Middle Fork Snoqualmie River — Sunday, Mar. 21, 2010

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

The Middle Fork road is open to just past the Taylor River bridge, about 10 miles in from the Mailbox Peak trailhead. Ignore the sign there that says "road closed 5.6 miles ahead" - not true! Road is in reasonable good condition, no problem with my Prius. Parked near the middle fork bridge and headed upstream on the middle fork trail. The trail through the huge rock slides from last year (about 3 miles in) has been reconstructed, though no bridge has been built across the largest creek. A huge fallen tree that could have served as a bridge was cut into several pieces instead. So some rock hopping is required. About 4 miles in the trail is partly washed out near the river, it's a little muddy, but no problem to get through. The rest of the way to Cripple Creek and the Dingford Creek Bridge is in good shape. The rest of the way to Goldmeyer Hotsprings is also in generally good shape, with several logs across the trail and a few washouts, but nothing that poses any problem to the avid hiker or trail runner. Most important, there is a nice log bridge across Burnboot Creek, just before the hot springs. The last time I was at the hot springs (years ago) you had to cross the Middle Fork (to get to the road on the north side of the valley) on a questionable fallen log. Now there is a new bridge across that's suitable for mountainbikes and horses. Sidenote: a section of the old PCT that goes from Goldmeyer Hotsprings up to Red Mountain Pass and down to Snoqualmie Pass (via Commonwealth basin) is not on any map that's not at least 20 years old, but 6 years or so ago someone completely brushed it out and it is now easily hikable. However, it is hard to find from the middle fork trail as there are no trail signs. It is easy to find if you know how: On the south side of Burnboot creek (the far side from the hot springs) there is a sign on a tree that says "Burnboot Creek". Start at that sign and head upstream along along Burnboot creek for about 200 - 300 yards, following a visible, but clearly not officially maintained trail. After about 200 yards you'll see a sign that says "bikes prohibited", and "trail not maintained beond this point". The trail then turns away from the creek and soon starts to climb at about a 15% incline. It is very easy to follow all the way up to Red Mtn Pass. Word of CAUTION: The last 100 yards before the pass ascend a very steep, NE facing gully. It usually does not melt out til late August and if icy may require ice axe and crampons to ascent in early summer. There is no way around this gully except climbing up a rock face. Once it is melted out, there is a steep switchback trail that descends / ascends the gully. So a long day hike or over night trip could be: Alpental, Snow Lake, Middle Fork, hot springs, Red Mtn pass, Commonwealth basin, Alpental (I ran that loop several years ago in about 4:30h)