Beautiful hike. Way better than the # of stars might indicate. Sun-dappled forest, lots of sweet stream crossings, occasional beautiful views of the small mountains around North Bend. Very easy hike - minimal elevation gain/loss after the first mile up the gravel road, which was also fairly easy.

Back on the trail! Happy to say we finally made our way back out for the first time in well over a month. Our group of SEVEN met at the Oxbow Loop parking area (nice double privy there, well stocked and reasonably clean) at 10 looking forward to hiking the CCC Blowout Creek trail and experience the NEW BRIDGES added.

The first bridge over Blowout is right after leaving the CCC road. What a nice improvement! I'll include a picture of the sketchy old log crossing that a friend of mine once slipped off of. The new bridge is huge and sturdy and no slips to be had anymore. 

We proceeded up the trail crossing numerous small flows and eventually came to the second new bridge, an equally impressive and wonderful addition to this trail. After crossing that we had to stop when the third major water crossing DIDNT have a bridge and it looked pretty, slippery, wet, and steep sided. Can anyone request a third bridge? We stopped here and ate lunch and it was fine, though we didn't reach our goal of Brawling Creek this time.

Headed back and were back at the cars by 1:15 or so. This hike is quiet and secluded (saw only one other hiker on the way out), is much better now with the bridges and is a favorite of mine, having hiked it now half a dozen times.

Lastly, can anyone tell me how they built those bridges? Were the flown in by copter, or built right there? Seems like a pretty great engineering feat. And who built them... WTA?

A late start on a nice weekend day meant heading for a low traffic trail choice.  The CCC trail is always a good one and knowing there's a new bridge on this section I was hoping to explore more.  Parking was easy at the main Oxbow lot and we then took the connector (two small blow downs there), and the short road walk to arrive at the "blue gate" - the formal start of this trail.  The hike then follows the Bessemer mountain trail up the gated road.  It's about a mile (to the CCC trail) and a bit more huffy than I remembered.  A few nice views to the north west and some impressive Alder groves to walk past, but still just a road.  Once at the turn the new bridge can not be missed it's very impressive built for those with both legs and hooves.  So with high hopes we set off (west) on the CCC trail proper.  The trail dips and rises as you hop over multiple creeklets but all good so far.  Then there was a blow down followed by the first bigger water crossing, poles out for that but with well placed step rocks still good.  At about a half mile from the bridge there was an even bigger crossing, a gusher with the last two step rocks well under fast water (pictured), a no go for what was supposed to be an afternoon ramble.

Retracing our steps back to the bridge we passed a work crew clearing a blow down on the road-trail, and followed the road higher to where the CCC trail crosses the blown out creek bed heading east.  You can find the crossing at the "pink tape" and the blow out is essentially dry.  Once on the far bank things were more confusing.  Visible "blue tape" just lead off into the jumble of forest.  Thinking like a road engineer we checked higher and spied the trail behind a series of new blow downs (pictured).  Not wanting  to climb through the mess we called it a day and headed home.  There are great views across the valley on the way back and the temps were very mild so not a bad way to finish our four miles total.

Definitely a good option for a rainy Sunday hike!

Road conditions: The rain was very strong on I-90, make sure to turn your headlights on for visibility! The Middle Fork road was clear and easy to drive on, though some tree debris did sometimes spill over the edge of the road. Parked at the first small parking lot past the gate.

Trail conditions: Shiny new bridges are in place on two of the creek crossings (Big Blowout Creek and Wise Creek). All other creek crossings were manageable. Some downed trees on the trail, but all could be navigated around. Great views between Wise Creek and Brawling Creek (even on an overcast day)!

Crowds: No one else on the trail today, though did see a few cars parked at the small parking lot for the Oxbow Loop Trail.

We walked the section from the Bessemer turnoff (new bridge) to Brawling Creek and back. The new bridges are nice, the last report is correct in that the second bridge is over the widest fork of Wise Creek. The farthest fork of Wise requires a bit of careful footing to dip down to the bank and rock hop, but it's entirely doable. 

The CCC Plateau was very brisk but not yet icy or snow covered, I cleared a small blowdown that was walk-overable in this section. Figured might as well get it out of there for the mountain cyclists. 

The trail was quiet and we encountered no one, although we did see what appeared to be some cougar tracks in the fresh sand just over the new bridge across Blowout Creek. Returned back to the Oxbow overflow lot just in time to miss the incoming rain. 

RT 7.94m/828ft