Hiked from Crab Creek TH to the Upper Falls TH for a RT of ~10mi. It's mostly shaded and passes 5 falls - Upper Copper Creek is a very small side waterfall. and then there's lower, middle, and upper Lewis Falls, which you can get down to the water on. The three Lewis Falls probably have the best lighting in the afternoon for pictures. The last falls was Taitnapum Falls - which there's no great viewpoint for, it looks similar to the other 3 falls on Lewis River, but there's no trail down and trees block most the view

The trail mostly has a mild grade with a few shorter steeper climbs mixed in. Was fairly crowded on a Sat.

There's drinking water at the campground if you need to refill and don't have a filter. It tastes very metallic like iron, so you may be better filtering river water.

Saw some salmon swimming upstream around 4pm near the Crab Creek end of the trail.

it's worth swinging by Big Creek Falls on your drive in (this fall likely has better lighting in the morning) as it's about 8 mi before the Crab Creek TH. it's a very short distance to that fall. There's no sign, so be sure to keep an eye on the location in the maps app.

Great hike. Unfortunately, I believe I left my camera on the back of my truck bumper as I was loading up my gear to leave. I have no idea where the camera fell off. I’m posting this in the hopes that someone found it. If so, please contact me at tobiabr at gmail. It would be much appreciated.

Finally got to take the kids for some last minute outing in St Helens area.

First stop: Ape Caves. Ranger checked the reservation at the booth and we got there in time for our 11 AM reservation.

The parking area was busy as expected. We only did the lower cave as I thought the upper cave would be too challenging for my 4 year old. Crowd was pretty spread out for the lower cave and the terrain was just perfect for small kids. Brought our own headlamps and a mini lantern that we'd use for camping.

Second stop: Trail of two forests. This one was also not busy. There were picnic benches that were perfect for lunch after doing all these mini caving stuff. The trail was a short 0.5 mi loop walk on a boardwalk and there's a mini lava tube experience that we all did. Kids loved it. I had my backpack so I had to crawl and drag my hiking pack inside of the tube :)

Third stop: Decided to backtrack for a bit to have lunch at Lone Fir Restaurant. Previous trip reporter mentioned about getting a huckleberry ice cream. I got a thick yummy huckleberry milkshake instead 🙂.

Last stop: Upper Lewis River Falls. We we were not so lucky with the Lower Lewis River Fall reservation. The Platinum Creek Parking by the horse camp seemed to have a last minute availability so we took that option instead. The mileage from the parking area to the first viewing area of the Upper Falls was around 2.7 mi RT. Add additional 0.5 mi RT to the second (main) viewing area. We didn't get to the second viewing area as kids were tired and were ready to head home.

Overall, a great full day outing even though the weather was mixed. Next time I would make an advance reservation for camping in the area so we could take our time.

Lovely trail! The waterfalls are spectacular, and the hike itself overlooked the river for most of the way. Majestic trees, berries, and crystal clear waters. There was a fair amount of toilet paper and other litter along the trail, and the path was eroded in some places, especially along the top of the cliffs. Beware if nervous with heights. Hiked a little more than six miles total from the lower falls to the upper falls.

8am start from crab creek. only car in the parking area. a little overgrown at the beginning, but not an issue afterwards. lower falls were nice to walk out to, the rope to descend and ascend is reliable.

trail is easy to follow and in good condition, nice hike. I imagine it must get busy on weekends