TL:DR this is a rough bootpath that borders into bushwacking and scrambling territory.

Road: the final 6 miles of road to get to the Dingford creek TH are rough. Large potholes with big dips. It's a bumpy ride the whole way. I don't think any sedan will make it. There are a lot of rocks jutting up and some potholes are massive and filled with water. All vehicles at the trailhead were high clearance. That being said it was actually a pretty fun ride.

Trailhead: there were 2 cars in the low when I arrived at 7:30 am. The bathrooms are closed for the winter (I stopped at the Garfield ledges TH bathrooms on the way in and those were clean and stocked with TP)

Middlefork trail: the first 1.5 miles of this are on the middlefork trail and it is stunning. Gorgeous moss, with river and mountain peekaboo views. Easy hiking no obstacles save for a little mud.

Once you get to Cripple creek that is where the middlefork trail intersects with the bootpath up to the falls.

Tin cup boot path: this path is rough and hard to follow 40% of the time. The trail is very faint in places and easy to lose. All of the gain is on this final mile. So it's steep.

Previous reports about blowdowns are accurate. There are too many to count. Large trees to scramble over and under. All damp and slippery.

Cripple creek crossing: you eventually reach a point where you have to ford Cripple creek. I didn't see a way to rock hop safely across so I opted to wade it. The water was frigid and was about calf deep. It's not a super straightforward crossing. There are a few cairns marking where to cross.

The final ascent: the trail after the creek crossing is the roughest. It's scrambling up roots and logs. The point where to climb up the bank after the creek crossing is not obvious at all.

The Falls: there are two falls. Both are worth seeing. The lower falls is this smooth cascade, while the upper falls has these riffles in the rock. Both good spots to take a hard earned break.

The descent was not much easier than the ascent. Slow going until you reach Middlefork trail again.

I wouldn't do this without a GPS track and good forest route-finding skills. That being said the fall is spectacular and if you are looking for something more challenging off the beaten path then this is a good option.

Didn't see anyone else on trail, the lot only had 7 cars when I returned.

This hike is not for the faint of heart.

It's rather steep at times, with some scrambling required. Wet rocks, roots and tree logs pose formidable obstacles. The entire hike is one obstacle course.

The trail is at times hard to find.

Before reaching the fall, two areas of tree blow downs have to be climbed over. This is not without risk.

Getting to the base of the waterfall also requires rock field climbing and passing through thick underbrush.

The falls themselves are SPECTACULAR.

Hiked with polarapfel to Tin Cup Joe Falls on Saturday.  We hiked from the Dingford Creek trailhead which meant a rough ride.  We took a high clearance vehicle and saw trucks and Subarus in the parking lot.  The bathroom at the trailhead is locked for the winter.  There was plenty of room in the parking lot when we got there, but it had filled up quite a bit when we left--16 cars.  The trail from the parking lot down to the Middle Fork trail was in great shape, as was the Middle Fork trail.  

Once we were on the trail to Tin Cup Joe Falls, the trail was narrower with lots of logs to step over at the beginning of the trail.  The second half of the trail involved climbing over or under larger and sometimes slippery logs.  Towards the end of the trail there were some steep rocky sections which weren't always clear at first.  I dont think the trail has been hiked much since the snow, and it was good to have two sets of eyes looking for the trail.  We followed the trail on the right side of the creek and the end takes you to a great viewing spot.  We took some pictures of the falls and headed back the way we came.  We did lose the trail on the way back near the rocky section, but found it after wandering around a bit. 

We were considering taking a trail that continues on the other side of the river, and we found cairns marking it; but, the water was flowing fast and we didn't consider it to be safe to cross, especially if we wanted to stay dry.

Some of the other trip reports for this hike mention spring as a good time to do the hike while the vegetation is low from snow sitting on it.  I haven't tried the hike in summer; but I would agree.  There were some trail finding that we were doing near the river that involved walking through limbs and dead stalks with thorns that would be much more challenging when they are at full strength.

Gaia had the trip at 5.1 miles and a little over 1000 ft of elevation.  Plan for some extra time on this hike, because of all the obstacles, it will take longer than expected.

This started out as a trail run from Middle Fork TH but turned in to a fun adventure when I noticed the side trail to the falls. The trail looks to be in good use, a few downed trees to crawl under/over but I found it easy to follow up to the base of the falls.

I was able to find where the trail crosses the creek below the falls using some helpful cairns on either side. After ~200 feet of elevation gain this leads to a flat section in the middle of the falls, with nice views looking back towards the valley. This section was a lot steeper and required a bit more route finding -- look for pink tape tied to tree branches marking the way.

Climbed a bit higher to see if I could make it to Derrick Lake, but the trail got progressively worse before petering out into some berry bushes around 2800 feet.  I decided to turn back and do some more research before attempting the lake. Made the right call as it turns out the last section before Little Derrick requires climbing through the creek as the walls narrow on either side, and I'm guessing it's already under snow if I was seeing patches of snow at 2800'.

As this is an officially unmaintained trail you should be comfortable route finding and traveling on rough terrain if you're going to attempt it (I used Gaia GPS). 

ROAD: from Garfield ledges to Dingford Creek the road was rough, but possibly doable with a regular car if you’re careful. ~40 minutes for that 6 miles.

TRAIL: cruised down the middle fork trail for about 1.5 miles to the cripple Creek bridge. Then the fun begins. This bootleg trail is easy enough to follow and has seen some use lately, but still has some blow downs to crawl over and under. Thanks to whoever took out a few blowdowns with a big saw (2 person?). Blueberries were plentiful but not quite ripe. I found the trail to the upper falls this time and it was pretty easy to follow to a nice overlook. I returned the same way.

5 miles, 1150’ gain, 4 hours.