Quick walk Sunday morning around the Meadowbrook Farm, Snoqualmie Valley and Three Forks Natural Area trails outside of North Bend.  Parking at Meadowbrook is fairly plentiful and free.  Our route was to do the big loop around Meadowbrook then side excursions up Snoqualmie Valley to the big Reinig bridge and down to where it connects to a trail over to the Tollgate Farm area across hwy 202 plus a quick loop around the Three Forks Natural Area.  All the Meadowbrook trails were in good condition and the meadow paths were nicely mowed down, Snoqualmie Valley remains a typical gravel rail-to-trail with no issues, Three Forks is a bit more grown over and some of the side trails are more like brushy game trails at this point.  There are no restroom facilities.

Cloud deck looked to be about 1800’ so no good mountain views but you could see the flanks of Mt Si and the Rattlesnake Ledges to the south.  Quite a bit of wildlife out including, a pair of yearling raccoon, four big turkey vultures circling above, an osprey, a heron, bunnies, summer song birds plus about 40 of the local elk herd way towards the back of the main southern meadow so you couldn’t get real close (which is probably a good thing.)  There are still some nice meadow flowers out too.  It’s neat all these trails have been stitched together - an impressive little system.  Scott’s Dairy Freeze in North Bend makes for an excellent post walk treat.  

Clockwise loop, starting from the main parking lot at the interpretive center.

Road Conditions. Paved road and parking lot, no toilets.

Trail Conditions. The trail was more or less dry up to the northern end of the loop. Instead of continuing on the flooded section of the loop trail, we connected to the paved trail along Boalch Ave, and followed that back to the start.

Highlights. Didn't see any elk, but plenty of elk droppings all over.

Crowds. The main parking lot had one other car when we got there at 11am, and we encountered a handful of people on the trail (mostly along the paved section).

Walked the Meadowbrook farm trails plus a couple additional excursions up the Snoqualmie Valley trail to the big Reinig bridge over the Snoqualmie river and east through the dog park over to the Three Forks Natural Area then looping back south returning to the main Meadowbrook lot.  Total mileage for this extended walk ended up at just about 6 miles.  The trails at Meadowbrook remain a combination of mowed meadow, paved and elevated boardwalk,  Snoqualmie Valley is packed gravel rail to trail and all the trails through the dog park and around Three Forks Natural area are pretty much all dirt single track.  No trail condition issues specifically other than you have to cross SE Park St to get from Meadowbrook to the dog park and then walking through the dog park along the south side involves saying hello to lots of pups.  

The walk up to the Reinig bridge is straightforward and offers nice views of the huge bridge and the Snoqualmie River.  The loop around Three Forks Natural Area is also very nice, quiet and offers some relatively easy and beautiful river access on the north side.  Quite a bit of wildlife out, a redtail hawk, a couple heron, a bunch of swallow, common merganser, etc, etc but the big news today was that some of the big local elk herd was lounging in the western field.  I counted about 50 (maybe 52) total that I could see.  They were far enough to the middle of the field to safely get around along the main trail.  Just a super incredible treat.  The Snoqualmie Falls Brewery just up the road makes a nice post walk “recovery drink” if you are into such things.  A very nice walk extended with a couple additions on a beautiful morning.  

Link to more info about the Meadowbrook Farm organization - https://www.meadowbrookfarmpreserve.org/

Link to more info about the Three Forks off leash dog park - https://www.snoqualmiewa.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/Three-Forks-OffLeash-Dog-Park-66

Link to more info about the Three Forks Natural Area - https://www.snoqualmiewa.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/Three-Forks-Natural-Area-20

Nice accessible trail with great views of Mt Si. There seems to be a huge fire north of here.

The Snoqualmie Valley Trail is a great afterwork destination, so MaoVador and I decided to head there on a Thursday around 4:30, while the weather was decent and not too hot. 

We started at North Bend Library and took the trail past Mount Si Golf Course. Right after the Golf Course, we crossed the road and continued toward Meadowbrook Farm. It's unfortunate the trail past Meadowbrook doesn't connect with a consistent sidewalk, so we criss-crossed the road to connect the sidewalks and walked on the road shoulder when there wasn't a sidewalk. We continued along the road down to where the trail picks up at Frisky Girl Farm. We then headed back to Snoqualmie Trail and took the offshoot on the right, before the bridges to Feral Woman Farm to try to see their goats, sheep, and pigs. From there, we crossed the road and took the sidewalk back to the Library. 

There were lots of berries to sample along the way and help keep you energized for the hike. I think the best crop where along the road right by Frisky Girl Farm. 

Trail was pretty quiet, and we only passed 5-6 people on our adventure. 

Trip Stats:

• 4.44 miles
• 14 vertical feet 
• 1:29 min total time