To get to the Marten Creek trailhead, travel east on the Mountain Loop Highway from Granite Falls, about 20.6 miles in distance (9.6 miles from the Verlot Public Service Center). The trail was formerly a route serving the Marten Creek Mines, and lead over Granite Pass into Darrington. The first part of the trail is clearly an old road in places, established decades past to give access to the mines. The trail climbs steeply amid switchbacks, and passes by an expiremental tree plantation.
Early on in the trip, the trail enters the Boulder River Wilderness at .2 miles. The trail will eventually level out after a mile into a wide basin, passing through brush, and forest. At 2.5 miles the trail crosses Marten Creek. At a distance of .8 miles from there, the trail comes to the site of an old mine. The trail then "disappears" in the brush and continued travel to Granite Pass is reported to be "cross-country travel". This is not a trail for early in the season travel, as snow brought this hiker's trip to an early end, prior to reaching the crossing over Marten Creek.
Even so, a good place to camp is reported by the forest service to be just before the Marten Creek crossing, located in nearby brush.
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