This is a popular location and many people get beautiful pictures in this area, so we decided we needed to pay it a visit! It's a nice serene drive to a cool shaded hike along a gorgeous river with 3 (plus a mini) gorgeous waterfalls.
Some quick facts:
- There are 3 waterfalls, plus a bonus mini waterfall (Copper Creek)
- The parking areas and trail is well maintained
- It makes a great day hike, but camping is limited to the campground at lower falls or in the forest a ways away from the trail
- You have multiple opportunities for amazing (and very cold) swimming holes
If you want to jump ahead to any parts of this post:
Getting to the Trail
The Road There: is out of cell range for a big portion, but it’s pretty much all paved except for some very random gravel spots. Before you reach the first parking lot there is a checkpoint checking to see if you have a reservation (in summer). They were not out when we reached the checkpoint at 7am, but they were there when we were leaving later in the afternoon. They are not there in the off season though, they don’t require a permit (other than the regular Discover Pass) during off season.
The Trailhead/Parking: is great! No toilet at the Middle Falls parking, but I’m pretty sure Lower Falls Day Use parking has a toilet (it’s a campground – so it should be a nice one), and we didn’t see Upper Falls Parking. Our parking lot was a giant gravel lot with a decent information board.
Start of the Trail: there is ample signage to direct you. I had read that there was a wash out between Middle and Lower so we went for Upper first since we parked at Middle, but we found out at Lower Falls from the Ranger that that wasn’t the case because it had been re-routed through the Middle Falls parking lot (explains why the trail seems to go through the parking lot).
Trail Options and Specs:
Here is a map of the entire area: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd910851.pdf
Here is the official website for current information: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/giffordpinchot/recarea/?recid=83725
This trail has many options but you just want to visit the waterfalls and not take the entire Lewis River Trail #31, then I will go over those trails below by parking location. Images of Map Trails below are taken from AllTrails and the blue X highlights the different parking areas you can start from:
Parking at Lewis River South/Crab Creek TH:
- about 11 miles Round-trip
- 1100′ elevation gain
- smallest gravel parking lot, no toilet
- starts south of Lower Falls, loop back at bottom of Upper Falls
- Add 0.5 miles and 1700′ if you go around to the top of the waterfall to the viewpoint
Parking at Lower Falls Day Use Area:
- about 8.5 miles round-trip
- 1200′ elevation gain
- best parking lot, campsite, toilets
- turn around point is bottom of Upper Falls
- Add 0.5 miles and 1700′ if you go around to the top of the waterfall to the viewpoint
Parking at Middle Falls/Wright Meadow TH:
- Middle to the top of Upper Falls viewpoint is about 3.5 miles and 2000′ feet gain, you can stop at 3 miles and 300′ gain if you turn around at the bottom of Upper Falls
- Middle to Lower Falls is about 5 miles and 900′ elevation gain if you turn around at Lower Falls, this includes the loop out to see Middle Falls and back
- The whole thing? You do the math.
Parking at Upper Falls/North Lewis River TH:
- about 10 miles round-trip
- about 1700′ elevation gain
- starts immediately north of Upper Falls
- turn-around point is Lower Falls
- add 1.5 miles total if you loop at Crab Creek
Our Mistakes and Tips
Mistake 1: I forgot my tripod so I couldn’t get any cool set-up shots.
Mistake 2: Not doing more research before heading out, I had a hope that the passes were interchangeable for parking lots, but that is incorrect. Next time I will go in the off season so it doesn’t matter.
What We Did Right: had a blast and packed a delicious picnic that we enjoyed on a log at the bottom of Upper Falls! It was absolutely stunning and we really want to go back and take a dip!
Our Adventure
- Meals Consumed: we packed a build your own sandwich spread with LTOP, Turkey, Mayo, pickles, and a bag of Frito chips for each person. Since I was on Whole30 at the time I enjoyed my sandwich inside an egg wrap instead of 12 grain toast.
- Snacks Packed/Consumed: 2 granola bars, 1 Lara Bar, 1 bag of Goldfish, 2 Apple Sauce pouches, 1 fruit leather, an apple, 1 blueberry and fig bar, and 1 bag of fruit snacks. All but the Lara Bar and granola bars were consumed.
- Summit Prize: Jade got a little Kinder chocolate bar. I didn’t bring one for myself. My dad brought an apple.
- In her bag: her 2L half filled water bladder, the snacks, and her stuffed Unicorn.
- In my bag: 10 essentials, extra set of clothes, swim stuff (that we never used), small camera bag for camera goodies and a place to put my camera if I wanted to stop carrying it, my new Canon EOS M50 camera, sandwich stuff so we could build our sandwiches fresh, my 2L water bladder full, and a hammock just in case.
Here are some images of our adventure:
We knew we were getting close when the road became windy and the trees became dense green. There was a majestic wind to the road and you could feel the calm peacefulness of the area. The closer we got to the trail, the more shoulders you could pull out onto appeared. A sense of worry rushed over me that’d I’d missed the right parking area…. but I trusted my gut and continued on. The research I had done earlier stated there’d be a check point for passes, but I never crossed one until the trailhead parking lot sign came into view. I’m glad I kept going because AllTrails said the trailhead was before we even reached the Lower Falls Day Use area.
The parking lot was large and gravel with no spots marked. Littered along the lot were warning signs telling us to have the correct passes… but there was nowhere to purchase one if we had forgotten. I’m glad I had pre-purchased one, I had read it was an $80 fine. It was early in the day and the air was crisp and the birds were singing. While I changed out of my driving shoes and into my hiking boots Jade complained that there was no service. She knows she’s not allowed to play games on hikes, but kids will be kids. Once we were both changed into our hiking gear and our packs were loaded up, we headed out.
We set off to the left (north) trail on the far end of the parking lot following the signs. The trail went along the road for a bit and felt a little disorienting because it kept winding along in a direction that did not feel North. After a little while on a smooth, wide trail, we crossed a bridge over a creek. Every waterfall excites me, so the sound of rushing water and the chance that a cute little waterfall was below us made me rush down the trail to see. We were wrong, it wasn’t a small waterfall, it was in fact a tall waterfall and it was so pretty! I stood there and took far too many photos of it. I had only received my camera recently, so I wasn’t used to the configurations and every shot I attempted came out over exposed or too dark or blurry. I soon gave up in response to my daughter’s nagging and my father’s obvious sighs of disapproval. I figured I could try again later on the way out or revisit another time.
We continued on the trail winding through a really pretty forest that would kiss the creek or river intermittently. Along the way Jade pointed out a very tall tree that looked like it had antlers and a giant mouth. The antlers reached out over the trail and Jade wanted to know why he had a mouth. We stopped to say hello and she looked for fairies. After no luck, she told the old monster tree goodbye and we continued on.
Eventually we reached the River and I realized we’d been following a creek the entire time. We could see the waterfall! It looked gorgeous! I had assumed the waterfall was much closer to where we parked, but once we reached it, it felt like it was farther than my watch was reading as our mileage. We continued down the trail all the way to wear it splits to the viewing point. Jade let out her first whine of the trip, “I’m huuuuunnngggrrrry mom and I just can’t keep going without a snack.” She quickly scarfed down an apple sauce pouch and bag of goldfish.
The waterfall was breath taking. Water tumbled over rocks in a deep turquoise blue and cascaded down the embankment with an elegant force. The water was so clear, in shallower spots you could see the clay colored banks that jutted out on either side clearly and make out the current that swiftly ran underneath them into a deeper darker blue that turned to shadow. The thought of sliding down the waterfall and getting caught in that current and getting pulled under the rocks that jutted out gave me a shudder. But it beckoned at me and I wondered if swimming was allowed on a hot day.
After some pictures and a video later, we headed towards Upper falls. The trail continued to be wide and wellk maintained while winding along the river. When we got to Upper we made our way towards the bottom of it, found a large log, and sat down and ate some lunch. We had packed sandwich fixings so we could all build our own sandwiches fresh. We ate them with a bag of chips each. Tha (grandpa) “brushed his teeth” by eating an apple. According to him, God created fruit and made it sweet so you’d eat it after a meal, and it’s a natural toothbrush in that way. We enjoyed the scenery, watched someone jump in and wail from the cold water, and then ran away from a bee that was trying to eat our lunch. After some observation, we decided to try and get to the top of the waterfall.
The trek there was not long, but it was the first steep ascent we had on this entire trail. When we finally reached the top we could see the spot we sat and ate our lunch at! What amazed us most was that the waterfall that had looked so average sized from below, was mesmerizingly blue, powerful, multi-tiered, and large at the top. Wow, this was such a cool waterfall. This was not one you could inner tube off of… maybe a professional could kayak down.
As I was preparing to take a photo I set my lens down in just the right spot to watch it go barreling down into the mist of the falls. I almost cried. I had a back-up, but that was the first, and only time I’d be making that mistake. A few pictures and lots of pets to a dog we just met later, we took off back the way we came.
It was a nice walk back to the car with a couple stops so I could re-take some photos I wanted to try some different settings with. Everyone was full and feeling happy, so there was less complaining. Along the way back we ran into a large group of kids and their parents all carrying boogie boards. After my overly excited inquiry I learned that you could in fact swim anywhere you wanted and that they come every summer to boogie board the middle falls. I decided to commit that fact into my long term memory. Someday I’d remember to re-visit and bring a floaty or two.
Once we reached the car the sign said it was 1.5 miles to lower falls… but my dad wasn’t feeling up to it so we hopped into the car and drove towards Lower Falls hoping we could park there for just a minute while we merely peeked at Lower Falls and left. You can’t push an old man in his seventies to keep going if his back is needing rest. When we got there a ranger stopped us and checked my parking reservation. He kindly pointed me towards Middle Falls and I told him we had hoped to just pop in, and he said he really wasn’t supposed to allow that. Being a non-confrontational person, I turned my vehicle around and left.
“Goodbye old tree man monster in the forest” Jade said as we drove off, “we’ll see you again next time.”
Nac Snap Photography 
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