Day hike Monday June 29. 

11 frogs, 3 snakes, many creek crossings and zero bears. 

Wise Creek has many mini forks of itself with tiny falls, one of which has a good view of Russian Butte. 

Brawling Creek was a quiet spot for lunch and turnaround. 

Trail has good views up high closer to Brawling. Lots of ripe salmonberry and 6ft Foxglove. Overgrown a bit in sections, goes from normal width to very narrow to old road-wide and back. 

Parked at Oxbow, RT 7.5m/900ft 

You had me at salmonberries. 

I read the past few trip reports and the consensus seemed to be this was a great hike for snacks provided by the trail:) Besides the abundance of salmonberries pretty much lining the trail, this ended up being a great option if you are looking to hike on a trail with only a few people. The 3 parties we did see were very respectful with social distancing.  The trail as stated before follows an old service road. We arrived at 8:00 am and there was only 1 other car parked before the gate (you do need a discover pass). Once you reach the intersection of the CCC trail you take a left. There is a log bridge to cross. It happened to be a rainy day when I was hiking and I wasn’t feeling too confident walking over the log. I tried to find a spot downstream, but the rocks were too slippery. I ended up going back to the log bridge and scooting my bottom across (no shame!)  The trail is very brushy so an early morning dew or recent rain will leave you wet. Since it was already raining and I had put on rain gear I paid no mine. I was quite distracted with the berries to munch on. There are a few little water crossings and what to appears to be some washouts. Pretty manageable to cross with the rocks, logs and the use of trekking pole. It might be trickier if you have really little ones with you. According to the WTA site and GPS  the trail ends right after Brawling Creek. The trail definitely continues and is linked to other trails, but I decided to end and hike back the way I came. All in all a nice easy day outside just enjoying the rainy beauty of the PNW. Plus berries.

If you are interested in watching a little video of the hike - link and video down below. https://youtu.be/qDY0v84xWkI

I had a lovely solo hike today.  The trail was easy and not popular, both of which I wanted.  I only encountered one couple (twice) and tried hard to distance from them.  There were _so_ many ripe salmonberries!  Some were nearly red.  The trail is a bit overgrown.  I was on a bit of a time crunch, so I had to turn around at 2.85 miles from the gate, so I never saw the supposed waterfall.

Started our hike around 2:30pm. The parking by the gate was full (there is only 3 spots) so we drove down a bit and parked at the Oxbow Loop trail and walked a short distance along the road. The trail is a gravel road to start, which was easy going. Slight elevation gain along the road until you reach the CCC trailhead, which can be accessed by walking across a log over a creek. Once across the creek, the trail was loamier and muddy in places. It also is starting to become over grown in spots. Currently there are many small creek crossings which can be slippery and challenging if you want to stay dry. About half way along the trail, it started to pour and at that point we stopped trying to keep dry when crossing the creeks since we were thoroughly soaked. There are TONS of ripe Salmonberries. Did notice bear skat on the trail (it clearly was enjoying the berries!), so be sure to be vigilant. The sun reappeared as we descended on the road again. When we crossed the small bridge on the way back, we saw a gartner snake and when we tried to avoid it, one of us nearly stepped on another one. They like to sun themselves on the bridge so keep an eye out. In all we only saw 4 people on the trail all day.

My daughter and I hiked this trail (my second time, her first), looking for a trail that has some length and not many other hikers. If that is what you are looking for, try it.

Access is easy and the Middle Fork road there is beautiful. Mileage is correct too about 7.4 miles from the 468th turnoff. We parked at the Oxbow Trail lot, which is bigger, has a privy and is just a about a tenth of a mile beyond the gate described in the WTA guide. It takes about a one mile walk to get from the car, around the gate and up the old road to get to the trailhead and about 3.5 miles to get from there to Brawling Creek. All told nine miles round trip for us and 4.5 hours including a long lunch at Brawling Creek. We saw just TWO other hikers the whole time! No dogs, bikes or horses either.

Its a pretty trail, very flat, with many great streams to cross and lots of varied terrain and flora to enjoy. We saw several frogs, a tadpole, three garter snakes, and ate lots of Salmon Berries. On a sunny day, eating lunch at Brawling Creek (with no others there) was a treat.

We do have a couple of ID requests out there if any of you can help.

1.We heard a loud deep huffing off in the distance, reminiscent of the howler monkeys at the zoo. What was that?

2. We saw animal sign, including these paw tracks. Bear?

3. What is this plant? Its aquatic, as you can see sometimes growing right in the stream. 

Try this hike for a secluded, quiet, peaceful getaway.