kidzwonthike and I summited Moolock today starting from the CCC Blowout Trail. While we summited, I am more thankful of anything else that we got back to the trailhead safely and in one piece.

Today was honestly a Type 2.5 day where I made some really stupid mistakes/judgment calls which could have resulted in serious injury or death, dealing with avalanche conditions.

Route Taken

We walked up the Blowout Creek Trailhead starting from Oxbow Trail. At the CCC trail intersection, we turned left, crossed the creek over the wobbly log, walked a bit further down the CCC trail, then turned right and went towards the unofficial mountain bike trail system.

The traverse to the start of the trail system was flattish with some minor stream crossings, but I definitely wish we had brought loppers: a lot of eye height slide alder and thistle berry bush branches were whapping us in the face, which made for an unpleasant walk in/out; it felt like I was in a production of “50 shades of slide alder” (not my kink).

We got to a section of forest that we thought was the right fork of the trail and started ascending.. huh? Where in the hell was the trail?! After about 750’ of bushwhacking over roots, limbs, and wet ferns, we decided to head over to the trail after crossing the stream. After some poking around we found what looked like a trail, and started following it up.

The trail is pretty cool for foot traffic, but probably should only be done by Evil Kenevils on bikes (so many jumps and sharp corners 😂). The switchbacks were tight, but no worse than Putrid Pete’s Peak in the forested section.

At the second road intersection was where we put our snowshoes on (cause, why not?) and pushed up the ridge to the next road switchback.

Once we got above treeline (or at least the non-logged area?), the snowpack deepened considerably: we were looking at snow drifts at least 3’ in between large boulders which hadn’t been fully filled in (not so fun when we found holes or tripped). Once we got up on the road it got easier (a simple flat walk on less deep ground). We were still pushing a lot of fresh powder, but it wasn’t as deep, and it hadn’t sluffed enough that I was worried about walking on the outer edges (near the wind-loaded berm).

We walked up the road towards the high point between Bootalicous and Moolock. Our goal was to try walking it, since we were concerned about traveling up or across exposed avalanche prone slopes; some of the slope angles unloaded were way over 35 degrees, so they were likely well over 35 degrees loaded with snow. The ridge had a ton of obstructions though: tight tree cover, icy/exposed boulders, and sheer drop offs along a knife edge ridge between trees. So, we had to do a lot of sidehilling over unstable snowpack to bypass the obstructions. To mitigate issues I compressed the soft snow to create a walkway we could both used that stayed as level as possible, switchbacking up when needed, using tree cover for protection.

This didn’t work out though in the end and we had to drop down a couple hundred feet and go along an exposed section by a partly covered boulder field to the saddle, dodging tree wells in the process. We descended one at a time and avoided overlapping in switchbacks because there was a storm slab layer that was incredibly reactive and prone to sliding; I triggered several D1 avalanches easily with my snowshoes by cutting at the right angle in/near terrain we disturbed. One of the sections was where I triggered a 2’ by 2’ storm slab which broke cleanly over the layer directly below it. I panicked and warned kidzwonthike, but was thankful that the slab stopped sliding due to tree cover and didn’t entrain more snow to create a larger slab avalanche.

Once we got over to the saddle, I counted my lucky stars and said “eff this, I never want to come back here”, so I pushed up towards the false summit, then traversed the tight ridge to the true summit. Had to hop over some trees and boulders, like I did going from Thompson to Revolution, but at least this section was sheltered from avalanche risk. Once we got to the final open area, I snaked in between boulders along the ridge line (which was less snow covered due to wind scouring), then said “yippeee kai yayyyy mother…” (insert rest of phrase here from Die Hard).

I was getting blasted with wind fetch in the side of the face going 10mph+, but I was happy I never had to come back here (for this mountain at least 🤣).

The way down we went one at a time and I tried to carefully cut a low angle track in the boulder field around partly snow covered boulders. We took the road back to our down track and walked out in the dark, talking about documentaries and other stuff, taking the “trail” down instead of going over wet ferns 🤪. So. Many. Bike. Jumps.

Please see kidzwonthike’s trip report for the rest of the story.. I’m sure his perspective is quite different from mine 😅.

Road Conditions

Trace snow on the side of the road on the way in, but trace snow collecting on the road itself on the way out; the temperatures were around freezing, so the snow was slushy, but sticking (I drove carefully on the way out).

Snow Conditions

There were lots of instability/avalanche concerns out on the mountain today. Please read my NWAC observation (linked) if you want more gory details about what I saw.

Be very careful if venturing out in deeper snowpack in the near future around Snoqualmie Pass/Stevens Pass, as the issues of concern weren't brought up in the main 12/13~12/14 daily NWAC report (they were in the more detailed section as a footnote) and the issue will likely continue to be of concern for some time.

Walked up the road towards Bessemer/Moolock. Just processing things.

Snow starts shortly after the borrow pit. The creeks and Middlefork are raging right now, so best of luck fording them safely.

Needed a little escape from the city, so despite the rainy weather I headed out to Middle Fork Snoqualmie.  Parking was a little sketch because the directions say not to park in front of the gate, so there were really only one or two feasible spots but I was the only car there when I arrived.  You walk up the logging road for about a mile and then as it veers right, look for a sign that says "trail" and a creek crossing over a log.  It's a little shaky, but generally sturdy enough for an adult human.

I immediately enjoyed this section more...it felt like a mythical fairyland.  I was lucky in that it didn't start raining hard until the very end of my hike.  The trail is straightforward from here, although "Brawling Creek" was unremarkable and could have been any of the numerous creeks you cross on this trail.  However, they were all pleasant crossings and kept things interesting.  I think fall is the best time to hike this trail because you can marvel at the beautiful fall foliage and today there was a bright glow behind the gray rainclouds which added a stunning ambiance.  

I think I clocked 8 miles roundtrip because I checked on Google Maps when I got home and it's 4 miles to the intersection of the other logging road where I stopped, so ended up going an extra mile which is fine.  All in all, only ran into two bikers and one runner so it was a peaceful little forest stroll...exactly what I wanted!

Headed up the Middle Fork Road out of North Bend to see if I could do a loop hike off the Bessemer Road-Trail and the CCC Road-Trail. I parked at the small lot for the Oxbow Loop Trail. There was a van parked there with three guys getting ready for a mountain bike ride. I walked back down the Middle Fork Road to the start of the Bessemer Road by the DNR blue gate. Just before getting to the bridge over Big Blowout Creek the three guys passed me riding their bikes up the road. When I got up to the junction with the CCC Road-Trail I turned right. The Bessemer Road continues past where the CCC Trail turns off, crosses the gulley washer creek and heads east. Going up the road I was soon at the rock stock pile yard with a sign reading "Danger, Active Haul Road". There is some equipment here and a truck scale. I could tell this road has not been used in quite some time. After a couple switchbacks I was at the first big creek crossing where a rain storm a few years ago washed out the road, took out the culvert and made a deep gulley going down the hill side. Easy to get across on foot or bike. Passed another switchback I was at the same creek where another culvert had been washed out. It would be hard to drive a vehicle through this area. Both the creek crossings have waterfalls.

After crossing the creek I began looking for an old spur road taking off to the the left (downhill side of the road) between the creek and the next switchback on the Bessemer Road. I got up to the switchback and had not seen any sign of the spur road to start the loop part of my hike. I came back down the road and looked downhill to see if I could spot an old road bed, but did not see anything. My Green Trails Map "Mount Si - No 174" showed the old spur road taking off from the switchback itself while another map showed it back down hill from the switchback. After scouting around I finally found where the trail began. It takes off from the end of a water bar. The trail goes down steeply for a short ways and gets to the old road bed. It does not look like a road anymore, just a trail now. The area was logged off 50 or 60 years ago. I went west and got to a nice trail to hike on with log and rock bridges across small creeks that were running. This trail contoured the hillside, so was not steep. After hiking on this trail, I'll call it the "Trail With No Name" for about 0.7 miles I came to a junction. The TWNN went up hill while the Peeler Trail turned off to the left. There is a sign on a tree for this trail. As I started down the trail, the three mountain bikers I had seen at the beginning of my hike showed up. They had come in on a different trail. They zoomed down the Peeler Trail and were soon out of sight. Going down this trail was an adventure. Some parts were good to hike on, others were steep and I had to watch my footing. It is supposed to be about 1.2 miles on this trail, but seems much longer. About half way down this switchback trail to the CCC Trail I came to another old road bed. The trail used it only for about 50 yards, then continued down hill. It was getting to be lunch time, so I found a fallen tree for a bench. After eating I went down the trail and came to another junction. I turned left to do my loop hike. A little before getting to the junction with the CCC Trail I came to a place in the trail I did not want to go down. It was super steep for about 25 feet down. You would be sliding down if you tried hiking on it. A short way back up the trail I found a good spot to go down the hill side. I used a cedar branch for a vegie belay and was soon back down on level ground. Then it was a short hike out to the CCC Trail not too far from Big Blowout Creek and the Bessemer Road junction to finish my loop part of the hike. Looked like the TWNN and Peeler Trails were built many years ago.

Once on the CCC Trail I decided to hike it west about a half mile to the West Fork of Big Blowout Creek. This part of the CCC Trail does not see much use so some sections are getting overgrown and need to be brushed out. When I got to the WF of Blowout Creek I saw a nice waterfall. After taking a photo I headed back to the junction with the Bessemer Road at Big Blowout Creek. Back at the junction I met the only other hikers I had seen all day. A young couple who had done a hike on the CCC Trail.

Doing this loop hike it is not for the casual hiker in sneakers. I recommend having trekking poles for going down the Peeler Trail for its steep sections. I left a small rock cairn at the start of the TWNN off the Bessemer Road at the water bar. The Peeler Trail and the TWNN are shown on All Trails and CalTopo Maps, but not on Green Trails since they are not Forest Service or DNR Trails. DNR has plans to put in a real bridge over Big Blowout Creek on the CCC Trail when they get the funding.

Made for a good adventure hike by doing a lollypop loop off the Bessemer Road. Always fun hiking a "new" trail to me after 68 years of hiking at 72. This is a loop I'll only do one time. George.

Enticed by reports of few hikers on this trail we were lured during the busy July 4th weekend and handsomely rewarded. During our ~8.5 mile walkabout we encountered zero hikers and only one mountain biker on the Blowout Creek Trail. Totally shocking given how packed all the trailheads were up and down the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rd. The trail had some areas of moderate vegetation encroachment, but the route remained well defined throughout. All the stream and creek crossings were easily passable and served as welcomed opportunities to dip our hats in the cool runoff. We agree with previous posters that the “rushing water of Brawling Creek” was indiscernible from any of the other crossings. (We turned back when the trail encountered the old forest service road.) Thankfully most of the bugs that were previously reported must have vaporized during the great heat wave of 2021. In summary: unpopulated, overgrown at times, lots of narrow creek crossings with trickling waterfalls, not too buggy, salmon berries galore! (As an aside we highly recommend parking in the Oxbow lot and walking the first hundred yards or so of the Oxbow Loop to get a stunning panoramic view of the Middlefork River and surrounding mountain ranges!)