I have never hiked on Taylor Mountain and we opted for a close to home hike today. We started at the Elk Ridge / Carey Creek trailhead just before 9:00. No other cars were parked there and it was a reprieve from all the crowded trailheads on nearby Issaquah Alps trails. It was 44 degrees, all the trail foliage was very wet and skies were overcast with heavy dense clouds just south of us. We hiked up Elk Ridge, turned right on Sherwood and left up Road H. We went all the way to the unofficial summit but no major views today with the low cloud ceiling. It was surprising you could see the Olympics in the distance but nothing of the Cascades. Several places had cable chains across the trail stating closed. These were easy to step over or walk under. Another hiker mentioned these are put in place October through April to discourage equestrian use during that time to limit trail degradation.
The trail had a few muddy sections, most of the maple leaves have fallen and they made the rocky sections dicey as you could not see potential ankle twisting situations. The forested area was beautiful as well as the rushing stream. On our descent, we started down Knee Knocker Trail and poked around checking out a couple side spurs. I would not recommend this trail it’s surface was very uneven and super rocky. We did have a pheasant walk across the trail in front of us so that made it worth the effort in the long run. Lots of road intersected the trail and didn’t seem as fun as walking on actual hiking paths. Our 7.5 mile loop was very uncrowded we passed 2 other hikers, 2 horse riders with 3 dogs. Interestingly, the horse riders had no qualms about riding their horses on the closed trail sections. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch break along the stream and got back to our cars at 1:45. Another amazing day to be out in nature.
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