Weather finally cooled down a bit so we came out on this hike.  Was worried about the road to the trailhead from reading some of the reviews as we just have a sedan but it was just fine - a bit of gravel and a couple of potholes but nothing you can't navigate.

At the trailhead are several picnic tables, some with a view of the river which was wonderful for our pre-hike picnic with our 4 year old.  

The hike was wonderful and there was barely anyone when we set off in early afternoon.  We maybe passed 3 groups on the hike total.  Lots of wonderful things to see - the trail is mostly dirt until halfway then there's some stairs and after that a lot of rocks.  

Beautiful view at the ledge, a couple of rocks to sit on to enjoy it.  

Our son who's usually pretty good with hikes was a bit tired by the end but was able to get back down.

Had a hankering for a steep short shaded trail, so hit up Stegosaurus Butte and Garfield Ledges

My sedan appreciated the paved road all the way to Middle Fork Snoqualmie Trailhead. The parking lot privy was unlocked but lacked toilet paper.

Stegosaurus Butte:
Glad that I did this trail first. If you like steep rough root-filled rocky dirt paths, then this trail will fulfill all your dreams. Fortunately, the recent sun eliminated all the mud, plus less boot traffic translated into minimal trail erosion (I saw no one else on this trail), so I didn't slip and slide as much as I feared. Nice views on this sunny day.

Took the Middle Fork Connector trail to the Garfield Ledges trailhead. The connector trail parallels the road, but the dense forest protects you from the worst of the car traffic.

Garfield Ledges:
Met two other hiking parties on this trail, it's clearly the more utilized trail of the two, with a less-strenuous grade up a well constructed trail to match it. Trail maintenance appears relatively fresh with clearly delineated switchbacks and stairs. Nice views of the valley at the end.

We had a late afternoon hike with kids 3 and 9. Parking lot was almost full but there weren't too many people on the trail. The hike was easy with gradual ascend all the way. The initial part is loose gravel which eventually connects to a maintained trail.  The view from the top is amazing and kids had a lot of fun discovering empty tree hollows and stone formations! Definitely recommend for small kids new to hiking. The river is an added attraction to play in after the hike. 

We followed the advice of some previous trip reports and parked at the Middle Fork TH instead of the Garfield Ledges TH. For what it’s worth, the road between the two looked clear except for a set of large, deep potholes right before the Taylor River bridge (see attached image). We watched one SUV bounce through it and another vehicle u-turn upon seeing it. If you make it past this area, the road/parking lot has lots of potholes, but they seemed avoidable, and none are as bad as this patch.

The trail itself was surprisingly empty on a Saturday afternoon. We only encountered three other families with young children; however, none had masks on. The trail was wide enough to pass easily and face away from others if desired.

Pros: Gentle grade, lots of shade. Led to a viewpoint that would probably be great for sunset without a whole lot of effort. Kid-friendly.

Cons: The views along the trail were pretty mediocre. One dead tree was leaning against another one, causing it to creak.

Oh, and we saw a snake.

Lovely mid-day hike through lush forest to a great view down the Middle Fork valley and across to Stegosaurus Butte. We avoided the potholes near the Taylor River bridge (which looked passable with care) by parking at the Middle Fork trailhead and walking the roughly one-mile Middle Fork Connector trail from the parking lot to the Taylor River bridge: very nice ramble through mossy forest. That trail starts on your right as you look out the parking lot entrance road.

Note that the privies at the Middle Fork trailhead are closed, which means that trail passes are not currently required. Also, as others have noted, the climb up to the viewpoint was shorter than we expected; our GPS recorded only 680 feet of climb. We thought at first that the final viewpoint was the middle one. The actual middle viewpoint is in the woods at the top of the second set of stairs.