Marten Creek — Friday, Jul. 15, 2022

Good parking, room for four or five cars if angle parked (pulling in to the log rounds in the parking area).  Additional parking to the East and West of the trailhead.

My GPS distance was 3.1 miles to the river crossing from the trailhead.

This hike is in the Boulder River Wilderness.  Marten Creek Trail provides solitude and peacefulness and is a perfect hike on a warm sunny day with its tree canopy as you travel through the forest.  It’s been well groomed by volunteers, so all logs, branches and brush are removed from the trailhead to the stream crossing that is three miles in.  The trail is really an old road from the early 1940’s that used to cross Granite Pass and go on to Darrington but has since been reclaimed by the forest.  Travel beyond the stream crossing at the end is a bushwhack for adventurers that may be looking for the old mine (some find it) or evidence of the old road (not heard of anyone finding it).

To me, the trail has three different sections.  The first mile or so gains 1000’ so it’s a bit of a climb.  You travel through a tree seed study plot one half-mile up the trail that was established in 1915 and has some signage; tags are visible on some of the trees.  Short sections of the trail have suffered erosion, exposing rocks, but footing is never a problem.

The second section, after the climb, pretty much rolls along with a bit more uphill.  It’s wide and brush free and has a couple of short break-outs where Three Fingers can be seen to the Northwest.  There are parts where you feel like you are going through a tunnel with vine maple up-hill and evergreens on the downhill side.

The third section becomes more adventurous with the trail a bit narrower and occasional washouts that actually provide some interest rather than difficulty.  At one place the trail takes a sharp turn up-hill to the right and then turns left where you walk on a giant log to continue the trail.  It’s well marked but if not paying attention, you could step over a barrier and end up off trail wondering what happened.  At the very end, by the river, a large flat rock is brushed out for a nice rest stop.