SSSHHH... don't tell anyone about this hike! Its now become one of our favorites!
This hike features mild elevation gain, beautiful streams, deep quiet forests, panoramic views across the valley, and some of the most solitude of any hike around North Bend/Snoqualime. Today my daughter and I saw NO ONE else in five hours of hiking. That's a first in fifty plus hikes in this area for me in the last three years.
We did see: a frog, a nest of two birds (one had a red head, sadly we couldn't get any pictures. Can anyone identify it?), black bear scat, wild flowers, and lots of variety of plants such as Coltsfoot, Thimble berry, Salmon berry, nettles, devils club, tons of ferns, salal and lots more. We might recommend wearing long hiking pants as some of the trail is brushy. We got lightly rained on as well but the brief showers were mixed with pleasant and warming sunshine.
We suggest parking in the Oxbow Loop parking lot just past the blue gate. It had a super clean privy and is just a short .2 mile backtrack walk along the road to the blue gated trailhead. We crossed the always sketchy log bridge at the beginning of the turnoff and over Blowout Creek easily this time and also the many other stream crossings along the way though caution is always advised as some of the rocks are tippy and slimy slippery.
Arrived at 10 left at 2:30 only car at Oxbow coming and going. The best.
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