The trail is open! There are nice bridges on both forks of Big Blowout Creek. The rest of the water crossings can all be managed without getting your feet wet. There are a few blowdowns along the trail, but none pose significant difficulties.

Began my hike on the CCC Trail from the DNR blue gate on the Bessemer Road from the Middle Fork Road. After crossing the road bridge (it has a new wood deck) over Big Blowout Creek I came to the old gravel pit area that I heard that DNR is proposing for a parking lot for this trail. The bear proof garbage can is still there that was left back in October 2023. When I got to the CCC Trail I turned left and crossed over the bridge at Big Blowout Creek and headed southwest. It a short time I came to the only tree over the trail. A large Western Hemlock had fallen down and you need the climb over it. In about one mile I came to the second bridge on the trail over a fork of Wise Creek. This one had lots of flowers growing by it. There are many creek crossing on this trail with rock hops where trekking poles are handy. Two of them are in big gullies. Some sections of the trail are over grown and need to be brushed out. I went by some Granite Rock areas that had water running down them. I knocked down the evergreen sticker bushes using my trekking poles.

After crossing Brawling Creek through a flat area, I got to the unsigned junctions with the Green Mountain Trail going west and the Sitka Spruce Trail heading east. At the end of the trail section of the CCC Trail 3 miles from Big Blowout Creek where it meets the drive able section of the DNR CCC Road I saw where the DNR had built a new trail going southwest on the east side of the CCC Road. They had a Trail Closed sign as it has been under construction in 2023 and 2024 and is not open yet. I turned around here and headed back. After crossing the Wise Creek Bridge I found a nice flat rock for my lunch bench at a small creek crossing. The only wildlife I saw was one small frog and a few butterflies enjoying the flowers along the trail. Bugs were not bad. Made for a quiet hike in the Middle Fork Valley with no crowds (never saw any other hikers) with the only sound that of the many creeks I crossed. A cool breeze was blowing part of the time. My hike was 8.2 miles round trip. George

Hello...Our today hiking cohort of five met today at Oxbow Loop at 10. Lovely day, blue skies, warm spring temp. The lot has two privies and we found the one on the LEFT to be the one to choose. Cleaner, better, and stocked.

Headed out for a stroll around Oxbow, clockwise. Its always so pretty and today extra pretty. Headed around the whole loop, about a mile or more until we got to the finish and after a short break we headed out down the street to the left to the entrance of CCC Blowout at the blue gate. Walking on the road was only about .1 mile so back into the forest we went.

The old Bessemer Road was about a mile, uphill and most of it was in the sun, so we were happy to reach the new bridge on the left over Blowout Creek and head out into the cool, flat forest trail. We walked to the second bridge, maybe a mile or so, then stopped for lunch. By this time it was 1, so we'd been moving along for almost three hours at this point, albeit slowly. Sat by the stream, had a nice long lunch then headed back the way we came. 

Got back to our cars, still at Oxbow, about 2:30 and said our goodbyes until next hike.

I like these two trails for the easy drive in, the flat elevation, and the scenic solitude they provide. We really only saw four people total on both trails today. MJB

I took this from the Bessemer gate to Brawling Creek and back today. I had planned on going further up to the promontory on Green but am nursing a bit of a bum wheel. Add to that you've pretty much got the same view from the CCC Plateau. Deceptively easy, this route is perfect for those wanting a little uphill but nowhere near a proper mountain hike. Saw 1 other hiker, 1 dog and 1 snake. 

RT 6.6m/699ft 

Fun bike tour with my rehabbing friend kidz won't hike. We parked at the Oxbow trailhead and rode over to the Bessemer Road and up to the Blowout Creek crossing. I'd never been past Brawling Creek and kidz had never been on this segment of the CCC trail so off we went. It turned out to be a really nice day with great views of peaks across the valley: Russian Butte, Little Comrade, Revolution Peak, Zorro Point, Mailbox, and North Webb. The trail is a bit muddy in spots but otherwise in good shape. There are many creeks to cross, some easily biked through and some we had to carry our bikes across. All had well placed rocks. There are also tall mossy cliffs along the way. We rode all the way past the Green Mountain Trail to the well graded CCC road and took a hard right. Where the road meets the Green Mountain Trail, we looped back down to the trail and back out. The map shows a total of 9.37 miles with 1000' of gain.