This trail "might" remain snow-free this winter.  That would be welcome!  There are a few minor blowdowns, none that impede easy hiking.  Currently, all the creek crossings are fairly easy (with the proper footwear).  The crossings are also blessed with fairly grippy rock, which helps greatly.  As always, though, turn back if you feel uncomfortable.  

Everyone mentions the huge potholes on the last half mile of road.  They are real, but seriously, though, all but the most low-slung sportcars should have no problem.  If that's you, just park near the end of the pavement and walk the easy 0.4 miles to the trailhead.  

The entire trail was very clean today, despite heavy use.  How nice to be able to say that!  Anybody else remember when we used to drive up here, and Snoqualmie Lake was a quick 2-mile  hike?  I hate to think of what it would look like now if that were still the case!  Here's to solitude. 

The trail was good, but there were a few downed trees and some of the water crossings were tricky. My partner fell twice at the biggest crossing about half a mile before Otter Falls. We still made it to the falls, which were very cool - looks like an otter slide!

The road is OK but beware of huge potholes right where the pavement ends on Middle Fork Road.

Four other Mountaineers and I started our journey at 8:30 this morning and only saw one lone hiker around 2 p.m. We were nervous about the stream crossings from previous trip reports, but we had zero problems except one hiker's foot slipped coming back on the last stream crossing (first from the cars). Fortunately, she had waterproof footwear and we were half a mile from the car, so it was no big deal.

Several large trees are down on the trail which was NOT an issue on November 23 when I last did this trail (4 days after the huge windstorm hit the Issaquah area). The five streams are flowing fast, but after two dry days we were lucky, we had no trouble. We all had trekking poles and gaiters.

We visited Big Creek Falls first, then backtracked to Otter Falls for lunch. Big Creek is raging and Otter Falls is peaceful. Zero wind and even some sun breaks. All in all, a successful "A+" trip. Nice to take advantage of a beautiful January day.

Arrived just after 0800 this morning. Only one other car in the lot. It was absolutely POURING. We went in about .75 miles and turned back at a decent size water crossing. Not many stable rocks to hop around on and we didn't feel comfortable having our dog navigate that crossing today. We made the sad decision to turn back and try again later this winter. I think most people would be fine crossing, it wasn't terribly deep. The entire trail is a flowing stream due to the rain up until that crossing lol. 

We decided to hike back to the junction and explore part way up the Quartz Creek trail. Haven't been on that trail before and had no idea how long it was. We turned back after our waterproof layers were just too saturated. 

We ended the day just shy of 2 miles. Bummer, but there is always next week!