This trail was recommended by two nice ladies on the Sheep Lake trail this morning. Since our plan was to drive 410 to Yakima and hike whatever, that worked out. The trailhead is about 10 minutes from the Sheep Lake trail on the left side of the road. You need a Discover Pass. The bathrooms are stocked and in good condition. The signage offered directions that said you take a left after 1/4 mile. So we crossed the log bridge that is in great condition and turned left. It turned out it's a little more than 1/4 mile because what we were on was a social trail that people probably thought would take them closer to the falls. It took me closer to the running water becuase I slipped and fell and stopped just a couple feet from going in. I didn't listen to the voice in my head that said the trail was too rough to be the genuine trail. If you find yourself in rough terrain, you most likely are on a social trail. After the bridge you follow the trail to the right, go up a bit, and then there is a genuine split. You go left there. You walk through a burn scar that shows how much vegetation has grown since the fire. You climb a little and then there is a trail that takes you down. We opted out since I freaked out my bestie when she thought she was going to have pull me out of the river. Then the wind picked up and we decided we didn't want to hike in a burn scar with wind. We hike half the trail and what we saw was beautiful. No buzzing bugs, but we saw a lot of ants. So many giant ants. 

Nice day for a hike. Really nice when the sun was behind clouds. At around 1.76 miles trees across the trail made tougher going. Had a lovely lunch by the creek.

The side-spurs to the waterfall are worth the extra distance. It was beautiful close-up.

I arrived at the trailhead @ 8:30 am and was the only car in the parking lot. Bathroom clean and stocked. I was looking for a quiet trail and found it. I saw no one up and back, which was a highlight. For starters, I would not take a dog, kids, or stock on this trail. The trail is in good shape for the first mile, but is covered with blowdowns and getting brushy after that. Kids would just be plowing into brush with their faces. In a few areas the trail tread is missing by half, and the trail is on steeper terrain. These are step across easy, but again, kids may be a concern. Wildflowers are visible but not prolific. The final gully crossing is not doable unless you really look for the very old, almost gone bits of pink flagging, and follow a rough boot path up hill to the right. This takes you to a shallow area of the gully where you can cross. Some water flowing and wildflowers in the gully were very pretty. I turned around here, as I didn't want to fight more trees to cross.

I used to see horses using this trail but it would be impossible for them now, due to the number and size of the trees across the trail. This has always been a bit of a forgotten trail, but it will shortly be lost for good if it is not maintained. Brush is reclaiming the tread, and downed trees are obscuring the trail. There were no bugs. Please, WTA, consider restoring this trail before it is lost. Naches ranger district has not made much of an effort on this one.

I did hike down the 2nd trail to the lower waterfall. A beautiful spot, but as others have warned, it could be dangerous, and there were fresh flowers in the river below the falls, either as a remembrance or a new accident.

For a short walk, hike the trail to the top of the lower falls, to a flat area above the creek canyon. But again, there is a large drop off here that could be very dangerous for dogs or kids, or adults that should know better but seem to push the boundaries. There is a bluebird house here with the name 'Grace' carved on it, the date 2012, and a disturbing inscription stating 'Undeserved favor for one who is guilty'. There doesn't appear to be any birds that have nested in this box. Can't saw I blame them, bad vibes.

This trail offers views, and a beautiful creek, plus solitude. But lets not add to the incident count. Going up is easier than going down as the trail is dusty in places, and rubbly in others on the scree section.

With snow removal work expected to start on the Eastern side of Chinook Pass on 03/27, I headed up to see how things were up at Union Creek and Hwy 410. Definitely sections of the Hwy are just sheets of ice, the closer you get to Union Creek. They've plowed near the entrance of the Union Creek parking lot, enough for 3-4 cars. There's 2-3 feet of snow between the trailhead and the log bridge, snowshoers have compacted down a decent trail leading to the log. The log had a good sheet of ice, use of the handrail and crossing the bridge(facing upstream) is a must. The trail is still manageable without microspikes and snowshoes until the trail reaches the first fork. Going down to the first viewpoint or further up the trail will require snowshoes and poles or microspikes and pick axe.

We got to the trailhead about 8:30am and there were only 2 other cars in the lot (there are only about 4 lined parking spots at the trailhead). Starting at the Union Creek trailhead, we headed off, almost immediately having to stop to douse ourselves in bug repellent to keep the mosquitos off.

About a 1.5 miles in it gets to be a bit rough going, with trees down and bushes obscuring the trail. At some point there is a bunch of logs/sticks covering the trail, at at this point you need to look for the pink markers (someone who headed back before we got to this point said she lost the trail and has to turn around thus probably never saw the pink ribbons). If you follow the pink ribbons you can keep on the trail easily, until it becomes a normal trial again.

You have to cross the stream at the last waterfall to veiw it, but it was hot enough that it felt very good.

Overall a great hike. We only saw 3 people total on the trail. It took us about 3 hours.