Took my 4 yo son on his first ever hike today! Boulder River was the perfect choice -- just the right length, relatively flat, enough interesting things to engage him along the way and water play once we arrived at the falls. He's not a big walker and the hike pushed him while still being within his capability. (We saw a few other 3-5 yo on the trail too). The proud smile on his face when he completed it was priceless!
The heavily pot holed forest road on the way in was the toughest part of the trip. Be prepared to go only a few MPH. After an hour drive from Seattle, my little guy was done being in the car and the slow, bumpy pace of the road really tested his patience. That said, there were berries along the road (not to mention along the trail) so we stopped for a few.
Points of intrigue for my little guy on the hike: two wooden bridges at the start, lots of berries, critters along the way, looking for the river as we went along (we could hear it but could we see it?), tossing rocks in the water at the falls, and scrambling up from the falls on our way back (it's a steep path down but he did it just fine).
He'd wanted to "swim" but the water was really flowing so I didn't see a way to safely get in it with him. Plus it was very cold but we had fun tossing rocks in and floating leaves out into the water.
Beautiful falls and lovely hike.
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