Since water is running high I decided to forgo the Sikta Spruce Trail from the MidFork bridge and try Green Mountain this time from the CCC Plateau. I haven't been up on the Plateau in probably 15 years. And while the CCC road is much the same as it was, the trees are taller now. I had tried to find the Green Mountain trail back then but never found it. These days I used GAIA GPS on my phone which helps keep me on track. 

Once on the Green Mountain trail, the trail gets a little rougher. Lower down and on the CCC, a bear has been leaving a few "calling cards" (poop) and even tagged (scratched) a blowdown that was 6 feet over the trail. 

From the Absolute Last Promontory (ALP), the trail is no longer on my map but from last year's attempt I knew to go straight up the talus and stay closely to the ridge-line (mostly in trees) all the way to the top. Parts of this are very steep with a bit of scrambling but with no really bad exposure. At about 4300', I ran into snow and put on my spikes (no post-holing but it got soft and slippery on the way down). I made it to the snowy summit to enjoy views to the east, north and south. I took another well deserved break when I got back to the ALP. The CCC portion got really long on the way back (TIP for next time: bring a bike for the CCC, then hike the rest). 

There were a few new blowdowns but I didn't have time to take care of more than 1 of them. This trail isn't for everyone - in fact very few - but I enjoyed the punishment. I didn't see anyone all day, though there was another car at the TH. Good to know that solitude is still available but you have to work to find it.

13.6 miles, 3700' gain. 8:26 hours (excluding breaks).

This hike has been on my radar for several years.  Now, in the time of coronavirus, it meets the rules set by various land management agencies.  For one, the trailhead is on DNR land and is therefore open.  Much of the hike is on national forest land, though--remember, "trails are open, trailheads and campgrounds are closed."  The trail is little used; I met only two hikers and a few bikers, which felt safer after passing all the crowded trailheads on the way to this one.  Best of all, the hike is a loop, closed by walking 4 miles down the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Road.

I parked at the Oxbow Loop TH, walked a bit west on the Middle Fork Road, then headed up unmarked Blowout Creek Road toward Bessemer Mountain. A sign said the road was "closed to all uses" but there was merely an eroded part of the road that was impassable to cars but easily passed by walkers and bikers.  In a mile or so I met the CCC Road, now called a trail on the signs.  It has been many years since this anyone could drive this road.  I followed the trail east, right, on the Blowout Creek Road for a bit, then a sign marked the spot where the trail diverges from the road to the right.

Several creeks along the trail appear to have had blowouts this past winter, and they rearranged the furniture at the trail crossings.  The first was right where the trail leaves the road.  A creek had recently overflowed and wrecked the trail, but a helpful cairn and a cut log or two pointed the way through the debris.  After 100 feet or so good trail resumed.  In fact the trail was in excellent shape the whole way except for some creek crossings.

After several pleasant miles of woods walking, I met another raging creek that required some boulder hopping.  A half mile later the trail comes to the "Upper Trailhead," a small parking lot on the Middle Fork Road.  I walked a few hundred yards east on the road, looking carefully into the woods on the left for the spot where the trail leaves the road again.  It was not hard to spot; an obvious trail went directly up the hill, and a sign on a tree mentioned a trail bridge out ahead.  This was just before the place where the Middle Fork Road was closed by a landslide this past winter (it's open again).  If you come to the landslide spot, you've just passed the trail.  Anyway, the trail heads uphill and goes just above the landslide.  Only 10 feet or so of the trail was affected by the landslide, and this bit is easily walked around.

After a quarter mile I reached the place where the bridge was "out."  Actually it is still there and perfectly fine to walk across, but it appears the stream it crosses has shifted to a place where there is no bridge, so some more boulder hopping was in order.  Three or so miles and one more difficult stream crossing later, I reached the closed Middle Fork campground.  The trail dumps out on the Middle Fork Road at the Middle Fork TH soon after that, and I walked down the paved road back to the Oxbow Lake TH.

The loop was about 12 miles long, roughly 4 miles from Oxbow Lake TH to the Upper TH, 4 miles from there to the Middle Fork Road TH, and 4 miles down the Middle Fork Road back to Oxbow Lake TH.  My boots got a bit wet on the stream crossings, but there was no wading and my socks stayed dry.  Elevation gain was pretty minimal.  For a bonus hike, I also walked the Oxbow Lake Trail, which was a pleasant 2-mile walk through woods with nice views of the lake.

I ran along the CCC trail from the road up Bessemer to the Middle Fork campground and returned along the road. Except for the new slide near the upper TH the rest of the CCC trail remains in good condition. All of the damage is within the first quarter mile northbound from the upper TH where the creek rerouted itself during the big storm. The Middle Fork road is open up to this point. The newly damaged section of trail and the existing missing bridge are both easy to cross on foot. The rest of the streams can be crossed by rock hopping. Can't emphasize enough how lovely this area is in the winter, especially with the crowds scared away by the road closure. I only encountered one other party on the CCC trail. Several others had chosen to walk along the closed section of road. I suspect the road will reopen quickly once some heavy machinery is brought in to remove the slide. 

This is just a report on the rock/tree slide on the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Road near the trailhead for the CCC Trail #1264. King County has the road blocked with cement concrete ecology blocks and barricades. When we arrived at the closure site, the small parking lot was almost full. Lots of people out checking the road damage and hiking up the road to other trailheads. The first section of road damage has some big holes. The beginning of the CCC Trail is washed out. A little further up the road is the site of the big rock and tree slide that is covering the road. This is before getting to the two cement concrete creek fords. Looks like it will be some time before the road can be repaired and opened back up for traffic. Near the CCC Trail trailhead you can see up the hill where the water had come down, knocking some trees down and other trees are leaning over.

when I arrived to the trail head ~9:30am, there were only 2 other cars in front of the gate. you do need a Discover pass to park here (even though it says northwest forest pass on WTA). After walking along a forest road, there was some confusing signage-- there are is a metal sign and a wood sign. the metal sign marks the trail. the bridge is not just closed, it's no longer there, however we were able to cross with no problem. I recommend waterproof boots as there are many streams to cross.
once we got our parking pass and the correct trail, we had an enjoyable hike only seeing 3 other parties.