[Matt]

Anyone know how far one can drive up the Middle Fork Road currently?

[MattP.]

I went up to the Middle Fork trailhead on Sunday. There is snow on the road the last couple miles but it's only off to the side and and in the center: not where the tires are. Snow in the middle is a bit high but any car would find it passable. We were in a low Audi S4 and only scraped a couple times. Didn't go beyond the trailhead.

[Brucester]

Curious how it is right now? Any newest info?

[puzzlr]

This is out of date, but I was able to get to the Dingford trailhead on March 1 in my Forester. Hell Hill was bare, but I almost turned around at the "reroute" hill about 2 miles from the trailhead. The same day a sedan had to be towed out from the area between the Middle Fork trailhead and the Taylor River bridge because it high-centered. The road is generally tracked down as far as the Middle Fork trailhead, but beyond that it's usually much worse. There has been a lot of snow and rain since March 1 so I don't know the current condition, but I wouldn't expect to get up Hell Hill right now if I had to guess. The road was plowed as far as the Middle Fork trailhead after the first snows this year by King County, but it turns out that was a mistake and in the future it will only be plowed as far as the Mailbox trailhead.

[DarkHelmet]

made it to middle fork easy in my honda crv Sunday. we hiked up to Dingford trailhead and bummed a ride back to middle fork trailhead from a guy in f250. the road between the two trail heads was rough but mostly clear of snow. I would have been worried in a couple places with my crv.

[Backpacker Joe]

[MattP.]

Not the dirt section, just up to the Middle Fork trailhead which is all paved. And the S4 doesn't belong to me, I wouldn't be caught dead driving that thing to the trailhead!

[Backpacker Joe]

[puzzlr]

I drove to the Dingford trailhead on Friday, March 10 and had no trouble in a Forester. The snow ruts are down to bare earth the whole way. Near the Middle Fork trailhead and a couple other places the snow between the ruts is deep enough to require 6-8" of clearance. And as has been the case since the fall of 2015 there are a couple gravel washes that require decent clearance. With continuing warm rain I expect the remaining snow on the road to melt rapidly. Also, no luck on seeing avalanches on Garfield -- the slopes were already mostly washed clean by the rain on Friday.

[Brucester]

Thanks for the up to date info!

[puzzlr]

No snow left on the road as far as Dingford trailhead as of Tue March 14. This may be the end of snow on the road for the season because the near term temperatures are warmer and it's getting on toward spring. We've seen late season snow in other years, but not at the low elevation of the Middle Fork road (1400' at the Dingford trailhead).

[cambajamba]

Thanks for the update, puzzlr!

[cambajamba]

Took a quick cruise out there last night, went as far as the bottom of the tight turns on the Dingford spur just under Garfield. Had no trouble and it was a good test for the new CX-5 which performed very well, though turning off traction control was key for some of the crumbly stuff. A few rough patches getting over hell hill but it's looking honestly a bit better than the last time we were out there before winter. Temptation to speed felt ridiculous on the paved portions of the road until I realized I was going the speed limit. Which now feels like it's way too high. Also some drunk dude has swished his Jeep into the ditch where the CCC trail dips in to the road. Some sober other dude with a Jeep pulled him out. Never did see the alleged Toyota Corolla that "cut him off real bad."

[MyFootHurts]

Does anyone know when they're gonna start the weekday road closures again? The best I can find is "late April 2017". I want to do Granite Lakes but I avoid the Mid Fork Zooqualmie on the weekend

[Windstorm]