On this National Public Lands Day I went on a hike with Mountains to Sound Greenway. They were having a hike on the under construction Garfield Ledges Trail to see how the work was going. About twenty five of us met at the Gateway Bridge trailhead parking lot and hiked the Taylor River Connector Trail over to the Taylor River/Snoqualmie Lake Trail and Garfield Ledges Trail parking lot. The connector trail is getting some new boardwalk bridges. There were piles of treated lumber along the trail and one bridge had been built. Before starting up the Garfield Ledges Trail we heard some dignitaries talk about the Middle Fork area and the projects that are going on now and in the future. Starting up the trail the short gravel section ends and the trail gets very muddy. We passed several volunteer trail crews along the way. There must have been close to one hundred people from WTA, MSGW and some personnel from the Forest Service. Some sections of the trail have been completed, while others are still being built. One area about half way up the one mile trail will need to have some steps to get up a steep rocky section. Further along at a switchback a very large cedar stump will need to be blasted in order to get the trail built. The new trail is supposed to be complete some time in the Spring of 2019. No great views today from the upper or lower ledges with the low clouds and rain.

On the way back down parts of the under construction trail were a slip and slide due to the rainy conditions. Some parts you could mud ski. There was a mini backhoe/dozer parked on the trail just below the rocky section where it could not go. Once the trail is completed hikers will have some nice Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Valley views down river on a clear sunny day. Thanks to all of the hard working volunteers building this new trail.

Back down at the Garfield Ledges Trail parking area, some new picnic tables had been installed along the Taylor River. It was fun seeing all of the work going into building the new trail. Check it out next Spring.

Our group of senior citizens headed up one of our favorite short view hikes, going up the old Garfield Ledges trail to the viewpoint, where we had lunch.  While enjoying the lunch and view, we were joined by other hikers, coming up a different route:  they were building the new Garfield Ledges trail.  We asked if we could descend it, after lunch, and they okayed our request.  It was really interesting to see the machinery used to build trails, especially on this steep slope:very impressive amount of work! 

A link to my photos is below, in the full report.

The new Garfield Ledges trail is still not completed/open to the public. There were several Greenway Trust vehicles near the area, as well as an "event here" sign- we hoped we'd find the trail had opened when we returned to the junction/new parking area but still had the "trail closed for construction" sign up. 

We took the climber's trail up to the Infinite Bliss climbing route and climbed several pitches up the slab to the right of the watercourse. 

The trail itself is hard to find, no cairn and not obvious until you've been on it for a minute. it starts about a mile past the start of Dingford Road (where it turns to gravel/rocks), a little beyond a wide pullout with a fire pit. It is then a pleasant, mossy trail through the forest that quickly becomes steep, rooty and scrambly at the top. It's less than a mile but gains 1,000+ feet. At the top is a nice rocky ledge where the climbing route starts and there are nice views across to the Middle Fork Valley, Stegosaurus Butte, the Pulpit and across to Green and Bessemer. If you like steep out of the way trails, you might enjoy this one for something different :) 

Once we ascended several pitches I could see the middle fork trail landslide. Big trees down. Of interest to me was the fact that you could see above the landslide the trees were obviously smaller and different than the rest of the surrounding forest. Perhaps this isn't the first landslide in this location? 

This short Middle Fork trail to a viewpoint is still under construction. My understanding is that some rough work was done last year on the upper trail. No funding for trail work this year but I think there is funding for next year. I started at the big Gateway Bridge parking area. There is a new trail from the NW corner of the parking lot that comes out on the road near the Taylor river bridge. 

The Ledges trail is hard to find. I had to do some unpleasant scrambling to find it. 

The trail to the viewpoint is only about 0.6 miles from the Mid Fork road.

Save this one for when the trail is completed.

After hiking up to the former Nordrum Lookout site (see my other report for this hike), I had some time to check out another trail in the area. I parked at the junction of the Taylor River Road and the Middle Fork Road. Since the paved section of the Middle Fork Road ends at the Taylor River bridge, the gravel road has some mighty big pot holes. I had some info about where the trail up to the Garfield Ledges (aka Garfield Balcony) took off from the Middle Fork Road, so I went looking. I found a trail going up the hillside that turned out to be the "new" not yet constructed trail to the ledges. I found survey stakes plus red and orange ribbon. This survey line was not brushed out. Getting higher up hill, I came to a ridge line and decided to follow it to the east. I could see more red ribbon on trees down below my location. With the thick conifer trees, there was not too much underbrush. I soon came to the old trail and saw where the new one will meet up with it. After going by the lower ledge, the trail goes up steeply. The new surveyed trail left the old one to go on a less steep grade. I stayed on the old one as it went steeper up the hillside (think Mail Box Peak, only a much better trail to hike on). I could see where someone had done a good job in trail building. After one more steep section I came to the upper ledge view point. The new trail will be meeting the old one not too far from the upper ledge.  I could now see down the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Valley all the way to Cedar Butte near Mt. Washington.

I had lunch and took a few photos before heading back down. It rained lightly for about five minute and the sun tried to come out. I took my time going back down the steep sections of the old trail. About half way down a lone doe walked by the trail. I followed the old trail all the way down to the Middle Fork Road and saw where it met the road. Just downhill from mile marker 12, the trail crosses a boggy area with a small creek. This is a couple hundred yards from the Middle Fork Road gate. Glad I had my trekking poles for the steep sections of this trail. Looks like this trail has been here for many years. Some of it is covered in moss and hemlock needles.

Mountains to Sound Greenway has on their website info for building the new trail. No date as to when it will be built. Made for another fun hike on an old trail to a viewpoint.  About two miles round trip with 500' of gain. Right before starting this hike, a game department pickup truck with a bear trailer came by heading up the Middle Fork Road. While driving out the Middle Fork Road back to North Bend I saw that the "big" bridge over the Middle Fork Snoq. River is getting a new deck. The DNR contractor was busy building the entrance road to the new Granite Creek Connector Trail trailhead parking lot. George