Oxbow Loop Trail — Wednesday, Jul. 5, 2017

Oxbow Lake Trail
With the newly paved Snoqualmie River Middle Fork road making the middle fork area more accessible, DNR has made substantial improvements with the new Granite Creek Connector trailhead parking lot (to be opened soon) and trailhead signage between Mailbox Peak trailhead and Taylor River campground.  One roadside trailhead sign that stirred my curiosity was the one at Oxbow Trail.  I had driven past that point many times, but never noticed a trail entrance.  That called for more exploration. There is a bulletin board at the trailhead, but it carries no information (yet).  The trail is narrow and overgrown.  The biggest surprise when approaching Oxbow Lake was when I was happening on a bridge construction site, a sturdy steel-frame bridge and stacks of wooden planks for the bridge decking ready to be installed.  How in the world did they bring the all construction material to this remote and otherwise inaccessible location?  Plans for the Midfork area showed the horseshoe-shaped Oxbow trail connecting to the road at two points, but only one entry point could be found.  So this is a project in progress, can't wait for it to be finished.  Oxbow Lake is a swampy pond with no direct access to the edge of the water.  A good mosquito breeding pond.  The overgrown trail between the bridge construction site and the river for a short distance follows what looks like an old logging road or railroad cut, then ends in view of the river.