Many of the trails at Taylor Mountain Forest did not fare well this winter, especially during the storms in February when raging creeks washed out whole trail sections and bridges. Then, in early March, just as repair efforts were launching, a global pandemic forced us all to hunker down and keep our distance.

King County Parks remains committed to protecting our natural resources and ensuring the trail system at Taylor Mountain Forest is intact for all to enjoy for the long haul. Our natural land planners and field crews are currently assessing the trails, and soon, they will prepare recommendations and a draft plan for reroutes, closures and improvements.

We will want your input, and once we’ve got the recommendations drafted, we’ll be back in touch! We’ll be doing our community engagement work online for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19 and social distancing guidelines, and we’ll rely on tools like our e-newsletters and social media platforms to get the word out.

Subscribe to the Taylor Mountain Forest e-newsletter.

Barring additional catastrophes, final design, permitting, and construction on the trails will be underway in 2021.

All the trails are open except those listed below (as of May 2020)

• Boot Trail is closed for two or three more weeks while crews repair damage incurred during the wet-winter season.
• Holder Creek Trail is closed until storm-damaged sections are repaired.
• Mt. Beaver Trail is closed due to a storm-damaged bridge. This repair job is a priority project; however any bridge or culvert work cannot begin until July when the “fish window” opens. The “fish window” is the dry-weather months when salmon are not using the creeks, usually July through September, per Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife permitting regulations. 
• Road A is closed. King County Parks Capital Projects team is currently working on design, permitting, and installation of two bridges, which will replace culverts that were blown out during the storm in February.
• Beaver Pond Trail is closed. Two trail bridges are needed here too, to replace failed culverts, but these cannot be installed until the bridges on Road A are completed.
• Carey Creek Trail is closed indefinitely due to a landslide during February’s storm. In consultation with trail-building professionals, we determined that the current location of the trail is no longer sustainable. Please avoid this area and instead access Taylor Mountain from Elk Ridge Trail or from the main parking lot off Issaquah-Hobart Rd/276th Avenue SE.

Note: Road G is not a trail owned or maintained by King County Parks. Road G belongs to Seattle Public Utilities.  King County will contact SPU to determine potential trail improvements.

Questions?  Contact Kelly Heintz, Natural Resource Land Planner. Kelly.Heintz@kingcounty.gov or (206) 477-6478.

Recreate Responsibly

COVID-19 has changed the way we recreate. Please follows these tips to recreate responsibly to keep each other safe, so we can keep our parks and trails open for all to enjoy.

1. Keep your distance – Recreate with those in your household. Give others plenty of room and communicate who will step aside on the trail (trail etiquette gives hikers coming uphill the right of way). 
2. Stay local– Don’t stray too far from home when recreating. Keep rural communities safe by minimizing stops and bringing all that you’ll need for your outing. 
3. Keep it moving– Use parks and trails for walking, running, riding, rolling, and passing through. 
4. Plan ahead – And be prepared to go somewhere else if your destination seems crowded. Add hand sanitizer and a face covering to your 10 Essentials. 
5. Play it safe – Keep your activities within your comfort and skill level to reduce the risk of injury and adding to the strain on our health care and emergency services. 
6. Leave no trace – Take any garbage with you, including disposable face masks and gloves. 

For more information about King County Parks’ COVID response, visit kingcountyparks.org/covid.

---