Arrived to the trailhead around 8:30am on Sunday morning. The parking lot was full, but we were able to get a spot close by off the side of the road.

The trail is in great condition. There were around 20 people at the base of the waterfall and had a great and chilly time swimming for a few hours before heading back.

There were multiple groups climbing to the right of the waterfall. They were extremely slow moving with all of the traffic on the wall. (Go early if you are planning to climb)

We parked in the Snoqualmie Lake lot near the trailhead. Cautious driving required as cars were precariously parked on both sides of the road past Garfield Ledges. The privy is opened, stocked, and in good condition.

This trail is straightforward and easy to follow. It can be rocky at times and the two stream crossings are manageable, so truly no obstacles. 

We first checked out Big Creek Falls and then turned around to head to Otter Falls. The new trail going up to Otter Falls is wonderful! Big kudos to the team that worked to make it happen. The falls were busy today with people and pooches enjoying the water.

FitBit logged approx. 9.1 miles roundtrip.

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day to enjoy this trail!

Today I did a 20 mile hike to Deer and Bear Lake via Snoqualmie Lake and Otter, Big Creek falls.

at 7:45, the parking lot was almost full. The toilet at TH is very clean and stocked with TP.

The road from the Middle fork campground to the TH is rough, full of potholes but passable in any car.

The first half of the trail is flat till the fork of Nordrum and Snoqualmie Lake. 1 tricky water crossing.

Real fun begins after that, there are a lot of fallen trees to the Snoqualmie Lake and Bear Lake.
Couple of tricky water crossings. The trail is a little muddy and buggy, especially near the Lakes.

The Lakes weren't crowded at all, most crowd were to the Otter Falls.

Overall, It was a nice, long and tough hike! 🥵

19.61 miles/ 2933 ft of gain/ Took 8 hours 8 minutes.

This was a gorgeous day for a hike along Taylor River and up to Otter Falls. Arrived at the parking lot around 9am. A lot of fair sized potholes on the last half mile of the road but not too crazy in a  Subaru Forester.

First time hiking this trail for me but one of our group had been several years ago. First portion of the hike is an old road and wide enough to walk 3 abreast. There were a couple of wide water crossings that required either good balance or walking sticks to stay dry. I went with the sticks and that made crossing them very easy.

Found the new turn off to the falls and really enjoyed the new trail that switchbacks up to Lipsy Lake and Otter Falls. There was a great view of the upper and lower falls at the top of the stairs leading down to the lake.

Two people from our party of three waded in. Water was very, very cold. Not quite hot enough to want to jump in all the way but very tempting.

Round trip was 9.02 miles according to the All Trails App.

#Hikethestate

This is a great cool hike for a warm day - it mostly stays in the shade and near water. The multiple waterfalls provide some spray to cool off, and Otter Falls, has what amounts to a nice wading pool of very cold water. The only significant sun exposure is the last half of the Snoqualmie Lake trail.

The Taylor River portion of the trail is mostly flat and easy. That said, there are a couple of creek crossings that require rock hopping, and the Otter Creek crossing could be a challenge. One group I ran into apparently turned back there. 

It looks like the spur trail to Otter Falls is brand new. Definitely different from the last time I was up here. There were five people at the falls on a Wednesday.

The Snoqualmie Lake portion was also fairly easy, but again complicated by water crossings. Most of these are easy, with the exception of the last, right near the lake. The trail goes to your left up the hill and the creek currently runs over it. There's a false trail straight ahead. If you have GPS, it's more clear, but if not, look for cairns running uphill. There's also a somewhat messy blowdown between there and the lake, but not hard to cross.

Mileage up to the lake looks intimidating, but the mostly easy grade makes this a doable day hike. This would be an amazing overnight destination though since there are a couple of other nearby lakes to explore. The few folks I ran into were mostly trail runners. One woman lugged a packraft all the way up and was out in the middle of the lake. I encountered only 4 people on the Snoqualmie Lake trail.