I left the house this morning in the dark and the rain, not sure where I would wind up. I wanted to see just how hard it was raining out east of Seattle, near the mountains. It was a downpour so I chose a shorter hike, Garfield Ledges.
But it took awhile to get there. The Middle Fork trail head is just over 11 miles down FR56 (SE Middle Fork Rd.) and I had gone maybe 4 miles when I could see tree branches in the road ahead. So I stopped and, thanks to the headlights of my car, I was able to scoop up the branches and proceed. (this is not exactly a busy road at any time, but definitely not at 6am on a rainy morning).
Another mile or so and more branches. And after that, actual logs that I was able to roll off the road, inching each end a few feet at a time. Whew! But it was a nice pre-workout workout.
I parked at the Middle Fork trail head, did Garfield Ledges and, on the way back, decided to see if I could find a trail headed towards a place I want to check out, the old Nordrum Lookout. I found what I thought was an unofficial trail and now, looking at the track on the map, I can see that for sure that is the way to go. Next week I can check it out.
View from the lower Garfield Ledge:
About 4 miles, Garfield Ledges is steep enough (about 600 feet of gain in .8 miles, similar to Section Line) and my rain gear worked: I did not get wet.
The Taylor River is running pretty high right now:
Track below.
