I hiked in Taylor Mountain Forest with a group. This was my first hike in Taylor Mountain in five years. It was sunny and warm (temps in 50’s). We hiked up Holder Ridge Trail and Holder Knob Trail up to Holder Knob. Along the way couple of us crawled through a live tree. Unfortunately, all of “viewpoints” no longer have views due to grown trees around them.

In 2014, King County acquired the private property that used to occupy the middle of the forest. We had lunch at this former private property. Only thing that is left to indicate the former private land is a rock chiseled with the word “THE FARM” at the entrance to "the farm".

Recent flooding and washout left most of peripheral trails inaccessible. We reached a massive washout of Road A at Carey Creek and turned around. We took Road A back to reconnect with Holder Ridge Trail and returned to the trailhead. All in all it was an easy fun hike. See attached map for the current trail closures.

I warned my group of friends that today's hike would be muddy and it was, however, overall the trail was in excellent shape.    First off, props to the weather gods for stopping the heavy winds before our 10am hike and holding off the rain until we were back at 2:30.   We stared at the trailhead located off Issaquah Hobart road and immediately ran into an unexpected stream of water.  Don't let this deter you.  After that the Holder Ridge and Knob trail were in very good shape, with some squishy mud spots, but nothing too difficult to work around and no blow-downs.

We extended our hike to the Whiskey Still, The Boot, Mountain Beaver, back up Mt Beaver continuing on the Boot to F Road and then, back on Whiskey still.     Most of this portion was similar to going up holder, except for the 2nd half of the Boot, which had several giant puddles (up to 20 feet long) and much more mud.  I'd recommend avoiding it if possible(see pics).

Also, one of the few hikers we did encounter told us that the Carey Creek Trail towards the 208th trailhead was un-passable about a mile from the Mt Beaver intersection.  It wasn't on our route, but I wanted to share since he was nice enough to let us know.

It was a great day to be out.  There were  a few hikers/runners bold enough to be out there with us and we saw a beautiful horse saddling up after we finished our trek.

photos courtesy of Lori D.

More Than You Would Expect

Easy hiking and free parking, no Discovery Pass required. There are 3 different overnight camp sites that I found. But lots of bear scat so be watchful and be prepared to share the trails with other large creatures too. These passages are frequently used by equine people as bridle paths so use caution to avoid their horseshit. Don't expect much as far as views as it is mostly blocked by trees, but it is still a very beautiful hike considering all of the creeks, wildflowers, and wildlife. The combination of well kept logging/access roads and the slightly rougher but shaded boot paths offer a plethora of route options when exploring this area. There are over 1800 acres of forest (and not forest) to adventure through. This region is rich with local logging history and parts are still actively logged. There are several ghostowns scattered throughout and possibly a few ghosts as well. My advice to you if you don't want an unexpected scare: steer clear of where the powerlines intersect. This is reportedly one of Ted Bundy's crime scene dumpsites. (Four skulls and other skeletal remains were discovered there in the mid 70s.)

Enjoy!

Still snow toward the top of Taylor Mountain at the end of March! The trailer parking lot is in rough shape. Both mounting blocks—which riders use to mount their horses—have been damaged. There was an abandoned vehicle in the lot for a few weeks—thankfully it has been removed. Tahoma Chapter of Back Country Horsemen has a work party planned to help repair the damage caused by winter weather and vandals. 

We left the parking lot around 11 and there was only one other car in the lot. We hiked the Holder Ridge Trail to Holder Knob and came back down on Road A (I think it was A). The trail was either muddy or snowy. The snowy parts were sometimes slippery on the downhill, but we didn't need snowshoes or spikes. We stopped for a snack at the Horse Picnic Area. It had a picnic table and a nice little viewpoint.