This hike along the Lewis River Trail #31 started at the Lower Falls Recreation Area, along Forest Road 90 about 14 miles east of the junction with FR 25. (The 13th mile currently includes 0.6 mile of rough and potholed dirt and rock road, due to an earlier washout.) The day use area has vault toilets and picnic tables. A Northwest Forest Pass is required.
Note: The WTA Hiking Guide currently lists the one-mile "Speed Trail" #31E as the Lewis River Trail #31. Our hike was along the real Lewis River Trail #31. The Hiking Guide is wrong.
From the day use area, we took one of two paths to the Lower Falls viewpoints. The Lower Lewis River Falls were spectacular. Photos I had seen in previous trip reports had led me to believe the falls were not that large. Wrong! They're a respectable 43 feet high and 200 feet across! On the left side is a churning trough which gathers most of the water flow. There are several viewpoints to capture the scene from.
Another mile and a half further upstream was the Middle Lewis River Falls, a river-width combination of a waterfall and a cascade of water along a sheet of bedrock. The viewpoints are limited here, but even the riverbed is pretty, the clarity of the water revealing its ragged volcanic nature.
We chose the short side trail up to Lower Copper Creek Falls, a small trickle of water that drops 32 feet in a classic formation. Returning to Trail #31, we continued upstream one mile to the very impressive Upper Lewis River Falls. Again, photos don't do it justice. The falls are 58 feet high and 175 feet across, again with a churning trough on the left side. We ate lunch at the river's edge below the falls and enjoyed the view.
We knew about Taitnapum Falls a short distance further up the trail, so we continued on. What we didn't know was that there is also an upper viewpoint to the Upper Falls, about a quarter mile beyond the lower viewpoint. It requires climbing steeply uphill, but I highly recommend it. The view from above was not as picturesque, but like I said, photos don't do it justice anyway. See the churning trough up close.
Taitnapum Falls drops only 16 feet, across the 60 foot width of the river. Its most noteworthy feature is the raggedness of its lip. Most waterfalls course over a well-rounded lip, but not Taitnapum. Its lip has resisted wearing evenly, leaving a bizarre-looking ragged undercut edge for the water to spill over.
From Taitnapum Falls, we continued the remaining one third of a mile to the Quartz Creek Trailhead, where we turned around and headed back to our starting point at the Lower Falls Recreation Area. Total mileage was about 7 miles. The trail was in excellent condition, with only a couple muddy areas.
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