great hike

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The road to Staircase is gravel past the Dry Creek bridge, so bumpy and dusty. But no potholes.

We arrived at 9:30am on Saturday morning, there were two cars ahead of us at the payment station, and parking was almost full. Luckily we were able to get ourselves a good spot to park.

There are two toilets at the clockwise trailhead before the bridge, they are clean but stinky (by nature!). Toilet paper and hand sani was well stocked.

We did the trail counter- clockwise. The trail is gravelly and rooty in some areas - of course my 4 year old tripped not even 5 minutes into the hole, but was feeling much better after a bandaid and a reminder to watch where his feet are going. There is a blow down not far in that the trail that has already been rerouted around. There is also a log bridge early on in the trail. It is narrow but sturdy and my 4-year-old and myself with the baby carrier on had no issues. The counter-clockwise route doesn't have any/many views of the river until you get to the bridge. The first good view of the river from the bridge was beautiful! The bridge is in great condition and feels incredibly safe.

From this point you can turn left to return back to the trailhead. This section of the trail has many beautiful views of the river and some cool/interesting trees. Definitely the more picturesque side of the trail.

At the end of the trail you cross a large concrete bridge into the parking area, which is where the toilets from earlier are located as well as the riverside picnic area. We returned to our car to grab our lunch and came back to eat and play underneath the bridge. There is a nice little shaded sandy spot under the bridge. The water was cold but not too cold for my kiddos to wade in. Many adults and older kids were swimming. The water is clear and the bottom is dirt and rock.

This was a nice little hike for my 4 year old (and 2 year old riding in the pack.) Between the trail and back and forth to the car and picnic area we logged 2.9 miles of mostly flat trail/very low grade trail.

♿ reviewer: Arrived at 11 am on a Saturday. The parking lot was busy with a Parking Attendant to help find spots. There are two ♿ parking spots. If you park at the disabled parking, it's not a full loop trail, and you'll end up needing to walk downhill from the upper parking lot to your car or have your driver pick you up. I would personally rate this trail as moderate, and consider readiness based on length of trail and ability to do stair-like elevation. We saw 30-40 people on the trail. The water was so inviting, we wished we had brought our bathing suits and started at the upper trail so we'd swim at the end near our car. (Not sure if swimming is allowed lol.)

Started at 9am in a clockwise direction. Didn’t see anyone for over an hour. Perfect weather and perfect temperature. No bugs which was a blessing. Crossed suspension bridge and had several parties pass us on the way back.

  Hiking clockwise this trail starts off very flat with some real large old growth with lots of mossy trees. Numerous places to see the water flowing but most is obstructed by trees unless you step off trail and get down by the water for an unobstructed view. The Suspension Bridge was magnificently large and well maintained. Once crossing over the bridge the trail starts off flat but gains some elevation which gets your heart rate going but once over the hump its pretty much down hill coming back to the parking lot in a different area but easy to figure out. The parking lots were full but on the trail I only saw like 10 people and I arrived at 10:00 am. Be aware that the road along Lake Cushman is partly black topped then dirt and gravel that blows up into the air and real limits visibility and there are a lot of cars on the road. The part that runs right next to the lake has no guard rail so watch your speed and all the cars coming the other direction as well as all the people walking along the road or camping along the lake before entering into the park which is the last couple miles of the road in the park is blacktopped. Parking fills up fast. Checkout the video of this hike by clicking on the link below or checkout my Vimeo Channel with over 425 other hikes done in Washington and beyond.

As always get out and see this beautiful State and enjoy your hiking.

Take Care,

Mike