Walked a messy crosscross “X” along the trails at Bridle Trails state park early Sunday morning in the surprisingly nice sunshine. Parking at the main gravel lot off 116th Ave NE is plentiful and requires a Discover Pass as per normal. There is some signage indicating restrooms were closed for the season, but that was not the case today and they were open, fully functional and in good condition.
The trails remain a combination of wide double track and single track dirt and are in surprisingly good condition given the amount of recent blowdown. I talked with the ranger as we were leaving for a bit to thank him and his crew for getting everything cleared. He said it was not the worst storm they’ve had but they did have over 60 significant trees they had to clear. One other side effect of all the recent cut up trees is that you can count the rings to see exactly when the forest was replanted after the initial logging years ago - I counted 73 years, so the replant must have been about 1950? One additional trail note - the local water dept is still working on their project on the very southern end of the park right where the power lines run through so that area is closed to the public during the week requiring some easy trail detouring.
Not an overwhelming amount of wildlife out, some little douglas squirrels, woodpeckers, towhees, chickadees, etc. There is signage about a recently spotted black bear though we saw/heard no evidence. We did however see some coyote sign so keep little fluffy on a leash for safety. One final kind of unusual thing - everybody was so darn friendly and full of smiles. I guess a little chunk of woods can be a very good thing sometimes. A beautiful morning.
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