Garfield Ledges, Middle Fork Connector Trail — Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023

I wasn't sure what to expect driving down the middle fork valley road.  The snow level on the surrounding mountains looked to be more than a thousand feet higher but the valley always seems to be around ten degrees colder than North Bend and the road only gets intermittent plowing.  At the beginning the road was fully clear all the way to the black top with just some residual snow on the sides.  You still need to drive cautiously as many fallen branches etc have only been cleared to close to the road edge making the travel lanes narrower than you think.  The road pretty much stayed that way until the double dip creek section closer to the upper end.  After that there was some low ridges of snow/ice, but you can ride your vehicle either side with wheels on bare pavement.  The main lot was sort of plowed (pictured) but there's enough room for sedans to land on the clear spaces and being flat lots of later arriving cars had no issues either with the snow/ice turn.  The pull out at Camp Brown immediately before the middle fork trail head was plowed clear so we used the outhouses there - always seem to be nice and clean and stocked too.  So much better than the one at the MF lot.

I always like to park in the main lot as it make the short ledges hike a bit more substantial and avoids dealing with the gnarly pot holes at the Taylor River bridge.  Plus the connector trail is a best kept secret of lovely mossy trees and winding class A trail.  With the ice in the parking lot we donned our spikes and then less than a minute up the trail took them off again!  There is quite a bit of snow on the deeper part of the connector trail but it's a few inched packed nothing burger, just boots are plenty and we didn't want to bang our spikes up on leaf covered rocks.  Once over the Taylor River bridge we started up the ledge trail.  Very little snow on the trail, boots again were fine.  I broke out my poles at the hairpin overlooking Quartz Valley (pictured) as there's always more snow on that section but again boots are really all that's needed for both the up and down.  Just a couple of small blow downs to step over or around.  The trail bed is now no longer the smooth tread of its opening year and a little rocky in places, but the view at the ledge is as stunning as ever.  With the rivers in full throat the view down to the confluence of the Taylor and Middle fork was the star today.  Great misty clouds were rising up from the valley floor but with the sun strengthening the ledge was a warm place to stay awhile.  On our return we hiked over the entry way bridge turning left for the first view point but sadly the top of Garfield was now shrouded in cloud.

Then it was a fun drive out of the valley admiring the road side vistas of snowy mountain tops and blue skies.