This was our first hike with our young kids. Our boys, 3 and 5, have not hiked any trails yet (on their own), and my wife and I thought this would be a fairly easy first trip. By the way we drove to Lake Crescent from close-by Salt Creek Campground, which has excellent tide-pools full of sea-life (sea stars, urchins, etc)
This is a popular and heavily hiked trail, as the trailhead is located directly in front of the Storm King ranger station at Lake Crescent. Many people pull off the highway to visit this area. However on this day, most visitors seemed to be picnicking rather than enjoying this short and easy hike.
The trail is short (only 1.5 miles round-trip), and is pretty-much flat the entire way, until after two log bridges across Barnes creek. Along the way there are huge Doug firs and cedars. After that you are offered two choices to see the falls. The left route takes you to the bottom of the falls, while the right trail ( the one we took) takes you to a viewpoint with a small observation deck.
The last 1/8 mile of the hike is up a somewhat steep incline up to the viewpoint. The kids didn't seem to mind the steep incline in the end, but I suspect if it was any further, they'd object.
The falls are great, and the kids really enjoyed it.
We followed the loop back down and connected with the main trail. On the way back, we were treated with multiple deer who we amazingly close (see pictures).
All in all, a great, easy first hike with the entire family! I've included some pics for your viewing pleasure.
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