The Middle Fork Road is in pretty good shape aside from a few big potholes. I parked at the Ridley Creek trailhead (end of the road) and walked down to the Elbow Lake trail. The river crossing was very, very scary for my dog. There is a dry log flat log with hand ropes, and taken slowly, it is not too bad. The trail is in good shape, but a bit brushy before reaching the lake. There are some cute places there to hang out or camp. Beyond the lake, there is one very big log to navigate around that would be difficult for someone with limited mobility. There was also quite a bit of wet vegetation in this area. The Elbow Lake Trail eventually comes to an intersection with the Bell Pass Trail. I stayed left and headed towards Mazama Park. The Bell Pass trail was in really good shape. Very comfortable, mostly shady hiking on good tread. There were several decent water sources to filter from. Once we reached Mazama Park, the flowers and views were excellent. The Bell Pass Trail passes through the park then ascends Bell Pass and meets the trail to Park Butte and Railroad Grade. These trails were in excellent shape and less busy than usual. After enjoying the views, the dog and I headed back down Bell Pass and turned right onto the Ridley Creek Trail. This path through Mazama Park is really pretty and pleasant. It is a bit swampy in sections, but nothing excessive or overly buggy. After leaving Mazama Park, the Ridley Creek trail was in decent shape despite being rocky in places. The final river crossing is equipped with a sturdy log bridge with rope handrails. The raging river did get the logs a bit wet, but the crossing was easier to navigate than the crossing on the Elbow Lake Trail.

I am calling this the Park Butte Elbow Lake Figure 8 loop.  It was a phenomenal figure 8 loop.  About 25 miles in length with 7,400 feet of gain!  Not a bad way to see the area.

Road: Most road signs (maybe all of them) are gone, including anything that lets you know where to turn off of Mosquito Lake Road. Have a good map with you to find the trailhead if you haven't been there before. The road is in good shape with a few potholes. Do not get fooled by the orange arrow on the rock at the Y near mile 5. You need to go straight ahead, do not veer right. 

Middle Fork Crossing: The riverbed vegetation is getting thick and the way to the logs is not necessarily obvious, but if you get to the river's edge you should see the crossing. The logs over the river are in place and crossable. My dog did it, but only under protest. Don't trust the old, rotten, rope "handrails"-they have been out in the elements for a while.

Trail: The first 2 miles are snow free. There are some logs down over the trail, mostly small or easy to cross. One required me to lift the dog up and over and leave the trail to get by. The snow starts where the trail gets a little flatter in the yellow cedar zone. It is mostly patchy, with a few snow fields and some long sections of bare trail. Lots of post holing potential right now. I was able to avoid most of that by staying near the trail on snowpack, but that option won't be available much longer. The Mazama Park section was very wet and muddy where it wasn't snow covered. All creek crossings were doable with dry feet, but there was no way to stay dry in running shoes through the swampy section. The switchbacks up from Mazama Camp to Cathedral Pass were mostly melted out, but still had some steep snow in places. Steep enough that I put on spikes for the final one, but the dog wouldn't cross it so we turned around about 200 yards below Cathedral Pass. The pass and Cathedral Camp appeared to be under deep snow still.

Mazama Camp: Melting out quickly. There was maybe 6" of snow where it remained. There were dry tent pads and the area around the shelter had a lot of bare ground. I didn't get a look at the toilet to see if it was full or not.

Flowers: lots of them and a great variety from bottom to top. The Queen's Cup in the forest were particularly abundant.

Bugs: mostly fine, but the mosquitos came out when I stopped to eat at Mazama Camp.

Dog: suitably worn out

Overall: This trail is not a casual hike right now (if ever). It feels longer than the mileage says it is and has some steep, rocky sections. There are still a few spots where minor route finding may be necessary. There was not a boot track to follow.

Driving up is easy for most vehicles, with some small potholes here and there but nothing a town car can't handle. One note worth mentioning: when driving NF-38 to the trailhead, there will be a Y-junction that neither Google, TomTom nor Garmin maps know about: keep left, ie. take the road the continue going up (right road would lead downhill - NOT to take).

The trail is nice and clean and well maintained, with small mud patches and little brooks to either cross or walk along.

I hit the snow pack at about 2/3 of the hike up (48.726790, -121.866960) , at which point it's snow everywhere with no visible signs where the trail would continue so I headed back to camp after attempting continuing by following Garmin hiking map alone for about 5-10 minutes. If you know the way, you can probably continue as snow is thick enough to walk on.

Weather was perfect for a hike up the very steep Ridley Creek Trail. The stream crossing is a log with a rope handrail, and in good condition. The trail is in pretty good shape, with only minor obstacles. I turned back after 2.3 miles when snow started to cover the trail, which brought me just far enough to get a glimpse of Park Butte.