This is the second hike I did yesterday. I completed the Teneriffe Falls trail earlier in the day and as I was on the way home, I was thinking how great it would be to finally check this hike off my list since the weather was looking fantastic. I feel like there has been significant rain in the past few weekends. I turned around and decided to head up to Garfield Ledges.
As other trip reports mentioned, the road isn't bad until the last 0.2 miles to the parking area for Garfield Ledges. Even so, there were a few large potholes that were easily avoidable. I would just go slow. I drive a Honda Civic and made it here with no problem - going 3-5 mph at times.
The entire trail was very maintained - and it was very nice to walk through a moss filled, green and lush forest. Not sure why, but I really did enjoy seeing the exceptionally green moss on this trail. The trail was easy to follow. I thought there were going to be more stairs but it was only a short section - maybe about 0.1 to 0.2 miles of stairs. The trail was very easy to navigate and had a small viewpoint overlooking the valley.
I got to the top in 30 minutes after 1.1 miles and about 562 feet of elevation gain. I had the 'ledge' all to myself. Mist was rolling in and out and I could see the colors changing from afar. I sat here for a little while before heading back down to my car. The forest went from lush green to a rather spooky blue as the mist followed me into the lower elevations.
I'm not a huge fan of hiking in the dark so I trotted and ran a bit before making it to my car. I think the downhill trek took me about 20 mins. All in all, a great day to explore the Middle Fork Snoqualmie area once again. This is my 2nd time here this year after doing Taylor River/Otter Falls and I think this might be one of my new favorite areas to explore.
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