Lewis River Lower Falls, Washington, United States

5Sas B 5:00 PM Jul 28, 2018

An AMAZING day in the sun
If you love the beauty of nature, and appreciate an absolutely mind blowing gorgeous waterfall, this is an absolute must see in person. Advise though: the trek to the falls is not for the faint hearted. It is quite an adventure. If you're coming from I-5 it is approximately 60.5 miles east of the freeway, half of which are through National Forest roads, most of which are paved but you should not be going more than 35 miles an hour, and in some cases 20 mph for your own safety as well as others. There is a stretch of road that is not paved and during my trip there was a washout of the gravel road. Only high clearance vehicles or vehicles with 4 Wheel Drive were even attempting to get through. Once you have arrived, which took two hours + from the freeway, the hike down to the Lower Falls is not the safest adventure you can undertake. You will find yourself grabbing on to tree roots and branches or holding hands of the people in front of you or below you in an attempt to help everyone get safely down to the river bank. Once there though it is surreal! Yes the water is cold but it is crisp and refreshing on a sunny warm summer day. You feel as though you've entered another peaceful humbling world. The roar of the water off of the falls is soothing to one's soul as well as visually stimulating to your senses. Hiking out, if you can believe it, seems more difficult than getting to the falls after you've spent hours laying in the sun and swimming in the river. But it is worth it! If you are not fairly local I strongly advise leaving extremely early in the morning and arriving at the falls before 10:30 AM. Otherwise there are so many people that visiting during sunny summer days you will be parking well away from the entrance and have to walk a considerable distance in. Perhaps getting a motel/hotel room just off the freeway would be recommended to start early in the morning and to get a nice spot down on the river bank before the crowds arrive. I left from Kirkland Washington at 6 AM and arrived at the falls at 11 AM, though I do drive the speed limit and I did stop once for a restroom break and a beverage. The river banks were fairly crowded arriving at 11 AM. Bottom line: WORTH IT

5orclimber 5:00 PM Jun 30, 2018

Great hiking area with the dog
Enjoyable 6 mile round trip day hiking area accessible from Lower Falls Campground. Here you can see four different waterfalls on a nice trail with minimal elevation gain.From the south this area is 15 miles off main road just 1/4 mile from information center and a 2 hour drive from Portland. The trail isn't marked well with direction of other falls from Lower, so you want to take trail to left after Lower Falls viewpoints. If you want to shave 2.5 miles off your hike, but still see all the falls, park at Lower Falls campground and do a 3 minute walk to viewpoint then drive to Middle Falls parking area and start your hike from there. I started my hika at 7:30 on a Saturday morning and didn't see anyone till I turned around and headed back. One word of caution if coming from the south, there is one rough patch of road where a low clearance vehicle could have problems