Garfield Ledges, Middle Fork Connector Trail — Monday, Dec. 23, 2024

With a rare opportunity to hike on a weekday I headed out to the Middlefork hoping to find solitude, and succeeded at that. It was a very quiet day even with the dry weather window (even Mailbox had parking available as I drove by around 10am).

I parked at the main Middlefork lot (nearly empty) and took the Connector Trail to the Taylor River bridge, then walked over to the Garfield Ledges trail and hiked that. I like to add the connector for some extra mileage on the short hike to the ledges, and it’s a lovely mossy forest with river and mountain views. (My sedan also prefers that I navigate the bridge potholes on foot!)

There was one tree down on the connector trail that required some maneuvering to get over (see photo). And one easy step over tree. Otherwise the trails were clear of obstacles and not as muddy as I thought they might be after all the rain.

Trail traffic was light, I only saw a few people on each trail.

And one of the toilets at Garfield Ledges was open, but TP supplies were low.