Bicentennial Middle Fork Loop

North Fork Park

Welcome to the trail!

If you’re looking for an easily accessed and well-marked, yet feels-totally-remote, trail through woods and meadows, this Bicentennial Middle Fork Loop may be the trail for you! If you can hike it in a rainstorm, like we did recently, all the better for that sense of aloneness . . . and the smell!

How to get there

From Valley Market in Eden, drive northwest on Highway 162 for about 2.5 miles where you merge onto 3500 E and continue about a half mile to the three-way stop near Liberty Park. Turn left on 4100 N then right on 3300 E and continue driving north for about 1.5 miles until you take a slight left onto North Fork Road. You’ll stay on North Fork Road for 2.7 miles, driving past both the South and Middle Gates, and turning left on North Gate Road (the sign calls it Cutler Flats Gate). In about a half mile you’ll get to a T intersection; turn right and follow the road around for another 0.4 miles until you’re at the far north edge of the Cutler Flats group campsite.

There is no official parking lot here, just a dirt road on the far edge of the fields. (There are usually trucks with horse trailers parked along the edge, so that will give you a clue where to go.) Park on the side of the road. The trail begins at the red gate crossing the dirt road at the bottom of the hill to the west.

Trail at a glance

Total distance: 3 miles round trip (loop)

Elevation gain: ~390 feet

Destination: since it’s a loop, you’ll end up right where you started, but you’ll enjoy some ups and downs through enclosed forest and open meadows along the way

Tyke perks: small pond, distraction free-imagination time (my daughter talked about her “umbrellanator” invention the entire time!), wildlife (we saw our first moose!), river crossings (all from an elevated trail, but pretty and fun to throw rocks)

Notable flora: thimbleberries, trees (maple, mountain ash, chokecherry, oak, aspen, fir), weeds (teasel, woolly mullein, dyer’s woad, curlydock), wildflowers (aster, goldenrod, coneflower, mules ear (they were super crispy this time of year, but would be lovely earlier in the summer), geranium), sagebrush, ferns

Fascinating fauna: grouse, dragonfly, caterpillar (that looked exactly like a twig !), squirrel, deer, moose (I knew they frequented the area, but had never seen one on a hike till yesterday!!), bald eagle (we also heard first, then saw, a juvenile at the tippy top of a tree!)

Watch out for: black bears (the signs through the park say it’s bear country, and people I know have actually spotted them this year!), moose, mountain lions, bikers, horses (and their poop piles), mud, puddles

While you’re hiking

From your car, face west and make your way down the dirt road toward the red gate at the bottom of the hill. The road is accessible to hikers, bikers and horses, so just carefully walk around (or under or over) the gate, and your hike begins by crossing over Cutler Creek (it flows through a culvert under the road, so no need to get feet wet!).

Just around a bend you’ll come to a little pond on the left. It used to cover the road during wet seasons, but I think some work has been done to improve drainage so it doesn’t pool up as much anymore. The kids love to stop here and splash rocks.

Continue on as the trail starts to climb gradually back to the east. Along here you’ll see ferns and chokecherries and mountain ash, and will likely see or hear a squirrel or two. At the top of the hill, the trail turns again to the north as you enter a shady maple section. At the quarter mile mark you’ll see a couple of trail signs: one to the left marks the Bicentennial Trail, and the other a bit further on the main River Trail road. We’re turning left today.

As soon as you pass the sign, you’ll come to a T in the trail. Take the right trail as it gradually climbs through the fir forest. At 0.6 miles into the hike, you’ll see a smaller trail crossing the main trail; just stay on the main trail as it curves down through a low spot and works its way back up through the trees. (You’ll see this other trail again in a minute.) Continue onward and upward (it’s not steep, but it does climb). At about the three-quarter mile mark you’ll be able to spot the group campground near where you parked through the trees and down the hill to your left. In another tenth of a mile the trees open up to the right for a lovely view (over the little ridge in the middle is the River Trail road that you’ll be looping back on).

At mile 0.95 you’ll come to a T intersection with a couple of nice signs marking the way. Turn right onto the Middle Fork Bicentennial Trail. It’s mostly downhill from here through some trees, back up a bit into a meadow of mules ears and sagebrush.

Another sign at mile 1.8 marks the River Trail (dirt road) that will take you back. Turn right and follow the wide path that parallels and crosses the river. (This is where we saw the moose, down in the trees next to the water, and the eagle high up at the top of a tree screeching at it.) After 2.7 miles of hiking, you’ll be back at the first signs where you entered Bicentennial Trail, and in just a quarter of a mile further, you’ll reach the red fence across the road where you started.

This is definitely on the long end of hikes you’ll find for tykes on my site, but it’s totally doable for anyone looking for a bit of a challenge for their older/stronger kiddos. Let me know if you try it out!

Happy hikers

I mentioned in my intro that if you can hike this trail (but really, any trail) in a rainstorm, you’ll be lucky! That’s what we did last night, totally on purpose since we knew the storm was coming and it was thundering and sprinkling when we started. We just brought our umbrellas, rain jackets, old shoes and a sense of adventure, and it made a regular-old-research-for-mom-hike that much more special. Check out your forecast and watch the sky, and consider giving a rain hike a try yourself!