Silver Falls National Recreational Trail Loop

Miles: 1.7 mile loop

Elevation Gain/Highest:  542ft/3022ft

Map: Green Trails Plain No 146, my GAIA.

Favorite Eats After Hike: Bear Foods Market, Gustav’s, Yodelin’s Broth Company, South, Dan’s Food Market,  or just Pack A Cooler. You can learn more about these places in my Must Hike Must Eat Eating Out Guide.

Find out current conditions and as always, practice Leave No Trace.  Pretty please.

 

Hike Details: Silver Falls National Recreational Trail Loop is a breath of fresh air along the otherwise normally dry Entiat River Road.  Close to it’s namesake campground, it offers a forested hike next to a silvery stream with views down the valley from the top of the loop.  I wrote up a more complete hike guide description for Washington Trails Association here.

 

My hike:

7/10/2018  We hiked this refreshing gem of a trail after spending the day further up on the Entiat River Trail to Myrtle Lake.  A great two-for-one day!

This short loop took us up one side and down the other of Silver Creek as it cascaded down through moss covered rocks and debris on a series of rock stairs and switchbacks.  The trail was filled with families of all ages, plenty of eager young ones navigating the incline to visit the falls.

The trail started out in the cool forest shade and within 250ft we crossed our first bridge over the creek to walk on the left side on a worn paved path. The water flowed happily along as rays of sunshine that penetrated the forest canopy glistened on its surface.

At .1 miles into our hike we came to a stone sitting area and a junction that began our loop.  We went right over a bridge to travel up the creek on steps that met the creek at waterfall viewpoints until we reached the main falls at less than .4 miles from the car and about 300ft of gain.

The falls were slipping elegantly over dark slabs of rock and where it splashed it gave the appearance of being silver.  I decided it was because most of the rock is covered with an ebony colored algae of some kind that highlights the granite where the water hits it.  The spray from the falls was refreshing and a contrast to the hot sun.  It looked like the trail would continue from this viewpoint to walk under and behind the falls but it was fenced off due to the trail eroding and slipping into the bowl below the falls would be hazardous.

From here, we continued on two sweeping switchbacks with a great view of the valley below and Signal Peak in the distance.

After a few more stairs where the trail takes a turn at the creek again, we came to another well made bridge over the creek at .9 miles and this magical spot at the top of the loop called for a little repose on the wooden bench in the shade along the water.

After tying our shoes for the descent, we continued on the loop down steep stairs, this time two wide exposed switchbacks took us down to more viewpoints of the falls and I much preferred this angle even if the trail was not in as good of shape as the other side. I am guessing that most people walk the .4 miles up on the other side and then just walk back down.

At 1.6 miles we were back at the junction and heading to our car for a total of 1.7 miles and a little over an hour.  Although this trail is a bit off the beaten path, the drive is beautiful and there are plenty of other trails and sights to see making it worth a visit.

 

Directions: The Entiat River Road is outside the town of Entiat, just south on SR 2/US-97 N.  You can come over Stevens Pass on SR 2 and turn north at Wenatchee or over I-90 towards Ellensburg and turn north on 97 near Cle Elum.  From the junction in Wenatchee, drive about 13.85 miles and then turn left onto the Entiat River Road.  The trailhead is a about 29.5 miles down just before you reach the Silver Falls campground.  Look for a large parking lot on the left and information kiosk.  There is a bathroom at the trailhead and a Northwest Forest Pass is needed.

For more hikes in this area, see my Eastern WA page or HWY 2 page.