Easily one of the most scenic falls I’ve seen is along this very accessible trail (at least to the falls). The drive to the trail along the southern portion of the Mountain Loop Highway on WA-530 the trail is south of the town of Hazel and access by the easily missed French Creek Road. The trial is part of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest covers a total area of 1,724,229 acres.
Amazingly this somewhat remote place is very busy and we once again parked along the forest road before the parking lot. The trail to two falls hugs a cliff face of Boulder Ridge that supports lush undergrowth and fallen trees. The route to the falls was a short highly trafficked dirt trail and our timing couldn’t have been better with the sun shining in the sky early in our hike.
After the falls the trail was much less popular as it followed the river up and down Boulder Ridge. At one point we caught a glimpse of a Common Garter Snake resting in the spring sunlight that still sown (we hiked under a clouded sky on our way back).Some of the trail at river elevation was washed out and muddy making for interesting hiking. The trail ends a little over 4 miles at Ford Camp (probably an old logging camp). We saw some insulators nailed to trees along our hike to the camp that were probably part of an old electric distribution line during its operation. The weather started to turn and our stop was relatively short since we cooled off quickly next to the river.
Once we got back to the trailhead we moved our cars to a turnout a little ways down the forest road. Resting with a beer I noticed some rain clouds and I thought what a perfectly timed hike.
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