Pretty fun little day hike. Headed out here about 3pm. Find parking where you can along the road. There's a decent stretch about .25 miles from the main gate, along the road, on the opposite side of the main gate from the one way bridge. Once you pass the gate on the road, walk straight back to the yellow gate with the Washington State Parks sign on it. The trail is past that. Stay on the main path (it's my understanding that the first two large path off to the left are Palmer Coking Coal land), and enjoy a steady uphill climb to the fork in the road. Go left. Tons of blackberries are growing along the entire trail. DELICIOUS. There's also some wild hops growing out there too. Soon you'll arrive at the mine shaft. Passing the shaft, the trail gets very narrow. Keep your eyes out of the coal cart tracks about 15 feet off the ground on the right. You can go down the little side trail and climb the hill to the tracks for a good look. Be careful coming down though, it's real steep with a lot of loose rocks. Shortly after that, you'll get to the cemetery. It's pretty spread out, and make a loop around to the right. Once you get to the cemetery sign, head back and keep right. Enjoy the nice downhill stroll out. Either before or after your hike, depending on where you parked, you should take a walk down to the one lane bridge and check out the waterfall and awesome river views.

This was about the right distance & elevation gain for an afternoon day hike with young kids. It took a little less than an hour to reach the mine shaft at a casual pace with plenty of stops to grab some of the ripe blackberries. You'll have to park up the road a bit. Pass the first gate and follow the gravel road up the hill. Its a steady climb after you pass the 2nd gate, but nothing steep. The trail is an old logging road so its plenty wide all the way to the mine shaft. Beyond the mine shaft the trail turns into a narrow dirt trail that looked overgrown, we did not explore it but another hiker said the cemetery is a little way down the trail. There are several spots where the road/trail splits, stay on the cleared main road at all points. At about 0.5 miles you'll reach the coal cart & sign, keep left if you're heading for the mine shaft & cemetery. There are some nice views of Mt. Rainier through the trees to your left as you hike the 2nd half from the coal cart to the mine shaft. We found a few leaf fossils in the rocks that were crumbling off the cliff above the mine shaft. There's really no ghost town to be seen - just the cart half way and a shaft covered with a steel grate. Overall its a nice afternoon hike if you're looking for a relatively easy hike with kids or just something shorter and less challenging.

We parked about a 1/4 mile before the first gate because there were many no parking signs right before the one lane bridge. We passed through both old gates and took the trail off to the left that lead down to an over look of the the river. We turned around after realizing we must have gone the wrong way. After passing through both gates continue hiking up the dirt road, it is uphill and will turn to the right. Do not get off on any side trail, just follow the road up hill. You will see a wooden sign on the left and the old coal cart is still there on the right. We followed the sign to the left and eventually came up on the old mine shaft that is covered (see picture). There is a path off to the left of the mine shaft that will bring you to the cemetery. The cemetery is not like a modern day one, the gravestones are spread out. We found about 7 gravestones around but they are scattered in the general area. Just look around on the little paths and you find them pretty easily. On the main path you will come upon two. Heading towards the graveyard on the right side up in the trees you will see a trestle and we also found some building foundations along the way. The path was not bad but a little overgrown with blackberry bushes as you head back into the cemetery. There were a couple muddy spots as we headed back to the cemetery but nothing that our hiking boots couldn't handle. The biggest issue we came across on this hike was mosquitoes! We forgot our bug spray on this hike and regretted it. Especially when we took the wrong path to the river, there were swarms of mosquitoes. This hike is full of things to see and is pretty easy, the kids enjoyed finding pieces of coal and looking for parts of the ghost town. (we had 2 five year olds and 2 ten year olds with us)

Unfortunately we had a disappointing hike to Franklin Ghost Town. It was a bit difficult to find but reading the other reviews helped. The entrance is on the WEST side of the highway, just NORTH of the one lane bridge. So the directions on this site are correct, just a little vague. We parked at the small turnout about 1/4 before the entrance. It looks like just a small area to park but if you walk down a bit you will see a few tombstones, leading me to believe this was the cemetery as described in the hiking details. We walked down the road towards the bridge and found the old gate. After walking around it, we seen the gravel path leading to the second gate, which is supposedly the start of the hike. This is the frustrating part. After finding the trail head, there is no clear sign in which direction to go. There is a fork in the trail about 50 feet from the gate. We stayed right because the path to the left seemed more overgrown. After walking up a steady, gradual slope for about 1/2 mile, we turned around since other reports state that we were on the private property. We started again but this time took the trail to the left. This was a steady, downhill slope and the trail was easily seen but overgrown with grass. We again walked down about 3/4 mile but seen no signs of the ghost town. All we found was a smaller trail, mostly overgrown with bushes, so we decided to give up and go home. In other reports, it says there is an old ore cart in the beginning of the trail but we could not find anything. It may have been removed since the last trip report was one year ago. We are not sure but did not see any parts of the ghost town described.

This is a very easy short hike to the abandoned Franklin Ghost Town mining site. Finding a place to park is the most difficult part of the hike. Using advice from the "Hiking With My Brother" website, across the street from the gated entrance, (located at 47.301100, -121.952402), and just before the entrance to the one-lane bridge, there is enough space for about two cars. If not, there is a small cemetery just prior to arriving at the gated entrance across the street easily walkable. There is no parking in front of the gate and the land between the gate and the actual entrance a short walk ahead, by the yellow gate, is privately owned but has an easement allowing entry to the second yellow gate. Shortly after the yellow gate you will reach a fork where the coal cart is located. To the left is the direction of the cemetery and mine shaft, to the right, from what I believe, may be privately owned by Palmer Coal, but I walked ahead there for a few moments to visit some old foundatins. It's a nice easy level walk to the mine shaft along the road. After leaving the shaft, the trail becomes mostly narrow and obstructed by blackberry bushes and vegetation, but still walkable. You'll soon pass the foundation of an old power plant foundation to the right, and just ahead you'll see the first tombstone in the bushes to the right. Just ahead you'll wander into a little overgrown cemetery with a few more tombstones. It's really sad this little cemetery is abandoned and uncared for, but it appears at times the scouts and others tend to the area. From what I read, there are other tombstones in the forest, it is really overgrown and forested in this area. I did not a little trail continue beyond the cemetery, but I did not continue. On the way back to the highway, I noticed a little bench on the river side between the yellow gate and main gate. Just past is a trail going down into the gorge by the river that might be woth exploring. Overall an easy hike, a few little mud patches at times, but a nice little walk on a sunny day. I would recommend reading a little on Franklin before visiting, it has an interesting past and it's hard believing a town once stood there.