Light snow today and wet conditions made for muddy trail and slushy potholed road. The trailhead sign is gone but the post remains. We followed what appeared to be the main trail down to the creek but possibly due to high water volume didn’t really see a way to walk up the creek shore to see the falls from ground level. Maybe we just missed it? Or maybe there is another branch from the trail that was overgrown? We were calling it a bust and heading back to the car when we noticed the spur trail to the overlook. Glad we found that as we were able to see the rushing falls! Spur leading to Overlook is very close to the top of the trail. 

It had been raining torrentially for a couple days, and this day was no exception. We had to be creative to avoid the potholes on the road. After crossing the bridge over the West Fork of the Satsop River, as the road bends to the left there is a wide spot on the right, and a post marking the trailhead.

With all the rain the trail was wet, but firm. There were places where the entire trail was a puddle, and near the bottom became a creek. It’s sometimes difficult to discern which is the main trail and which are way trails, but it seems all of them lead to a view. Be cautious with children and animals as some lead to significant drop offs over either the Satsop or Spoon Creek.

There was a lot of water coming over the falls and the creek was high so we couldn’t get near the base of the falls, but the view was great anyway. With all the wet rain gear In the car the defroster had a hard time keeping up on the way home. 

Nice hike for a puppy and six year old. Easy in and out, great little spot. 

Trail is short and fairly easy. We found getting there a little confusing as there are several forest roads weaving together in the area. Basically after turning off on FR23, stick to the right. Where the left turn for Satsop center is stay  going straight (the sign for FR23 is kind of hidden on the right side of the road). The trail is right past the one lane bridge. There were no signs for the trail. We only knew because there were other cars parked.

On the way to the falls you go downhill. The blowdown mentioned in a previous trip report has been cleared. There are a few social trails cutting switchbacks to watch for. At the bottom of the hill, there are some slick rocks you need to step down from to get to the river bank. They were really slick on Saturday - I took one wrong step, slipped hard, and ended up on my butt (only bruises, thankfully!)

The falls are nice with a good gravel area to sit for a bit. We saw ~5 other people on the trail but were the only ones with masks. Afterwards we headed up to Maidenhair Falls and Wynoochee Falls.

We didn't make it down to the falls due to a massive blowdown. There were at least 4 full-grown trees down across the trail... not just an easily navigated obstacle. It might be possible to make it over or around the blowdown, but we'd been to the falls before and didn't feel like it was worth the effort for such a short hike (especially because we live in the area).