My hiking partner, Barbella, says that half the enjoyment of a hike is choosing the right day to do it. Today was the perfect day to hike the Kelly Creek trail. What a fun hike! The trail has been abandoned, is overgrown, blanketed with leaves and moss, and near the final stages of creeping downhill. Blowdowns are abundant, there is water and mud on the trail, and there is even a rope to rappel down and up out of a ravine! Crusty snow blankets the high meadows where this trail apparently junctions with the North Crest trail. In other words, it is a high adventure, backwoods boot track. To get there, exit left off Highway 2 about six miles east of Skykomish at the Old Cascades Highway (road 67). Go 2.3 miles to road 6710. Go past the solar paneled outhouse on the Iron Goat trail and past the junction with 6710/210. At the next junction, turn left across the bridge and park. A road continues up the hill but Kelly Creek trail starts on an abandoned spur, thickly overgrown. About a mile along this abandoned spur road, the "trail" or trace climbs at a steady but not steep pace 2.5 miles to the switchbacks. There are lots of well placed ribbons on trees to help you find your way. What puncheons used to exist are all rotted away and the trail is narrow to non-existent sometimes, but the ribbons guide the way. At the end of the switchbacks is a snow covered meadow that stretches out toward a lookout at Captain's Point. This trail would be impossible in the summer due to heavy overgrowth, but in late autumn or a clear winter's day, all the leaves are down and the trace is discernable. Lots of mushrooms near the start of the trail. There are many ungated logging roads in the area that look like they are worth exploring and perhaps leading to other abandoned trails. Round trip is 9 miles with 2000 ft. gain. It took us 3 hours up and 2.5 hours down - which includes lots of trail clearing. Afterwards we stopped at the Espresso Chalet outside Index for a well deserved coffee from Sandy.