Never had done the Boulder River Trail, even though I had wanted to for a while. It was always a little far of a drive, or I wanted to do trails that got higher up in the mountains, or a trail with better views. I took advantage of a rainy overcast day where I had nothing else to do to do it and wasn't disappointed. People should note that the mileage and elevation gain are a little off. 

Trailhead: I got here at about 10:30 am and there were like 5-6 cars on the trail. There is no toilet at the trailhead. There is a toilet off the road about 2.5 miles from the trailhead that is very well signed. That toilet was well stocked and clean enough. 

Trail: The first mile of the trail is well built, an old forest road, and very dry. After the first waterfall, the trail becomes much more muddy and very often was covered in water. Big puddles, creek crossings, and water flowing down the trail. Ended up with very wet feet, but nothing ever really felt dangerous. There is a small trickling waterfall right before the very large Feature Show Falls a little after a mile. Don't be fooled. The main waterfall has a short trail down to the river to see the entire waterfall from the base. It was flowing on a rainy day and was really impressive. The river was also high and flowing very fast with the rain. The 2nd major waterfall is about 2.5 miles down the trail and was also really impressive. Not as high or as interesting looking, but had a very heavy flow. The trail ends at some campsites at the river side and was a great place to stop for lunch before turning around. Only saw 5-6 other groups the whole day. Maybe one group that looked like they were going to camp. 

Wildlife: Saw a giant pacific salamander right on the trail on the way back out! Picture below. Very cool. 

Overall, I marked the trail as 8.7 miles and 1300+ ft elevation gain up and down

The trail is easy to follow but is wet and muddy in many spots especially the last 2 miles. Lots of streams to cross and poles are very helpful to prevent slipping. There are many varieties of mushroom and fungi along the trail to view. This is not an 8.6 mile hike with 700 feet of gain. I hiked with a group of 20 and nearly all of us clocked it at 9.5 miles and close to 1400 feet of gain. 700 ft is one way. It’s still a moderate hike, but I like for the mileage and elevation gain to be accurate and it’s not.

We decided to take advantage of the rain break and spend some time hiking along Boulder River with our two pups. About 4-5 other cars were in the parking lot when we arrived around 10:30am. The road was rough with some deep potholes, but nothing you couldn’t work around slowly if needed. Did anyone else see the banged-up SUV down the side of the forest road?! There’s caution tape. Not sure if it’s recent? It was pretty eerie to drive by. I hope everyone was OK.

The trail itself was expectedly wet, but not as muddy as expected. We turned around about 2 miles in and made our way back to the car excited for beer & flatbread at River Time Brewing. The “real” reason we headed out towards Darrington today. 😆

It was a pretty damp day but not pouring rain, which meant that

1. The trail was nearly empty
2. Because the vegetation is creeping over the trail in places, my thighs especially got absolutely soaked by the water on the leaves

I didn't need a rain jacket, and my dog (who is pretty low to the ground) managed to avoid getting drenched. But as the weather gets rainier, I'd choose lower-body clothing that dries quickly.

Setting that aside, this is still a fun and not too difficult hike to see some waterfalls and enjoy the river.

Hiked Wednesday, Aug 21.
French Creek Road was still full of potholes, and very slow: 37 minutes from the turnoff, including a toilet stop.
The day was cloudy and cool, with occasional very light rain, which collected on the vegetation. The trail was quite over-grown in places -- not enough to disappear, but enough to get us very wet.
There were several trees down across the trail. None were insurmountable.
The stream crossings were not difficult. There was some mud and wet trail, also not difficult.
The two sets of waterfalls were gorgeous, as always, even with their late-season water levels.
There were some very prolific huckleberry bushes, including red, black, and blue ones.