Very lovely hike along a rushing river with great wildflower show (May 12)
I can imagine this is very popular so i went on a weekday and only saw a few others along the trail. Very easy to find. Road was clear, no issues, parking fine. Had clear, sunny skies so it got warm and there isnt a lot of shade, but the river is cool with several places to sit by the banks/rocks.
Relatively minimal elevation change, meandering along the creek, which was flowing very nicely. The first mile or so is not so interesting other than the river and there are a couple of little flats/beaches to throw some rocks or sit. The next mile or 2, however, is peppered with a fantastic variety of wildflowers! There was a whole rainbow of blooms on the day I went ... i am no botanist so these are just my best guesses, but it was really pretty spectacular ... it built up the further in you went - first a spattering of red (paintbrush), then yellow (balsamroot, then glacier lilly .. just a few, then in large groups later on) and blue (tall bluebells), purple (milk thistle, jacobs ladder), pink (phlox?), white (trillium) and even some brown (fernleaf biscuitroot). super super cool all around. the other thing was that where there were flowers, there were tons of butterflies!! ... it was a really really nice hike. very minor snow about 4 miles in; i always carry poles but no gear needed.
there's also a cool (literally) part where an old slide area near one of the camps has amazing cool air flowing off of it - 10 degrees cooler than the surround area
about 3 miles in there is some erosion of the trail on a steeper hillside; may need some shoring up to prevent further slide
i had only planned to be out for a little stroll and my knee was bugging me so i turned around at an arbitrary point, but i would have been happy to keep going and check out some of the further camps and waterfalls along the trail. there were also some nice peak-a-boo views of the mountains through the creek valley about 2-3 miles in.
would go again and bring someone who doesnt want a lot of elevation. kids could enjoy it, but mine would be happy to plop down by the banks of the creek
RT: 8.4 miles (out n' back), 1094 ft, 3:45
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