Middle Creek

The "trails" in the Middle Creek Valley consist of roads in various states of transition toward trails. The first part of each road is an easy walk on packed dirt/gravel or ponderosa pine needles. The upper road ends in a slightly brushy turnaround. The lower road ends in ever-increasing brush/trees making travel more difficult. There are abandoned roads that provide a crossover route between the two roads within the first 0.8 miles of each of them. The trip to the end of the upper road and back is the basis for the trail statistics in this guide.

This area is primarily open fir and pine forest with an understory ranging from grass to low brush. The deciduous brush is primarily vine maple, berry bushes, kinnikinnick and other plants. Hikes can be done snow-free in the spring, with some flowers, but a lot of ticks. In summer, the upper road will be hot in its second half with the reduced shade. The lower road will be much cooler with the shade in the valley bottom. In fall, the deciduous plants provide beautiful yellows and oranges.

This area is grazing land and you will encounter cow pies on the road and possibly cattle along the way. In mid to late fall, this region is open for hunting.

Note: If attempting a route from Middle Creek to Indian Creek along the abandoned ridge crest road from Indian Creek, be ready for lots of bushwhacking as reported in 2020.

Winter Use: The three roads would make nice snowshoe trips, but parking may be an issue, depending upon the depth of snow and berms along the road. The nearest Sno-Park is Teanaway/29 Pines located 2.5 miles north on Teanaway Road North Fork.

upper road

From the trailhead gate (elevation 2430 feet), follow the lower road for 0.1 mile to its junction with the upper road. Turn north on the upper road as it does a winding climb for 0.8 miles through the forest, passing a dominant game trail on the left at 0.7 miles, before reaching the junction with the Crossover Route (elevation 2720 feet).

The upper road continues for 2.1 miles to the end of the road, climbing on the south-facing slope of the northern ridge of the Middle Creek Valley. The brush increases slightly on the road and the forest thins after 1.0 mile reducing the shade and making this a hot hike in the summer. Along the way is a view south (at 0.5 miles) across Middle Creek out to Cle Elum Ridge, a view west (at 1.0 mile) of Yellow Hill and Teanaway Butte and a view east (at 1.4 miles) of Red Mountain Lookout. The end of the road is a turn-around (elevation 3410 feet) with minimal views south.

Lower Road

Starting from the trailhead, the lower road stays in the valley bottom for 2.5 miles, providing a cooler hike in mid-summer. Along the way are a couple of meadows and marshy areas with opportunities for wildlife viewing (coyote, deer, elk and more). At 0.6 miles, is the junction with the Crossover Route (elevation 2550 feet, see below). At 1.7 and 1.9 miles are fill quarries where the hillside has been scraped to provide fill, rocks, and gravel for road construction/repair. Beyond the quarries, the maintenance stops, which means brush and seedlings are overrunning the roadbed, making travel difficult.

Crossover Route

This 0.3-mile route on abandoned roads goes between the Upper and Lower Roads. About halfway is an unmarked junction. The correct route is the westerly one (west if climbing and southwest if descending).