Things are looking up in the once downtrodden Middle Fork valley

NORTH BEND -- The Middle Fork Snoqualmie River rumbles and tumbles green and white through a classic valley of the Cascade Range. It is ringed by rugged ridges and high lakes, laced by wilderness forest trails and waterfalls and stitched with premier rock-climbing routes. A few places are dotted with crystal mines and hot springs, and the river froths with paddle runs ranging from gentle to extreme.

It's a pretty magical valley, only 45 minutes from the largest metropolitan area between San Francisco and Vancouver.

"The Middle Fork is so close to town and it's so popular and there's so much variety up there, if it were anywhere else, it would probably be a national park," says Gary Paull, wilderness and trails coordinator for the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, the primary managing agency for the valley.

A whole lot, too, has been written about bad going-on in the Middle Fork, for years largely overlooked by a cash-strapped U.S. Forest Service. At times the valley has been overrun by lawlessness: trailhead vandalism and theft, old car and garbage dumping, drinking and drugging, even meth labs and stolen-car chop shops.

Some of that still goes on. Leave your car there overnight at your own peril. But people who frequent the place say things are better now -- some hikers insist it was never that bad -- and the popularity of the Middle Fork seems to be growing.

Spurred by groups such as the Middle Fork Coalition (or MidFORC), the Snoqualmie Valley Trails Club and the Alpine Lakes Protection Society, the Forest Service has focused attention on the area over the past several years. It has finished the Middle Fork Trail, complete with three footbridges over the river, begun construction of a campground near the mouth of the Taylor River, blocked spur roads where much of the illegal activity has occurred, and barricaded with boulders sites along the river where four-wheel-drive vehicles once wreaked havoc.

Still pending is a much-delayed plan by the agency to permanently gate the Middle Fork Road at Dingford Creek, about 18 miles up-valley from the road's beginning outside North Bend and some eight miles short of its end. This controversial move would add several miles to the valley's signature hike into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, to Dutch Miller Gap on the Cascade Crest.

The road would be closed to public vehicles, but could be maintained and driven by owners of crystal mining claims up the valley and the non-profit operators of Goldmyer Hot Springs. Many oppose the closure because it would make access tougher for several hikes, off-trail scrambles and climbing routes.

Karen Ducey / P-I

An abandoned car slumps unceremoniously on the side of the Middle Fork Road. The valley has seen all sorts of illegal activities, including dumping, vandalism and drugs.

But the lumpy, gravel forest road above Dingford Creek is known as one of the worst in the state and is costly to maintain -- the road is virtually blocked right now two miles before its end by a rockslide that tumbled over it in September.

Be that as it may, now that a better day apparently has dawned on the Middle Fork, how best can legitimate recreationists experience it?

If you hike, paddle or climb, there are some fine opportunities. The Alpine Lakes Wilderness and its network of trails surround the valley and there's a ton of backcountry up there.

The classic hike, no doubt, is the trail into the place where the Middle Fork is born: Dutch Miller Gap. A separate fork climbs past Williams Lake to La Bohn Gap. The route passes through old-growth forests, meadows and waterfalls before climbing onto the rugged crest of the Cascades. Waptus River country is on the other side of Dutch Miller Gap; the Necklace Valley in the Skykomish district is on the other side of La Bohn Gap.

Some hikers are irked about the pending road closure, which not only would add several miles to this hike, but also an additional 1,600 feet of gain. But Paull says it will make the Dutch Miller Gap Trail even more epic by adding several miles of the existing Middle Fork Trail, which can be reached by footbridge at Dingford Creek, where the road would be gated.

Karen Ducey / P-I

Rainwater fills the vase-shaped cap of a woolly chanterelle, or Gomphus floccosus. Its edibility is questionable since it has caused gastrointestinal upsets in some consumers.

"You'd get the full experience from low forest along the river right through berry fields and up into the meadows," he says. "You'd have a real interesting transition from low to high, from a big, full river to little trickles were it all starts. That is pretty unique in Western Washington."

The Middle Fork Trail, across the river from the Middle Fork Road but linked to it by three footbridges, is a very nice lowland river trail that for the most part remains snow-free. It also provides access to scrambles on the unofficially named "Stegosaurus Butte" between the Taylor and Pratt rivers, and to a steep and lonely back trail into hugely popular Snow Lake, via Rock Creek.

Another popular hike is Myrtle and Hester lakes, via a rough trail to a fairly scenic and lonely basin that provides several options for off-trail roaming to scattered high lakes. The Taylor River Trail, an abandoned logging road, provides plenty of options. They range from an easy trek to Otter, Marten and Big Creek falls to a longer hike to Snoqualmie, Deer and Bear lakes, to a rugged extended backpack to the isolated Nordrum Lake region.

"That's a wonderful area to completely get away from people," says Bill Sobieralski, trails coordinator at the North Bend Ranger Station, referring to Nordrum Lake.

"Snoqualmie, Deer and Bear are wonderful fairly low-elevation lakes that don't get many visits, because it's a long way in there. It's wonderful forest, with Alaska yellow cedar and big old mountain hemlock."

Another popular Middle Fork hike is the thigh-burner up Mailbox Peak, from a trailhead not far up the Middle Fork Road. It gains an even 4,000 feet in three miles, and is steep and rugged, but views from atop are superb. Trail managers are talking about rerouting and improving the trail in the future.

People who scour topographical maps and like to explore can find several lakes above the Middle Fork that can be reached via rough "fishermen's trails" or scramble routes that provide good angling for nice-size rainbow or cutthroat trout. High-lakes friends described some after a vow of secrecy on specifics, but the lakes are there for those who seek.

Speaking of scrambling, the Middle Fork has almost as many routes for experienced wilderness wanderers as the road does chuckholes.

Stegosaurus Butte, a low, humped ridge on the south side of the river, is accessed from the lowest footbridge, the so-called Gateway Bridge, not far downstream of Taylor River. That's a warm-up. More ambitious scrambles include Green Mountain, Burntboot Peak, Quartz Mountain, Russian Butte and at least a dozen others.

Karen Ducey / P-I

Lush second-growth forest graces a section of the Taylor River Trail.

Climbers also will find challenges in the valley, although the place is not hugely popular so far. Garfield Mountain at 5,519 feet is the most climbed mass of rock in the valley, a complex formation that legendary climber and author Fred Beckey called "a hazardous enigma."

A route on its West Peak is considered one of the longest bolted sport climbs in North America, the 2,600-vertical-foot "Infinite Bliss," with 23 pitches.

Forest Service land managers are none too excited about this route and the attention it's received, since some of it is inside the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, where power drills -- used to put in fixed bolts -- are not allowed.

"We really don't want more people in there," acknowledges Paull. "The thing was bolted illegally inside the wilderness. If it keeps going like this, we might have to do something."

Other technical climbs in the valley include 6,554-foot Thompson Peak and 5,166-foot Bessemer Mountain.

The Middle Fork also is increasingly popular among whitewater paddlers and offers amazing variety. There's some very scary stuff at the upper end. From Hardscrabble Creek to Burntboot Creek is an extreme kayak run called the "Upper Upper," with big ledges and falls, attempted only by the most daring "creekers." It's rated Class V on a scale of I to VI, with VI being close to suicidal.

"We've seen people carrying kayaks at the Dutch Miller trailhead. Oh, my God, there are big waterfalls up there, impossible falls," says Sobieralski.

Yet the next run down, from Burntboot Creek to Taylor River, is a more gentle Class II known as the "Upper," a popular run among skilled whitewater canoe paddlers.

Karen Ducey / P-I

Susan Brown, left, and Linsey Warren work on a trail along the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River as part of a volunteer effort to spruce up the besieged area near North Bend.

The Class III-IV "Middle Middle," downstream of the first road bridge across the river, is a thrilling run with boulder gardens, ledges, chutes and rapids.

"It's really amazing to have a river with that breadth of whitewater opportunity, and you're only an hour from a major population center," says Tom O'Keefe of the group American Whitewater, which has been working with land managers to increase access for paddlers in the Middle Fork. "I can't think of any other place like this."

If you go

• For details on the Forest Service's plan for the valley, see www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/projects/mf_atm/index.shtml

• Two Mountaineers-published guidebooks cover all the official trails in the valley: "55 Hikes Around Snoqualmie Pass" by Harvey Manning and the late Ira Spring (189 pages, $14.95) and "100 Hikes in Washington's Alpine Lakes" by Manning, Spring and Vicky Spring (252 pages, $16.95).

• Climbers and scramblers should see "Cascade Alpine Guide, Vol. 1: Columbia River to Stevens Pass" by Fred Beckey (Mountaineers, 351 pages, $34.95).

• Paddle routes on the Middle Fork are described at www.americanwhitewater.org/rivers/.

• Hot springs information can be found at www.goldmyer.org or by calling 206-789-5631.

• For details on the crystal mine, see www.geologyadventures.com or call 425-413-1122.

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