CCC Road: Blowout Creek Trailhead — Tuesday, Jul. 13, 2010

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

The only challenge for this hike is finding the CCC cut-off from the logging road. We missed it first try, as did the folks who submitted the trail report in 2009. Quite a bit before the logging station that the 2009 trail report mentions, the logging road turns sharply right, essentially taking over the CCC road. The CCC trail to the left (west to Brawling Creek) is found by passing through a cut passage in a large tree trunk lying on top of a pile of debris, very easy to miss. But, if you look over the log, you see the path on the other side of a creek crossing. At spring run-off, the crossing must be perilous, as must be several other creek-crossings along this trail. But this day it was an easy walk without problem. And, the CCC trail in this direction can hardly qualify as a double track or help you imagine a road once there: it is peaceful (no sounds from I-90) and wildish. We saw fresh hoof tracks and scat on the trail and were probably glad we did not run into any animal that was big enough to leave them behind! The other thing to be aware of is that this hike is not one to take if you want an emphatic end-point. At this time of year, at least, Brawling Creek Falls is no more outstanding than other small cascades along this trail. As a matter of fact, we walked right by it until the CCC trail turned into a boring gravel road, obviously recently traveled. (This road perhaps explains why we have never been able to find the Lower Trailhead of the CCC trail, only a gravel road that warns "Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted." We are thinking that this gravel road runs over the old CCC trail to the west of Brawling Creek.) The positives of this hike are: lovely patches of foxglove, some six-foot tall; a varied forest from moss-covered evergreens to new-growth; some great views of the upper Snoqualmie Valley peaks. (Be sure to look behind you while you are still hiking up the logging road wherever the road opens up.) You will know Brawling Creek Falls by the fact that it is soon after the best view of the trail. The unobstructed view (You can only see previous views by looking through the trees.)is at a section of trail with a solid granite wall on the right. The Falls itself looks like a carefully constructed rock garden, charming but not a WOW. Because of the change from trail to gravel road, we would not recommend going beyond the Falls.