Didn’t expect to enjoy this tranquil loop as much as I did. Had to stop and admire a section of trail that formed an archway and had a beautiful display of old man’s beard moss at the end.

I spent the weekend camping at Schafer State Park and the trails here were perfect for stretching our legs and walking our dog between time hanging out in camp and by the Satsop River. 

There are two places that you can hike here. The first is the River's Edge Trail which starts from the day use area, just past the larger picnic shelter. This is a nice flat trail with a couple spots to access the river. One thing to note is that there is a sign indicating that the map at the trailhead is no longer accurate. The River's Edge Trail used to be a loop, but is now and out-and-back or makes a loop with the campground. This little trail (about 0.25 roundtrip) does however connect to a nice crushed gravel trail that runs behind the campsites. (I've annotated these on the included photos).

The second place to hike is on the Schafer Forest Loop Trail. Access this trail by crossing the road bridge (with pedestrian walkway). This trail is made of two loops, the east and west loop, and are connected in the middle. We made a nice figure eight with the two loops. The east loop has some nice views of the Satsop River. We did see a sign that warned of an active wasps nest near the trail, but we did not encounter any wasps at any point. 

Overall, these trails were nice and shaded and in good condition. The had some roots and rocks in places, but were not too tricky to navigate. 

We walked the loop on each side of the river.  The one across from the campground is forested with river views part of the way.  A peaceful and enjoyable walk.  The storywalk and trail through the new campground is level and pleasant, too.

Twin bells lined the trail in many areas as did tiny star flowers.  Daisies and foxglove were prevalent in the campground area - as were blue eyed marys.

Hiked this little trail while staying at the state park. Plenty of parking and an easy walk across the street if you are camping. 

Bathrooms are available. 

There is a west and east loop that connect. It's a great shaded trail and would be great for kids and pets. Only saw people from the campground there when we were there. 

Schafer State Park is midway between Olympia and the coast, about 8 miles north of Satsop on the Satsop River, and on this day, a place to get away from the smoke that hung in the sky over most of the Seattle area.  We walked the Schafer Forest Loop Trail, a 1-mile loop across the river from the picnic area.  The southern half of the loop stayed near the river, while the northern half was up a hill.  The landscape was a mix of sword fern, salal, maples, and in some parts of the upper half of the trail, hanging moss reminiscent of rain forest.  At this time of year at least, the trail was in good condition with one minor blowdown on it.

I was surprised to see this one was not listed on WTA. We had initially planned on going to Spoon Falls but my 3 year was already fussy to get out of the car and it was still an hour away according to my GPS. We stopped here to use the bathroom and decided we'd just do this trail instead when we saw the sign in the parking lot. There were a lot of people in the picnic area and on the beach but we had the loop trail to ourselves which was great for social distancing.  According to the signs at the park doing the full loop is one mile with a short cut to reduce it to a half mile. Alltrails says 1.3 miles. Not sure which is more accurate but this is a good one for little kids as it is short and fairly gentle. No exciting views beyond the forest and the river but there were a lot of ripe berries, flowers blooming and various birds spotted.