Arrived around 9:30AM on a cloudy Saturday and were able to easily find a parking spot. It’s a short easy walk. The trees are impressive and the suspension bridge is interesting but had a bit of a line forming at both ends on our way out. In addition to recommending only one person at a time, they should also recommend not stopping on the bridge to take pictures when others are waiting. 

Obviously, this was not a snowshoe adventure in August, but I thought this hike deserved a trip report. 

We left from Ohanapecosh Campground and headed toward Silver Falls. WOW! Beautiful. But that wasn't all our eyes had in store. We continued on past the falls (plenty of places to stop off and sit for a spell, by the way), across the road, where the parking lot to Grove of the Patriarchs is located (and very crowded, I might add). From here it is 0.3ish miles to the suspension bridge leading to the grove. 

It was a lovely 5 mile roundtrip hike. The trail is in excellent condition and the rangers at the Ohanapecosh Visitor Center were extremely helpful. We enjoyed this trip and hike very much.

We hiked earlier in the day and after a siesta, and dinner in Packwood, we decided to head to the Grove of the Patriarchs.  We don't usually hike that late in the day (it was around 7:pm) but hey we needed to make the most of our one day in the park (and the fee).  So back in to the park we went. Frankly I didn't expect to enjoy it so much.  Maybe it was the perfect temperature, maybe it was working off the big dinner we ate, or just the trail itself.   Yes the trees are impressive, but the stream that runs through the grove really adds something.  There were still families with kids hiking this trail when we were heading in but the parking lot had thinned out to just a few cars left when we finished.

Super easy and fun hike accessible for all ages! We journeyed down to the river a couple of times along the trail because it was a hot day. Discovered some super neat spots! The suspension bridge was especially cool. 

First part of this trip was Skyline Loop on the same (incorrect) date. I wrote my trip report for Tuesday without checking the date.  It should have been on August 20, 2019. This is the trip report for Wednesday to Grove of the Patriarchs.  Continuing where I left off, it had started to drizzle. Not much traffic on a cloudy Wednesday morning.  Just our luck, our route around the south side of the mountain took us into a rain shadow.  The mountain kept us pretty dry all day.  There wasn't much traffic, but what there was all ended up at the same place.  The lot was full.  The Big trees were amazing and the bridge was great.  Full parking lot, but people were dispersed.  The drive home was amazing.  Quite a contrast between the park and the sprawl. I haven't been thourgh Black Diamond and Maple Valley in fifteen years.  Hardly recognized the place.  Lunch at Kelly's in Enumclaw and home before the traffic explodes.