Starting at the northern Silver Star TH (where you access Ed's Trail) we picked a route that summited Silver Star Mountain and Little Baldy Peak.  Our route was:  Ed's Trail TH > Ed's Trail #180A > Silver Star Trail #180, #180D > Silver Star Mountain summit > Silver Star Trail #180D, #180 >Bluff Mountain Trail #172 > Little Baldy Peak summit > Bluff Mountain Trail #172 > Silver Star Trail #180 > Ed's Trail TH. Stats: 11.00 miles with 3080 EG.

The 2.5 mile drive up road 4109 was the usual slow crawl with a couple especially rocky and deeply rutted sections. We had our Chevy Pickyup in 4X4 the whole way and made it fine but it was S.L.O. W. The Friends of 4109 had a brush out party on the same day to help keep the road passable.  Thank you Friends of 4109!!  There were 4 vehicles when we arrived, and 4 different vehicles when we returned to the TH after our hike.

Ed's Trail is in good condition with the normal scrambly sections and some brushy areas.  Love the view from the rock outcropping near the top above the scramble.  We passed two backpacking parties heading back toward the TH and one solo camper breaking camp ~ 1/4 mile from the summit.  At the summit we had a 5 summit view (St. Helens, Rainier, Adams, Hood, Jefferson) plus some very faint and hazy 3 Sisters.  

From the summit we headed back and turned east on the Bluff Mountain Trail.  The Bluff Mountain trail was wonderful...for about 1/4 mile.  After that the next 2.5 miles is rocky very overgrown for most of the way until you reach the scree field on the SW flank of Baldy. There was one tree across the trail near the Starway trail junction, that was easy to get over.  There is also one small spot where the trail is sliding out and the tread is about 6-9 inches wide but easy to hop over.

After the scree field we proceeded to the forested saddle between Baldy and Bluff Mt where we picked up the very faint and forgotten trail up the SE ridge of Baldy.  (The trail is still listed on the 2016 Fores Service Topo map so we were able to find it.) From here it was part bushwack and part scramble to the summit.  

After a short break we returned the way we came and followed the Silver Star trail back to our truck.  

Plus:  The SS summit was swarming with flies-a crazy fly hatch?   They covered the rock area to the right of the old lookout pad, but mainly kept to themselves.  No bear grass was blooming this year but overall the flowers were beautiful (some are around peak while others are past and still others are just coming on).  The trillium that were present earlier this season are gone but some avalanche lilies are still around.  Saw two bear poops but no bears.  

I did a big loop here yesterday -- 16.4 miles and 3242 feet of elevation gain by Gaia's count.

tl;dr version: Doable if you're ok with navigating snow, exposed sections of trail and up for a long day. Highlights - one zillion butterflies! Flowers! Views! Lowlights - Your feet will be sore. You have to climb over a bunch of snow at the top and Ed's Trail is basically falling off the hillside.

Narrative:  I really enjoy Yacolt and Silver Star. It is cool to hike through both recovering forest on the Tarbell Trail and the freshly-replanted cut that the Silver Shadow Trail meanders through.

I'm not the biggest fan of road walks, but for the most part, there's always an option to take a trail instead of a road.

Conditions report in order of the trails hiked

Appaloosa Trail: In great shape. Maybe needs a little brushing towards the top, and I'm sure the horse riders would like some limbs trimmed higher than were a problem for me, but overall looking good!

Tarbell (Hidden Falls to Sturgeon Rock turnoff): Also in great shape! Consistently, the Tarbell Trail was my favorite part of this loop. It has great trail bed and seems to get regular maintenance.

There was a small section about a mile from the Sturgeon Rock turnoff when it goes through a recent cut where it was a little narrow and eroded but nothing unmanageable.

Sturgeon Rock Trail: Gross. So steep, totally eroded, full of ankle-twisty rocks, steep, water running down the middle of the trail, former road bed, steep. Extremely bad.

It moderates briefly at the junction where you can get up onto Sturgeon Rock but shortly after that gets right back to steep, rocky nonsense. Also there are lots of trees down across it. The included photo is of the largest one, about a mile from the junction with the Silver Star Mountain trail. Big dislike on this one, but I had to do it to complete the loop.

Silver Star Trail: Meh, fine. Road bed with a fair amount of snow on it still, surprisingly. Wasn't awful, but I did wish I had my poles.

Ed's Trail: This trail needs some TLC asap. It has great views and for the most part is a fun little narrow trail on a ridge there's also a full-on scramble about a mile in. Yikes. 

The rock climb to get to the view point is unavoidable, but just after that (before it, if you're coming from the Ed's Trail trailhead) the trail is basically falling off the hillside. Nothing a good benching crew couldn't fix in a few days. Flowers were less good than I had hoped here.

Chinook Trail: Long. Rocky. Nice views and LOTS of flowers. Good switchback options to avoid going straight down the roadbed. There's one switchback not on Gaia, and which I didn't follow but seems like it links up -- I wonder why its disused. My feet were tired by this point so I probably didn't appreciate it as much as I could have.

The forested section is really nice though, and much more forgiving to my feet than the open meadow section.

Tarbell (again): Gorgeous. Lovely rolly trail, beautiful big trees, creeks burbling, flowers, butterflies. No notes.

Silver Shadow: Nice little trail! It's a little exposed in sections (meandering through a timber sale does mean very little shade) but overall in good shape. I will note that in a couple areas on Silver Shadow it looks like horses have punched through the trail! Eek, I hope they (and their riders) were okay. I was also curious why that might happen -- wonder if it's linked to the (very old) burn that was here a while ago.

And that's it! Hopefully something in here is helpful to you -- get out there and enjoy it!

We arrived around 8am. There were 3 pickup trucks and one Jeep jeep when we arrived.  We've not been to this TH in 7 years and found high clearance (truck) to be helpful, along with taking it slow.  The road is narrow in stretches without pullout options, and has some deep ruts.

We encountered a bit of rain on the drive but started our hike in dry, but socked in conditions.  We were excited to see a bit of blue peak through the clouds, encouraged that it might clear up and/or we'd get above the thicker cloud deck (which we did).

Shortly after the arch on Ed's Trail there's a snowbank that is impassible.  We backtracked to the Silver Star trail and continued from there. The snow is intermittent but becomes solid shortly after the junction with the bluff mountain trail although the summit is snow-free. 

It's too early for the big floral display but the early flowers such as glacier and avalanche lilies, along with trillium are out and abundant.

Other than the summit, photos posted here are to show trail conditions.

Great day at a great place!

We were a little nervous seeing the other reports recommending high clearance vehicles. The road absolutely go rough with deep potholes but we were able to make it in a CRV. A slower, more prudent driver might have been able to navigate these conditions without bottoming out, but our driver (Miles) rushed it a bit.

the hike was gorgeous with some wildflowers in bloom and relatively clear views of Helens, Adams, and Hood all long the hike. There was still about 3-4 feet of snow along parts of the trail so boots and possible yak tracks are recommended. 
It was a wonderful hike to celebrate the end of an era for our friend.

Went in during snowy conditions.  The 4WD road up was passible for high clearance vehicles. (It was snow covered with 8" new snow).

The trail was snow covered.  Someone had gone up before me for about a mile and I walked in their footprints.  After that, I trail blazed in fresh snow (I needed to use a GPS to stay on the trail).  I used crampons on the steep sections and snow shoes at times.  (I would posthole past my knee without them). 

Overall it was a nice winter hike.