Thru hiked the Eastside Trail from Owyhigh Lakes trailhead off of Hwy 123 to Ohanapecosh Campground. There were so many beautiful waterfalls to admire and the shady trail was nice with the hot day. We saw very few people until we hit the intersection with the Grove of the Patriarchs, then is was people city. Be prepared to wait in line to cross the bridge to the island with the big trees. We crossed and ate lunch by the river, toured the trees then continued south to our last falls of the day before finishing off with a side trip to Ohanapecosh Hot Springs. Our waterfall tour included the following five named falls: Deer Creek Falls, Stafford Falls, Ohanpecosh Falls, Olallie Creek Falls, and Silver Falls along with countless other unnamed falls and viewpoints.
Between Deer Creek Falls and Stafford Falls there is a section of trail with four to five blowdowns to navigate. Our party was easily able to clear them and we did have to get low to the ground to go under at least two of them. A little further south of the blowdowns but within the same same section of trail, we encountered a 20 to 30 foot span of trail that was flooded. We crossed the area on a pile of rocks and easily found our way back to the trail without getting our boots wet. Poles were helpful with the water crossing but it wasn't difficult. Several smaller bridges were in various states of disrepair and were still able to be crossed safely.
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