This is a quick one since the road is to the trailhead is the paved section of Mountain Loop, and the trail itself is a roadbed so it's all easy to hike. Plus the river is low enough this time of year that it's nearly dry and you can almost step over the remaining running water so it's about as easy as it can get.
I decided to bike in this time, which only took an hour. Even though I only have a hybrid bike and am not at all a mountain biker, it was easily doable. There's a few sections I needed to walk, particularly around the river, but aside from that it was a pretty nice bike ride and made what would have been a monotonous solo hike much more enjoyable.
On the way back I opted to explore the CERCLA road. It looks like there was some recent work along it because all of the blowdowns were cleared except for three that you could duck under. I was able to bike it nearly continuously back to the highway and then rode up the short stretch back to the trailhead. It would seem that in the future this could be a viable option for biking into town when the river is high and crossing with a bike would be difficult. I guess we'll have to see how much that road deteriorates in the coming years.
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