Lovely addition to the trails off middlefork rd! Continue on the road back past several other trailheads until you pass over the bridge about 20-25mins. travel on middlefork rd. There’s a sign clearly indicating the parking for Garfield Ledges. The trail starts behind the pit toilet and steadily climbs gaining elevation quickly. Just as the kids start to ask “are we there yet?” you arrive at the ledge! Sweeping views of the beautiful river & valley!

What a fantastic trail. This was my first time actually in the Middle Fork Valley and it is an amazing spot. Having done Rattlesnake ledge several times and hating the "crowded subway station feel" this trail was a literal breath of fresh air. Sparsely populated but short trail with a fantastic payoff view that we got to experience pretty much all to ourselves. If Rattlesnake is the famous child everyone knows, Garfield is the underappreciated younger sibling which might just be better in every way. 

Magical outing top to bottom with silky verdant moss covered rocks in the understory, mushrooms growing out of every crack and corner, and a mist covered glacier carved valley topped with snow covered peaks at the top. Another 10/10. (don't tell anyone!) 

This newly opened trail is a gem. Hiked it today with a friend for a quick hike and a long lunch. The trail climbs and turns through some lovey second growth forest with lots of old nurse logs and giant stumps from crosscut logging a century ago. The views at the Ledge of the MF Valley are epic and enchanting. Views of Stegosaurus Butte, Preacher and Pulpit, the back side of Bessemer among others are wonderful with the Taylor and MF Snoqualmie Rivers winding through the valley bottom. Great hike for a family. Plenty of room to hang out at the top and not too ledgy. I’d highly recommend this hike. Lots of bang for your buck!  
*Note about the ROAD - slide area of paved road at mile 11 has been fixed and is well flagged. No problems there. Dirt portion of the road past MF campground has some HUGE potholes on both approaches to the Taylor river bridge, but totally doable if you go slow through them. 

Thank You!!  to the many volunteers who created this brilliant trail to a great viewpoint recently.  It's all so deluxe and brand new ... big parking area, spanking new restroom, meticulously constructed trail.  Check out those flights of stairs halfways up.  It features a great view and a lovely classic NW forest trek, and would be a great place to take visitors to our area.  Unfortunately, I expect that as it becomes well known, the crowds will come.  On this weekday, though, we met just 3 folks going up and down.

Drove out of the Seattle fog zone to find some sun and check out this brand new trail.  Although the trail is impressive the trail head itself deserves a shout out as well.

On the drive in there is a short stretch of  maintenance on the middle fork road where they are fixing back up the road slump, but with minimal midweek traffic there was no delay.  The trail head parking is immediately beyond the Taylor River bridge, watch for pre and post bridge potholes, and there is plenty of it.  As we were getting a late morning start we opted for lunch in the sun at the trail head picnic tables by the river first.  A gorgeous sunny spot, almost warm even with the weak November sun.

There have been quite a few recent reports so I won't rehash those but I will add although this is a short 2 mile round trip, it is not a trail for elderly grandmas.  The trail takes off at a good elevation gain and keeps that up most of the way to the ledges.  Almost 700 feet in about a mile is no walk in the park and enough to get your heart rate up for the half hour, more or less, that it takes to pop out at the view point.  Plus those stairs!  The trail is a beaut although with one steepish slick spot not really tennie shoe appropriate at this time of year.  The forest is a mossy delight and there is also a mid point view up a the Quartz Creek Valley, a good place to stop for a breather.  Short and sweet was the opinion of the day.

The view from the ledges is definitely worth the drive in, and short trail time, especially if you want a quick escape.  After taking in the wide vista we retraced our steps and were soon back at the car.  Then we drove back down the the middle fork trail head to view the ledges and Mount Garfield from the river's edge picnic area there.  Looking at the map (Cal Topo) later, I see there is a trail between the two trail heads.  Next time I need to explore that some more as that would be a nice add on if you are looking for some more mileage.  The other option is to hike the ledges first then return up the valley for the new Oxbow Lake trail.  So nice to have all these new middle fork options and hopefully year round too.