Oxbow Lake Trail
With the newly paved Snoqualmie River Middle Fork road making the middle fork area more accessible, DNR has made substantial improvements with the new Granite Creek Connector trailhead parking lot (to be opened soon) and trailhead signage between Mailbox Peak trailhead and Taylor River campground.  One roadside trailhead sign that stirred my curiosity was the one at Oxbow Trail.  I had driven past that point many times, but never noticed a trail entrance.  That called for more exploration. There is a bulletin board at the trailhead, but it carries no information (yet).  The trail is narrow and overgrown.  The biggest surprise when approaching Oxbow Lake was when I was happening on a bridge construction site, a sturdy steel-frame bridge and stacks of wooden planks for the bridge decking ready to be installed.  How in the world did they bring the all construction material to this remote and otherwise inaccessible location?  Plans for the Midfork area showed the horseshoe-shaped Oxbow trail connecting to the road at two points, but only one entry point could be found.  So this is a project in progress, can't wait for it to be finished.  Oxbow Lake is a swampy pond with no direct access to the edge of the water.  A good mosquito breeding pond.  The overgrown trail between the bridge construction site and the river for a short distance follows what looks like an old logging road or railroad cut, then ends in view of the river.

Headed out the gorgeous Middle Fork Road to see what family friendly spot we could find for a light hike. Stopped and parked at the "Oxbow Trail" sign just passed the Bessemer pull off. GreenTrails maps have a marked out old road circling the oxbow lake and we gave it a try.

The trail is obvious to follow. Up and down some humps (previously referred to as "tank traps") and through the dense foliage (filled with ripe and ripening salmonberries) you wander a ways without much trouble. It looks like some group is working very hard on improving the trail as we stumbled on what looked like airdropped puncheons for a shiny little steel bridge crossing a currently dry segment between the muddy lake bends.

Beyond the bridge (going around was simple) we found more berries and more dense greenery. The muddy trail attested only to the passage of deer in the form of numerous tracks. Eventually, though, the stinging nettles got the better of us and our toddler hiker and we turned back for tamer environs near Mine Creek.

I doubt we'll be back for anything other than a quick berry picking excursion on the way to other spots along the road. Unless you feel like a brush bash to enjoy some nice second growth other options abound in the area.