Silver Falls Loop, Grove of the Patriarchs Loop — Monday, Jun. 28, 2021

With a bit of a late start today, I arrived at the Grove of the Patriarchs trailhead at 1030 and found the parking lot full. I ended up parking at the Cowlitz Divide trail junction a bit farther up Stevens Canyon Road and then took that trail down to Silver Falls. I was hitting cobweb after cobweb on the way down towards the Silver Falls loop, so I don’t think anyone had used the Cowlitz trail all weekend. Silver Falls was pretty spectacular with all the high temperatures vis-a-vis snowmelt happening higher up the mountain this weekend. After viewing the waterfall, I did not continue on the Silver Falls loop, but instead headed up to the Grove of the Patriarchs.  The trail for the Grove was much more crowded and had about a 30 minute wait to cross over to it via the suspension bridge. Only one person is allowed on the bridge at a time, but it is worth the wait to see some very large, and super old trees! Both the Patriarchs and Silver Falls (without the loop) attractions can be done together in less than 2 hours, and are great hikes for kids (if you can trust them not to go near the water). I saw several groups of folks getting way too close to the raging river while posing for photos when one slip would have put them in the drink and potentially six feet under. I had to just turn around and walk away as it was too scary to watch! These trails were a great way to beat the heat as they are completely shaded by the forest and cooled by the river.  I will have to come back and do the entire Silver Falls Loop on another day when it is not 100 billion degrees out :)