There were a few muddy spots on the trails but since no rain had fallen for a week, the mud was mostly dried up. There are few views on Holder Knob loop due to the regrowth of trees.  The views will be even less when the deciduous trees leaf out.  All the trails had leaves blown off the trail!  If you are using a King Co Park trail map, realize that the logging roads that are being decommissioned, will show as trails on the map. Part of the Holder Knob loop is a road and it really confused us at first.  Nice parking lot with pit toiled and kiosk.

Sometimes I hike on Taylor—today I rode my horse! The Tahoma chapter of Back Country Horsemen of Washington puts in long volunteer hours to help keep the trails on Taylor beautiful! Everyone can enjoy these trails—equestrians, hikers and mountain bikers. Beautiful fall foliage today. Black bears (cubs!) have been spotted here recently by BCHW riders but no bears spotted today. Riders often put jingle bells on their horses to give wildlife such as bears plenty of notice that we are coming up the trail. Don’t leave anything of value in your vehicle as there have been break ins in the past month. 

Here is one hike that could be done with a 4 PM start in October and still finish well before dark; at 3.5 miles, it took me 90 minutes.  There was only one other car at the parking lot when I got there even though it was a Sunday.  How much of it was the Seahawks playing at the time I'm not sure; there was also a sign saying that the road was closed for selective harvesting between 6:00 AM and 3:00 PM, although with a 4 PM Sunday start I had nothing to worry about there.  I did this as a loop, walking road A to the Holder Knob trail going out and the Holder Ridge trail going back.  When I walked this a couple of years ago, the Holder Ridge trail looked pretty chewed up by horses' hooves, but this time it looked to be, and was, in better condition.  Some of the Holder Ridge trail has been gravelled, which I'm guessing was done relatively recently.  Views at the top are limited; in my opinion the best part of the hike was the nice forest at the bottom of the ridge trail.  

This is a great day hike for anyone of any age and comfort level.  We come here with our dogs at least once a week, and fully enjoy the vast selection of different trails offered here.  Although we mainly stick to Road "a" and walk to the main intersection (road "a" meets road "f" and where whiskey still trail loops out at) and walk back, there is access to several different trails and access roads that lead all over the place.

Just FYI, the trail is very popular with horseback riders and dog walkers, but also be conscious of King County trucks that use the access roads as well.

Enjoy and safe hiking!