Mother's Day hike! We had planned to hike Dog Mountain, but the GPS had other plans for us. A reminder for us to have hardcopy directions or maps in case the GPS freaks, and we don't have cell service. But anyway, we ended up at Lewis River Falls, and hiked to the Upper Falls! It was 7 miles roundtrip from the lower parking lot. PARKING The parking lot is right outside of the campground (name escapes me) and it's very small. There are signs everywhere in the campground telling you not to park there as a dayhiker. But there is another parking lot farther up the road, maybe a mile or so. We didn't drive to it, but you hike past it (about 2-3 miles into the trail), and when we passed it, it was mostly empty. There are a lot more parking spaces there. TRAIL The trail was in great condition. Part of it is closed, but it didn't effect being able to see all 3 of the waterfalls (lower, middle, and upper). There were some hills--my mom had to stop to catch her breath twice, but for the average fit person, this should feel like a leisurely walk in the woods. The waterfalls are the main attractions of course, but this trail was one of the more beautiful ones I've been on. There was forest-y parts, and canyon-y parts, as well as sections that followed alongside the river. We saw a lot of kids on the trail, as well as dogs.

The trail is in great shape. And so far this year not many people. I was the only person. Trail had no new sign of any one. No horses. Water is very clear and everything is blooming and very bright green. Beautiful trip.

Right now is a great time to check out the Lewis River trail. It’s currently snow-free. The rain makes the waterfalls that much more impressive, and as far as I know there aren’t any views obscured by cloudy skies. Last but definitely not least, the road that parallels the Lewis River trail (Forest Road 90) is closed to vehicles until March 31, to protect the local elk populations. I had the entire trail to myself when I was there, which is pretty awesome considering how busy it gets in the summer months. Oh! And also, they just cleared it of blowdowns on Feb 29. So conditions really are just about perfect. I started with the short out-and-back to Curly Creek and Miller Creek Falls (trail 31A). The first waterfall, cascading through a unique rock arch, is Curly Creek Falls, and the second is Miller Creek Falls. After checking out Curly Creek and Miller Creek Falls, I started making my way north along the Lewis River Trail. As I said above, the trail is in great condition, especially for March. Zero blowdowns across the trail. Some bridges are out and/or in disrepair, and therefore the trail is closed to stock, but it’s definitely possible for humans to get by. That said, I did get my feet wet (fully submerged) on a couple creek crossings. If you have longer legs than me, are more sure-footed, or simply go on a less soggy day, you could probably keep your feet dry. To be honest, I didn’t even try – I just waded right through the crossings and was fine. There are a couple places where the trail is slumping towards the river, but still passable. The trail is also closed for a short section just before Middle Falls, but there is a signed detour and it adds only a small amount of elevation gain and mileage. One of the things I loved about the Lewis River Trail is that you have to work for your views of the really big falls. This is only true when FS 90 is closed. In the summer, Lower, Middle, and Upper Falls can all be reached in 1-2 miles from the Lower Falls TH or the Quartz Creek TH. But right now, with the road closed to protect elk, you have to take the trail at least 10 miles upstream to earn views of the big falls. The Lewis River Trail ends rather abruptly at the Quartz Creek trailhead. This is where I turned around. Total mileage for the out-and-back, including the aforementioned detour and short spurs to various waterfalls, was ~32 miles and ~3800 ft of elev gain. You can shorten the route by simply turning around earlier, or lengthen the route by continuing up Quartz Creek trail. Once FS 90 opens, you could also leave a car or bike at Quartz Creek trailhead and doing a point-to-point from Curly Creek Falls TH to Quartz Creek. All in all, a great river trail in prime condition! More pics and some details about snowshoeing/camping in the area: http://evergreenendurance.com/2016/03/09/lewis-river/

Beautiful hike leaving from the Lower Falls Recreation Area. If you are staying at the campground, you can enter this trail in numerous locations, but we started at the trailhead so that we wouldn't miss out on the falls right near the Day Use area. After the initial falls, which are beautiful, you follow the trail along the river, with a few different spots for river access. The river is clean and beautiful, and there were plenty of spots to cool off! For the first portion of the trail, you pass through the campground and campsites can be seen off to the left, but after not too long, the campground seemed far behind and all was quiet in the woods except for the sound of the river below. The trail was well shaded and cool, which was nice on such a hot day.

I hiked this trail on the 23rd and again on the 1st of August. there is a big difference in weekday and weekend usage during summer months. the weekday trip we met less than 10 groups during our out and back trip from the lower to upper falls, weekday traffic was about 3 times what we had on the weekend to include two unicycles! The views of the upper and lower falls are simply amazing, nothing else can be said, you need to go see for yourself! The trail is still out of commission between the lower and middle falls causing you to take trail 31C up to and back from the middle falls parking area to continue up river. The detour doesn't add a whole lot of distance to the overall hike and 31C takes you past the small but gorgeous Copper Creek falls. With that exception the trails are in great shape over all. The hike up to the upper falls viewpoint is no joke and should be respected by all hikers as it does have the potential to be dangerous. Returning to the lower falls mid afternoon on the weekends was much different than I had experienced before. many folks traveling out there with the sole purpose of drinking beer, being loud and sitting in lawn chairs in the shallow waters surrounding the lower falls. The overall hike starting at the lower falls recreation area, traveling up to the upper falls view point and then back, stopping below the lower falls totaled out to be 6.9 miles.