Eastside Trail — Monday, May. 27, 2024

We got in our first hike on the Eastside trail, from Deer Creek down to the Grove of the Patriarchs parking, only since we didn't have a timed entry, we got to park on the highway outside the entrance station. Hm. The day was nice, the waterfalls were amazing, as always, and the trail crew will have quite the job ahead of them cutting out all the down trees, lots and lots of down trees.  There was no snow on the trail anywhere, and the first couple of miles had minimal issues.  After the bridge crossing however, there started to be more and more down trees, including one 5 foot diameter one across the trail on a hillside.  We were able to navigate all the blowdown, but it definitely added time to the trek.  The bridges in bad repair are still in bad repair, but solid enough to cross. This is one of our favorite early trails because the waterfalls are absolutely amazing at this time of year and there are no bugs.  There were not many forest flowers showing yet, except trilliums.  If you do this hike before the trail crew gets there, be prepared!