Day hike Monday June 22. 

The road to Dingford Creek TH is as advertised: 6 miles of vehicle sized potholes, bathtub sized potholes, regular potholes, washboards, occasional mud, 4 rocky washout ditches, etc.

My route to Tin Cup Joe Falls began by taking the Middlefork Tie Trail (Goldmeyer side) down to the bridge crossing the river. Then followed signage onto the Middlefork Trail all the way to the bridge crossing Cripple Creek Falls. There are multiple blowdowns on this section. Roughly 5-10ft past the bridge on the left is the steep path going up to Tin Cup Joe. 

I saw on GPS this path seems to follow an older trail to Derrick Lake and I did my best to follow it.  That being said- this is certainly a test in route-finding. I appreciate other hikers who have affixed occasional flagging to keep you more or less going in the right direction. Became a serious bushwack at around 1600ft, with so many blowdowns I lost count. Large, old growth logs. Brush, overgrown Devil's Club, exposed rooty areas all make this very challenging to traverse. 

Finally reached the lower falls, then scrambled up the right side talus to what I believe to be mid-way to the upper falls. An incredible overall sound and sight, the collection of water here. Maybe the best falls in the state. 

After a long rest, headed back to work on the return trip. Only person I saw entire day was a single trail runner on the Middlefork. 

Give yourself extra time to do this hike, also to get up the road. I underestimated both. RT 4.2m/1050ft. 

I set out for Tin Cup Joe Falls via Middle Fork Snoqualmie Trail, starting at the Dingford Trailhead.  I made it to the bridge at Cripple Creek, but was unable to find the path shown in Gaia GPS to head towards the Tin Cup Joe Falls. Based on other trip reports, I understood some trail finding was necessary ... but I just couldn't even find where it started.  Relative to the bridge, can anyone provide directions?  From the photos seems like these are great falls to visit, would be nice if enough of us visit and turn it back into a real trail?

I liked the trail and footing was in general good, but a dozen+ obstacles from downed trees.  All were passable. 

The road is 6 miles, give yourself at least half-hour. Pot-hole city the whole way. I would have guessed this to be high-clearance-only vehicles especially at a few places where the stream crosses the road, but there was one lower-clearance vehicle at the Dingford Trailhead, so I guess it is doable with lower-clearance vehicle? Although if you do that, perhaps be prepared for bottom to touch in a few places.

The trail is open again and blockade on the other side of the bridge removed (however the expired closure notice is still posted at TH). At about 1.5 miles there is a (mostly) clear path thru the big mudslide. Hopefully, whoever did the chainsawing for the first 2.5 miles (thank you!) will come back and go further up the trail. There are still plenty of blowdowns - all pretty easy to get around/over/under. There are also a few brushy places along the way.

At the Cripple creek bridge, I decided to head up the bootleg trail that showed up on my GAIA map. Talk about blowdowns. Wow! And these are old growth trees - BIG!. I lost the trail a few times and did what work I could with my little folding saw but was only able to make it about 1/2 way up this trail. It would be a great one for the #LostTrails campaign.

TIP: This Tin Cup Joe Falls is more easily accessed from the Dingford Creek TH as described in the Guide.

After lunching near Cripple creek, we headed back down, crossed the bridge and headed towards Dingford. I came to a fresh blowdown of 3 smaller trees that I could manage to clear while Bandit found a place in the moss to take a nap. Continuing towards Dingford, the forest floor opens up and the scenery is wonderful - but there is still the occasional blowdown to contend with. I didn't quite make it to the Dingford bridge as I decided we should turnaround at 3pm. We booked it back to the van by 6pm but not before getting Bandit in the water to rinse off all that mud.

I’ve wanted to see Tim Cup Joe Falls since I learned about it in “Alpine Lakes Wilderness” by the Barnes brothers.
Getting to Dingford Creek TH was no problem. The road had a few shallow washouts but any passenger car can make it. There were half a dozen cars at the trailhead. 
The Middle Fork Trail had a few trees down but was in good shape otherwise. Once I made it to Cripple Creek the Falls Trail was fairly easy to find about 10 yards past the bridge. There are a few rocks on the trail past the bridge which point to Tin Cup Joe Falls Trail. 
The first quarter mile was on good tread with a few markers here and there to navigate with. There were at least 30 downed trees after the ‘easy’ start. Route finding skills came in handy, but I still turned down a few paths that dead ended at downed trees. At one point about half a mile from the Middle Fork Trail a group of about 6 old growth trees fell across the path. Making my way around these giants took some time. I got off trail but luckily a couple came up behind me and was able to locate the trail up higher on the slope after they went around the downed trees. The trail was easy to follow after that with a few marker flags here and there. 
The water at the falls was flowing heavily and made for great pics. I hiked a bit past the lower falls to get a good view of the upper falls. Mosquitos were plentiful once I stopped to take a break. 
Route finding was easier on the way back although I found myself on a game trail at one point but with the creek nearby I was able to easily find the main trail again. 

The trail to the falls is a very rough route.  The pay off is a great waterfall complex, old growth forest and some solitude. I tried reaching the falls last November but the river ford was too dangerous for me. This time of year the falls are not as spectacular but the river crossing is much easier.

You can either start at the Gateway Bridge or the much shorter trail from the Dingford Trailhead. The route is well described in previous trip reports from Cliff Birdsall and myself.

About 1 mile from the Mid Fork Tr turnoff there is a difficult to cross blowdown caused by a massive cedar that fell from the opposite bank of Cripple Creek.  There is a very large standing Red Cedar on the opposite side of the creek at this blowdown. It looks like it is about 12 feet in diameter! 

Cripple Creek has to be crossed about 300 feet downstream from the lower falls.  The "trail" really gets steep and rough at this point with scrambling on all fours necessary in sections. 

There are two different landings to view the falls from.  The first on give you a view of both the right and left upper and middle waterfalls but you really can't get a good view of both at the same time.  The second landing is at the base of the upper falls.

Don't let the 5.2 mile RT fool you.  It is a tough route.