This morning we planned to hike the loop from the west side road. We arrived and started the hike around 0800. The morning was cool/crisp and lightly raining. We elected to go with rain jackets and leave the rain pants. Good boots are a MUST! The first mile to the Tahoma Creek Trailhead was uneventful and an easy road walk. The following 2 miles up the creek was a smattering of route finding, stream crossings, climbing over logs and bushwacking. The trail had been washed out by the August(?) Glacier outburst making most of the trail impossible to use. However near the halfway point we found the trail as it veered off to the left and followed it the remainder up to the suspension bridge. This trail has clearly not been maintained and in many areas the trail was overgrown. We arrived at the suspension bridge in decent time considering the difficult passing. The rest of the trail started to quickly get sketchy. 

As we continued on the loop around Emerald ridge the trail was quickly overtaken by snow. Feet of snow. Thankfully we had boots and cold weather gear as well as a GPS unit for route finding. The snow was crusty with an ice layer about 6" down and the hills were fairly steep and would give way. One in the party had boots with no traction and a weak shank and kept sliding around. From the high point to the South Puyallup River Campground involved a lot of difficult route finding, stream crossings, sliding, and falls. Additional traction would have been amazing, microspikes or even YakTrax. 

Of course the campground offered amazing views of the Andesite columns, then the hike back out was a fairly flat or downhill cruise. We got back to the car in the 4 oclock hour, which I felt was good considering the amount of route finding we had to do. We were slowed a LOT due to this. I imagine the trial will have cleared up a large amount in the next 2-3 weeks.

I wanted to check out the bridge,  so I did extensive research and downloaded AllTrails. It was a fun day of route finding, would say, difficult for most people - but I planned for the conditions.  

Walked to the bridge in the creek bed below where the actual Tahoma Creek trail in the forest actually is. I never crossed the main creek, but there are a lot of mini flows to step over,  waterproof boots a must. 

When we got to the bridge, we had to unsafely scramble up the hillside so we could cross it, explore, take pics, and eat lunch. 

On the way back, we started on the trail up in the trees - was so pretty and worth it. But soon there are many washouts, unstable, soft ground and it is very dangerous as we had to go up and down the cliffside to get on and off the trail. Only attempt if you're a daredevil and enjoy an immense challenge. It was really fun for us, but admittedly not wise. 

Be sure to watch my Relive to see the route I took. I parked at Westside Road and walked a few miles until I saw the big poop barrel on the right, then I turned into the forest, walked by the trail closed sign, and just followed Tahoma Creek uphill a few miles until the bridge came into view.  

Walked up the Westside Road to take a peek at the results of the glacial outburst last week and found the Tacoma Creek trail completely swallowed up. We missed the trailhead by about 50 feet (the sign is about 50 feet off the road in the forest) but knew we were in the right place based on the washout debris on the main road. A huge amount of debris from the flood was deposited just a few hundred feet from the trailhead, and water has washed out the trail from there to the road. I couldn’t tell where the trail was previously, but here are a few photos from around where we lost what looked to once be a trail. We weren’t feeling confident to explore too far, as the mud was still soft and rocks were still settling. It would be challenging to impossible to follow this trail from what I could see.

In a brighter direction, the debris is CRAZY! Every inch of mud has a different consistency, some of it dry and crumbled, some like thick clay which dries to a white powder (might explain why the river is milky white right now). Piles of rocks big and small look they have dropped out of the sky or fallen from someone’s pockets. Trees sticking out of the ground at crazy angles all over the place...

The tree picture shows the high water mark from the flood, and the tree itself was buried in probably 2+ feet of mud. The other photos are looking towards where I would guess the trail used to go. Note the log damn that caught a lot of the branches, and the tiered sand bank from the changing water levels (and also a new Creek in the area? It doesn’t look like it has always swung that far towards the trail.)

*UPDATE* - on Monday the 5th (a week after this hike) a glacial outburst occurred. The Westside road is at this point in time completely closed and the Tahoma Creek trail is being reported by the park as completely impassible...

My plans as we set out were to do the Tahoma Trail, cross the suspension bridge and go to Mirror Lakes - perhaps beyond, but we ended up doing something quite different and looping around. 

We mainly did this because after traversing the 2.2. miles of the Tahoma Trail, we weren't really totally sure we wanted to go back that way... especially not tired after having hiked for the day. The parts of the trail that haven't washed away are very nice, but if you choose to do this unmaintained trail, be aware - there are some steep scrambles - and you'll have to come back up and down them if you choose to go also go back this way - and in general a fall would be very bad. If you are nervous or have poor balance this probably is not the best route for you. One spot gave me enough pause to consider turning back - no hand holds that I could easily reach, undercut bank that I could see, and a fall that I would not have wanted to take, but I found an alternate way to get back down to solid footing, so we did continue.  There was also one spot that was nearly washed away. Enough tread is left to walk on for the moment, but it's being undercut and probably won't last much longer. So when we hit the suspension bridge, we pulled out the map and reassessed. We decided to take the long way around, knowing that even though it was a long hike, the last 3.5 or so miles would be easy road walking. 

It actually was not disappointing. The hike up Emerald Ridge is beautiful and you'll have a fair amount of solitude - we saw only a handful of people, and one bear all day. The way down, back to the West Side Road has a lot of loose rock, so it's not a super fast descent. There's also a spot right before you reenter the forest where the ridge is very narrow that is almost gone... I should have thought to take a photo, but at the time all thoughts were simply on crossing the gap safely. The remaining trail is seriously only about a foot wide. It's only about 2 or 3 steps to cross, but it's not comfortable - to the right it's a pretty sheer drop probably a thousand feet down to the river... It may not be long before the trail is just not passable without some major work - at least as it is routed, and the ridge is quite narrow at that point, so I'm not sure if rerouting it will be possible... 

Just after passing the South Puyallup camp area there's an awesome basalt formation - if you are heading to the Westside Road, you'll want to go that direction, so leave the Wonderland Trail and this point and you will pass the Devil's Pipe Organ. Don't take the first trail exit to the Westside Road - instead take the left up to Round Pass - it will be 1/2 mile shorter than taking the road. You'll pop out on the Westside Road right at the pass, just across from the entrance to the trail that goes up to Lake George and Gobbler's Knob. From there it's a stroll back down the road to your car. 

We parked at the end of Westside Rd and began our hike up the road. A little over 1.5 mikes we spotted the trash can with the red ribbon and turned right into a creek bed. Shortly after entering it I saw the trail signs off to my left and we cut over to join the actual trail. Turns out, the trail entrance is just after the trash can, not before it. We followed the trail until we came to the washed out section and dropped down into the dry creek bed. We found a large tree and crossed the creek, wandered up the creek bed, found another tree and crossed back over. Word of advice, sit down and scurry across on your butt. I walked across the first tree and it was SCARY. Don’t chance it. After hiking another 1/4 mile up the creek we decided to navigate our way back to the trail. We climbed up the bank and through about 100 yards of fallen trees through the forest until back on the trail. Something tells me there’s probably an easier route but we couldn’t find one, even on the way back. The rest of the trail was easy to navigate. There are a few areas that have been altered by falling trees but easy to get through or around. The bridge is fantastic and worth the trip.