Day Hike - Garfield Ledges and Middle Fork Snoqualmie River

In spite of the weather forecast, we decided to brave it and fortunately did not have a drop of rain! 

We first started on the Middle Fork Snoqualmie river. Initially the trail hugs the river, but after half a mile drifts far enough away that you can no longer see or hear it. The trail was a little muddy in places, but in pretty good shape overall. There is one major blow down at about 0.5 miles, but there is an easy trail around it.  The one steep area just past Stegosaurus Butte had good footing. Stream crossings were easily crossed on stepping stones without getting wet feet. There were peek-a-boo views of the Garfield Mountain peaks across the river and the mountains on our side of the river. Our turnaround point was 2.8 miles from the trailhead at a rocky wide stream crossing with a break in the trees for great views. We returned to the trailhead, then onward to part 2 of the hike. 

From the parking lot, we took the "Connector Trail" (parallel to the road) to the Garfield Ledges trailhead. This was quite a nice, flat stretch along the Taylor river with good picnic spots, for future reference. Just before the Garfield Ledges parking lot, there is a bridge across the river that is shared with cars. Car traffic was sparse enough that we were able to avoid them, but the bridge was wide enough that we could have shared the space. The Garfield Ledges hike definitely makes you work for wonderful views. There are stairs at the steepest part and recent blowdowns have been cleared (though there is one new one that's not too bad to step over). The gain is 800 ft over 1.1 miles. The steep areas were safe and not slippery. The trail is completely forested with just a couple brief views until the Ledges. Thanks to the forecast, but nonexistent, rain, we had the viewpoint all to ourselves. What an expansive view over the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River valley to the southwest and the mountains to the south. 

8.5 miles overall. 4 hr 15 min total time; 3 hr 25 min moving time. 1300 ft total elevation gain.

The pit toilets were open at the Middle Fork Snoqualmie trailhead and the Garfield Ledges trailheads. Bugs were a little bit of a bother in the parking lot, but not on the trail. They are starting to get active though!