk across the trail in front of us so that made it worth the effort in the long run. Lots of road intersected the trail  and didn’t seem as fun as walking on actual hiking paths. Our 7.5 mile loop was very uncrowded we passed 2 other hikers,  2 horse riders with 3 dogs. Interestingly, the horse riders had no qualms about riding their horses on the closed trail sections. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch break along the stream and got back to our cars at 1:45. Another amazing day to be out in nature.

Just needed a quick hike between rain showers to appease a highly energetic dog so I figured I'd try the "new" trail which has always seemed to be closed when I've wanted to try it in the past. 

Hiked a quick 30 minutes up to the creek, then turned around and returned.  The new trail is much better than the old one in terms of mud, but because it's yet to be packed down by feet, it did have some muddy spots in places.  I hike with my dog and pack out her poo, so I was a bit disappointed that horseback riders can't at least back their horses to at least leave their piles (and there were LOTS) off the trail.  In many instances, they were impossible to avoid. 

Love the fact that we had the trail to ourselves and no traffic noise whatsoever.  The trail along the Cedar River Watershed is a wonderful gift of nature.  Kept a lookout for elk but no luck today.  

Nice network of easier and less crowded trails than Tiger. Started in the southeast corner of Taylor Mt Forest, which is actually part of the Cedar River Watershed. Hiked north along the shaded eastern edge amongst large moss-covered cedars with minimal road noise from SR18. This is an equestrian area so we had to dodge a lot of road apples(..so trail apples..?) and even more slugs. Elk Ridge is a nicely groomed trail, probably as it is closer to parking. As we got into the Forest, the overgrowth went from ankle stinging to unbearable with nettles and prickly plants across the trail as high as 6 feet up. Turned around just shy of the end of Knee Knocker. Crossed 8 people total, no horses, and no bikes.