Trip Report
Day Hike - Taylor River: Big Creek Falls and Otter Falls
3 of us enjoyed a rainy Saturday hike to high-flowing Big Creek Falls and Otter Falls. The trail is muddy in places and the creeks are increasing in flow but poles make them passable.
Courtenay Schurman
- Sat, Oct 26, 2024
- Taylor River
- Day Hiking
- Successful
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- Road rough but passable
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The short gravel road near the bridge right before the parking lot is quite potholed, but in the rain, very visible. Just took it slow. Fortunately, it's not a very long stretch of road before you're back on pavement.
The last stream before Otter Falls is running quite high; having trekking poles would be a great idea for anyone wanting additional support with footing. I carried mine in my pack, but I didn't want to mess with my rain cover, so I grabbed a few loose sticks floating in the stream that did the trick.
The trail is fairly muddy right now but passable everywhere. Lots of downed leaves cover many of the rocks. Prepare to get wet! The grade is lovely and gradual; we hardly noticed we were going up. Both Falls have plenty of water -- this was my first time hiking to Big Creek Falls, and Otter Falls already has a lot more water than it did ten days ago. I'm looking forward to seeing how this trail changes with the seasons.
Three of us started from the trailhead around 8:20 for a lovely rainy hike to both falls. Both my hiking partners had a tracking app and both of their data conflicted with the WTA and AllTrails data. Who to believe? I'm going with 9.2 miles and 1200' ...because that's what the Mountaineers listings say! We went first to Big Creek Falls and then, as the rain picked up, headed to Otter Falls for an early picnic.
This was a scouting trip for a pre-Thanksgiving outing I'll be leading in a few weeks, and I learned that my rain shell is no longer waterproof. Fortunately, I have another that will do for winter. I used gaiters over my Keens and my feet remained dry the whole hike despite a steady drizzle. I was prepared with a down coat, extra gloves, hats, and socks but we didn't need any of them. Nice to have experienced hikers along. My phone, however, sucked battery power in the cold, so I'll have to do something about that. Great opportunity to test my gear for upcoming wet, cold winter trips.
Most other hikers on the trail had dogs with them, making me miss my own at home. One person was coming out with an overnight pack. Maybe 15-18 people on the day? There were a surprising number of cars (8-9) already in the lot for a rainy Saturday in late October, when I arrived after my hiking partners, and as I drove out around 1 p.m. most of the trailheads along the Middle Fork had cars in them. I visited both the Otter Falls trailhead latrine and the one at Oxbow Lake and both were fully stocked and clean.
We saw two downy woodpeckers and heard some golden-crowned kinglets but with all the stream, rain, and conversation noise we didn't hear a lot of birds. Some chipmunks. Still a lot of mushrooms, and some cool mossy rocks for photo ops including the one attached. All in all a lovely outing.