Light to moderate amount of debris on trail. A little wet in a couple places, wear boots or sturdy hiking shoes if you have them. Spring runoff is making for some impressive viewing as you walk along the river.

We decided to take advantage of the decent weather we had and go for a hike to stretch the legs. I decided to ask my eight year old where he wanted to go hike and he said "We haven't been to Staircase in a while." It was decided. We loaded up a daypack and headed out. We actually didn't hike too far. We went down the rapids trail (toward the Four Stream junction taking the trail to the right after you cross the bridge by the Ranger Station) to Beaver Flats. We took the quick detour to the right along the way to go look at where the old rapids loop bridge washed out years ago, then we headed back to the main trail and continued on to Beaver Flats. We stopped there and had lunch, skipped about a thousand rocks on the river and then headed back to the Ranger Station. Not much of a hike, distance wise, but still a really great family outing. The river rapids are really impressive right now with the spring runoff. There was quite a bit of debris on the trail and a few blowdowns from the winter storms, but nothing of any difficulty to get around or over. There was still a few inches of snow on the trail and several spots where it was very slushy so waterproof shoes are a good idea. Makes me think it's about time to get out my pack and go for a "real" hike :-).

What a perfect short hike! I've posted photos of some of the magnificant scenery on this trail. No one else on the trail but us. With the deciduous leaves gone, you get even better views of the river from the trail. We continued beyond the old Staircase Loop bridge site for the additional 1.2 miles to where the four stream trail has to cross a deep stream (no thanks in December, hahaha!) There are a few challenging downed trees to crawl under or over, but not too bad. The Beaver Burn area had some nice views of surrounding ridges you can't see in the summer.

Today's weather was very rainy. The trail was well maintained, but by the end we did more walking in puddles than dry land. We passed a few people on the trail, but the rain seemed to keep most folks away. Will have to come back & check this trail out again in the summer. This would be a good, easy hike for kids.

Cloudy, 63 degrees. Perfect hiking weather. Very high flows. No snow on trail. About 200 feet of trail covered by blowdown, but easily skirted on the uphill side. Trail stops abruptly about 300 yards before Four Stream - it slid into the river, not sure how long ago, but it's quite a drop off the edge, and undercut. A way trail skirts the slide, and the main trail resumes. Due to the late hour and fading light, did not ford Four Stream.