Beautiful day. Hiked 1 hour in then turned around. In the first 15 minutes you will come across 3 or 4 large trees that fell down across the trail. None of them are very hard to scramble over. Trail was little wet but no snow. Forest Rd 56 is filled with large potholes. I would not drive down this road unless you have a high clearance vehicle (subaru, SUV...) I saw 2 people on the road with sedans, one in a toyota camry the other a Hyundai Sonata. Their suspensions are probaby wrecked. I hit my skid plates on a full size 4wd Pickup a couple of times. Took me 30 minutes to drive the 11 miles on Forest Rd 56.

The long dirt road has a lot of pot holes but no snow today. There are a lot of blow-downs but not too hard to go over, under or around. There is some water over the trail but there are rocks where needed. It's lush with ferns and moss and a easy walking.

Very beautiful out there today with whispy views onto snowy slopes of Mt Garfield. However, be prepared for a long drive in an all wheel or 4 wheel drive vehicle because most of the road was covered in snow and riddled with pot holes. It took at least 45 minutes to get to the trailhead from exit 34 off 90. Make sure you get an early start if you want to spend more time walking than driving.

The road was worse than I remember with muddy potholes that were often too big to be avoided, but the trip was worth it. "therritz" was correct, we had the entire trail to ourselves. The fog and mist gave the forest a mysterious, magical feeling that was more than welcome. Scampering over the many blowdowns was fun even if my pants ended up muddy and wet. Proper footwear is a must this time of year. The rain that threatened all day never came, and the temp stayed a pleasantly in the low 40's. An all-around delightful day in the woods.

Wish my first trip report could be a little more exciting, but, sadly, it's not...Left in the morning to check out the Middle Fork trail for the first time. The Middle Fork road was brutal (as usual), but when I got to the trailhead I was the only one there, not to mention there wasn't even any other tire tracks in the snow. After looking at the info board, it was noted that "Trail impassable to stock." While I'm not exactly sure what that means, I decided to backtrack and hit a trail I know better. Not much really to report, just that you'll probably have the place to yourself if you decide to brave all the potholes!