Today's cloudy and slightly misty weather was perfect to enjoy this hike. The goal was to see some old growth trees that I've identified previously just off trail. One tree that is fairly easy to find is the 9 Hour Giant. It's about 100 ft north of the trail and easy to miss because it's a dark forest. I have it marked on my all trails tracing to make it easy for you to find. The other trees that we explored were on the south side of the trail and off trail navigation here is very difficult. Lots of duff holes and brush including devil's club. This is primarily a hemlock forest but there are several very large Douglas fir trees buried within. The largest of the firs in this section is about 9 ft in diameter.
The April 2018 Landslide that took out a large portion of the old trail forced a reroute above the landslide. This was impressive construction since they had to cut through some large granite stones using a special rock chainsaw. You can see some of the chainsaw marks on the photographs that I took. On the return trip I made the poor choice of trying to take the old trail and through the landslide area. In the past 7 years this has become terribly overgrown with salmonberry. If you try doing this then expect to be face whipped a few times. I also attached a drone video that I took two weeks after the landslide back in 2018.
Comments
- Uli on Middle Fork Snoqualmie River
I think I remember that some people gave you crap for "illegally" flying a drone in the wilderness, not knowing that the lower elevation of the middle fork valley upstream from the gateway bridge is NOT wilderness, and thus drones are legal there. I saw the crack in the trail a short while before the slide happened, and have gone through it a few times before the bypass trail was finished, but not since. I'm sure it's a bit challenging now!
Posted by:
- Uli on Nov 23, 2025 04:54 PM
Maddy on Middle Fork Snoqualmie River
Good memory...lol
Posted by:
Maddy on Nov 23, 2025 06:44 PM
AlpsDayTripper on Middle Fork Snoqualmie River
Thanks for the video! We've unsuccessfully tried to piece together what happened with how it currently looks, the video has cleared it up.
Posted by:
AlpsDayTripper on Nov 24, 2025 08:24 AM