The CCC Road Trail is a great low elevation hike in the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River area, especially now that recent improvements were made to the trail. Using national "stimulus" money, the Forest Served reworked much of the old road to make it more natural and interesting to hike on. Most notably, culverts were removed, replaced by fords in many spots. Handy stepping stones help out with crossing the larger streams. The road/ trail climbs high on the sunny side of the valley, nice on a clear December day. There's a lot to see on the CCC trail. Peek-a-boo vistas are frequent and give views of high snowy peaks such as the Russian Buttes. Mossy cliffs and tumbling creeks abound. We started at the east end of the trail and hiked about 5 miles west to a good viewpoint near Green Mountain, where the road cuts through a steep, granite-cliffed slope. This viewpoint is about 2 miles west of the point where the CCC Road Trail follows the Bessemer Mountain Logging Road for a third of a mile. The condition of the CCC Road trail is good. There are a few muddy stretches that could use some work, and a tree has fallen down on the trail about 1 mile from the east trailhead. A motorcycle recently drove on the trail, leaving some ugly gouges in its tread. The Forest Service needs to discourage that sort of misuse, perhaps by putting up a barrier and sign at the east trailhead.

This was an easy trail to enjoy the forest on a cloudy & foggy day. It is not stellar, but if you are close to the Middle Fork Road and short on time, this is a great hike. The CCC road and the creek crossings are in excellent condition - it's easy to see that recent work has been done on the trail. Once you get off of the forest road and onto the CCC road, the forest is quite pleasant and there are many enjoyable creek crossings. We saw a few small mushrooms, several small frogs, and one large frog. The berries are just about gone, and the fall colors are only just starting. There is a sign on the gate indicating that a Discover Pass is required.

Hiked up, leaving the car at about 10am. It's true what others have said, that Blowout creek itself is less impressive than other creeks encountered much earlier on the trail. We hiked a ways past that, to a downed sign indicating 4.0 miles. Had lunch, then turned around. Round trip it took about 3.5 hours, with a couple of short breaks. The hike is not technically challenging, with most uphill happening at front, but still not ever too steep. The problems arise mostly from how buggy the trail is, and the very small number of only modestly impressive views. Most of this hike is in the trees. Also, finding places for a quick bathroom break are tough, as you never are really able to get off the trail due to it all being on the side of a pretty steep hill. There is plenty of water to be had if you've brought a filter. Wildlife wise, we saw a couple of large frogs and a toad, as well one turkey vulture that landed in a tree downslope of the path, making it about even with us, and pretty close as well. Had a great view of it without needing binoculars. There were several fruiting huckleberry bushes, but the berries were not quite ripe yet.

On Saturday, we enjoyed a quiet walk on the 1600' high, remarkable flat CCC Plateau, located at the base of Green Mountain in the Mid-Fork area. The CCC Plateau was formed during the last Ice Age by rivers pouring clay, gravel, and sand into a glacial lake covering the North Bend area. Nearby Grouse Ridge, with its big gravel mine, is of the same origin. Now the CCC Plateau is a peaceful and little visited spot even on weekends (except when the DNR is doing a logging operation, which is not often). The area is now snow free, too, which is something a little hard to find right now in the Cascades. We followed a three mile loop of old logging roads that circles most of the plateau. It's an unexciting place offering only limited peeks at the surrounding Mid Fork mountains, but perfect for an easy peaceful stroll. The logging road closer to Green Mountain is little-driven and carpeted with moss and grass. Last time I tried this route, the logging road was blocked with blowdown, but since then the road has been maintained and it is easy going. The tricky part of the hike is getting to the CCC Plateau. The quickest way is to ignore all of the unfriendly signs and drive to the DNR gate at the end of the Mt. Si road, but limited parking and hostile neighbors makes this problematic. Or you can park at the Mt. Teneriffe bus turnaround and walk the same road to the DNR gate, adding another mile to the hike. Another possible access point is the Bessemer Mountain Road. Park at the gate by the Mid Fork Road, hike up the Bessemer Road to the CCC road junction, then follow that path west to the Plateau.

The only challenge for this hike is finding the CCC cut-off from the logging road. We missed it first try, as did the folks who submitted the trail report in 2009. Quite a bit before the logging station that the 2009 trail report mentions, the logging road turns sharply right, essentially taking over the CCC road. The CCC trail to the left (west to Brawling Creek) is found by passing through a cut passage in a large tree trunk lying on top of a pile of debris, very easy to miss. But, if you look over the log, you see the path on the other side of a creek crossing. At spring run-off, the crossing must be perilous, as must be several other creek-crossings along this trail. But this day it was an easy walk without problem. And, the CCC trail in this direction can hardly qualify as a double track or help you imagine a road once there: it is peaceful (no sounds from I-90) and wildish. We saw fresh hoof tracks and scat on the trail and were probably glad we did not run into any animal that was big enough to leave them behind! The other thing to be aware of is that this hike is not one to take if you want an emphatic end-point. At this time of year, at least, Brawling Creek Falls is no more outstanding than other small cascades along this trail. As a matter of fact, we walked right by it until the CCC trail turned into a boring gravel road, obviously recently traveled. (This road perhaps explains why we have never been able to find the Lower Trailhead of the CCC trail, only a gravel road that warns "Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted." We are thinking that this gravel road runs over the old CCC trail to the west of Brawling Creek.) The positives of this hike are: lovely patches of foxglove, some six-foot tall; a varied forest from moss-covered evergreens to new-growth; some great views of the upper Snoqualmie Valley peaks. (Be sure to look behind you while you are still hiking up the logging road wherever the road opens up.) You will know Brawling Creek Falls by the fact that it is soon after the best view of the trail. The unobstructed view (You can only see previous views by looking through the trees.)is at a section of trail with a solid granite wall on the right. The Falls itself looks like a carefully constructed rock garden, charming but not a WOW. Because of the change from trail to gravel road, we would not recommend going beyond the Falls.