Absolutely beautiful! Very easy hike. Took my 4 year old and she had a blast. Lovely little creek and picnic opportunities. 

Great little hike with plenty of spots to stop and splash in the water. Very easy hike, our almost 3 year old did it without trouble. Parking lot was pretty full, people were parking on the street, so be prepared for crowds. The trail itself was clean and good footing, with everything after the bridge on boardwalks. A few big mosquitos but nothing too bad.

I am submitting this trip report as a note to WTA staff, who can then pass it on to Parks staff.

We had a great hike in Grove of the Patriarchs, except for one unpleasant incident caused by confusing signage. The Old Growth portion of the trail is largely on a wooden boardwalk, and at one point there is the option of either continuing along the boardwalk loop or taking a separate leg of the boardwalk to view the Big Cedar. Around that junction of the boardwalk, there is an interpretive sign urging users not to leave the trail/boardwalk, and explaining that the ancient trees' roots can be damaged by people walking on them. (The sign says that although the trees survived centuries of potential logging, tourists are now their main threat.)

We took the Big Cedar leg, and just after seeing that precautionary sign, we saw a family walking around in the dirt-and-root area next to the boardwalk. Assuming they had climbed down from the boardwalk and disregarded the sign, we politely asked them to climb back onto the boardwalk. They politely acquiesced--it turned out they were Russian-speaking, so we guessed they had simply not understood the sign.

After parting ways with the family, and feeling kind of bad about the interaction despite its politeness, we came upon the end of the Big Cedar section of boardwalk. Here, the boardwalk ends by descending in a staircase that leads users onto a dirt trail--but that trail isn't well-defined. There's an area of the dirt trail that spills off the trail to the riverbank, another branch that seems to continue on into shrubs (the real trail?), and a third branch that swings off to the left...into the area the Russian family had been walking in. They had probably just descended the boardwalk steps, then followed what appeared to be the trail, which soon peters out next to the boardwalk! Realizing this, we felt even worse--we had chided them for simply following what appeared to be the trail.

The signage in this dirt trail section should be improved. In the short term, obstacles should be placed across the "social trails" in order to direct people along the true trail. In the longer term, signage should be added making it clear where the real trail is. I'd also recommend adding interpretive signage in additional languages, especially regarding staying away from trees and their roots.

It's irresponsible of the Parks Service to knowingly encourage tourism of these ancient, sacred trees without taking the proper precautions to protect them!

I don’t recall ever walking this short path. It was always too long of a drive to make it worthwhile. So I added it on to the end of my day after two other day hikes. There was even parking after 5:00 p.m. The trees are noteworthy of course. But I liked the suspension bridge over the Ohanapecosh River. That river is sooooo clear, very much unlike the glacier-fed rivers flowing all through Mt. Rainier National Park. I just stood and marveled at the clarity, seeing many different colors of rocks on the riverbed.