So Many Wildflowers! I was blown away by the number and variety of flowers just in the first mile. And butterflies! The trail is in great shape. A fun ramble along a raging ”creek”. We saw kayakers launch near the parking area.
No dogs allowed, it is in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Leave Fido home so you don’t have to disappoint them.
Just find another dog allowed hike.

My friend and I arrived at the trailhead around 9:00. There were only a half-dozen other cars there at the time. We met up with a group today, so the actual hike didn't begin until nearly 10am. By then it was quickly getting very warm and humid (temps would ultimately reach 86 degrees) and the sun was out until the very end when thunderclouds began forming overhead.

Ingalls Creek was really roaring today. It looked more like a rapids than a mere creek. The view of it along the entire trail was quite impressive. We ended up hiking maybe 4 miles of the trail before turning around, and both the various wildflowers and several species of butterflies were in abundance.

We finished the trip by around 2:30. There weren't many others on the trail at first, but by the time we arrived back at the trailhead quite a few other groups were headed up to go camping or backpacking.

Went on a lowkey, two night trip along Ingalls Creek last weekend. 

We got to the trailhead on Friday evening and hiked about a mile up the trail before setting up camp. The creek was absolutely raging making it hard to actually carry a conversation while walking along it. It was a lovely evening though and there were a lot of wildflowers blooming– lupine, balsamroot, paintbrush, etc.

On day two we headed up towards the Falls Creek Trail Junction about 5.5 miles from the trailhead. Falls Creek seems aptly named since it looked more like a waterfall as it came down to join Ingalls Creek. At this time of year I think it would be impossible to cross Ingalls to actually get over to the Falls Creek trail. There’s no bridge or log to cross on and the creek was moving fast and strong. We set up our camp right at the trail junction and then went a couple more miles up to Cascade Creek for the rest of the afternoon. On the way up to Cascade Creek there were even more wildflowers. There were still some avalanche lilies out, tons of trillium, some Oregon anemone, and even a few orchids. It’s a really great time to be out hunting for flowers! Make sure to look up at the valley walls as you hike, too! We saw a couple waterfalls tumbling down from The Enchantments

The further into the trail you get the wetter and muddier it is. Around three or four miles in we started getting some sections of trail that were so flooded from small streams that there really wasn’t a good way to get through them without getting your feet wet. I gave up and just walked through them, my friend did some gymnastics avoiding them by going through the thick trees and brush along the trail. None of the wet or muddy patches were particularly long, but they were frequent and continued all the way up to Cascade Creek (the farthest we went). There were two small snow patches that we had to cross from Falls Creek on, though I would expect these to be gone very soon. Also, the further up the trail you go the brushier it gets, I would recommend long pants unless you enjoy getting scratched up. 

There were also three thunderstorms over the course of the trip, thankfully none of them were right on top of us, but that might be something to consider when heading out this time of year.

My last word of caution is that the ticks are definitely out! We saw a few and my friend ended up with two of them on her, so make sure to check yourself!

Very lovely hike along a rushing river with great wildflower show (May 12)

I can imagine this is very popular so i went on a weekday and only saw a few others along the trail.  Very easy to find. Road was clear, no issues, parking fine.  Had clear, sunny skies so it got warm and there isnt a lot of shade, but the river is cool with several places to sit by the banks/rocks.

Relatively minimal elevation change, meandering along the creek, which was flowing very nicely.  The first mile or so is not so interesting other than the river and there are a couple of little flats/beaches to throw some rocks or sit.  The next mile or 2, however, is peppered with a fantastic variety of wildflowers!  There was a whole rainbow of blooms on the day I went ... i am no botanist so these are just my best guesses, but it was really pretty spectacular ... it built up the further in you went - first a spattering of red (paintbrush), then yellow (balsamroot, then glacier lilly .. just a few, then in large groups later on) and blue (tall bluebells), purple (milk thistle, jacobs ladder), pink (phlox?), white (trillium) and even some brown (fernleaf biscuitroot).  super super cool all around.  the other thing was that where there were flowers, there were tons of butterflies!! ... it was a really really nice hike.  very minor snow about 4 miles in; i always carry poles but no gear needed.

there's also a cool (literally) part where an old slide area near one of the camps has amazing cool air flowing off of it - 10 degrees cooler than the surround area

about 3 miles in there is some erosion of the trail on a steeper hillside; may need some shoring up to prevent further slide

i had only planned to be out for a little stroll and my knee was bugging me so i turned around at an arbitrary point, but i would have been happy to keep going and check out some of the further camps and waterfalls along the trail.  there were also some nice peak-a-boo views of the mountains through the creek valley about 2-3 miles in.

would go again and bring someone who doesnt want a lot of elevation. kids could enjoy it, but mine would be happy to plop down by the banks of the creek

RT: 8.4 miles (out n' back), 1094 ft,  3:45

First time for me on this trail; lovely out and back. I went in 6.3 miles according to Apple Watch. Past Falls Creek Trail.

As others have reported, intermittent snow starting about 3.5 miles and continuing up. Did not need microspikes, but I was using poles. I kept the rubber feet on them and traversed the snow patches just fine.

At about six miles there is a water crossing that had me up to mid calf, water moving very fast from a high fall on the north face. (I am 5’4” for reference.)

A lot of elk track and scat up higher, but not super fresh. I followed the elk tracks through the snow to stay on trail. WTA, can we please blaze trails? :)))

Farthest camper (and human tracks) I saw was at a lovely campsite about 4.4 miles up at a big s-curve in the river.

The only reason I turned back was for time; trail still very hike-able 6.3 up. Wish I’d had more time.

Enjoy!