My roommate and I spent the entire weekend exploring the Olympic Peninsula. On our way back toward Port Townsend from Forks, we stopped to check out the Sol Duc Falls. We were lucky that Sol Duc Hot Springs Road had been opened for the season just two days before (Mar 23) allowing us to visit the beautiful falls.

The road toward the trailhead is well marked off of HWY 101. Follow the road to the very end (beyond the campgrounds and hot spring resort) to find the trailhead for Sol Duc Falls along with a number of other, longer trails.

The trail still had a bit of snow and ice throughout the .8 mile walk to the falls. Young child and older folks should be extra careful to avoid a fall. However, the snow was under an inch deep and was no issue for our walk to the falls. 

If you plan to continue to the longer trails that link off of the Sol Duc Falls trail be prepared for snow. It looked like there was much more snow covering the other trails. 

Snow starts right at the trailhead.  There are some slippery/icy parts, so be careful.  I reckon if you have really good hiking boots you'll be fine, but regular sneakers might be a challenge.  It's an easy and short hike that doesn't involve any challenges.  The waterfalls is half raging (not to it's fullest potential), but it's still really beautiful with the snowy scenery.

Summary: 7 miles round trip from Sol Duc, over 1600 ft of gain, significant snow for the last two miles, snowshoes highly recommended

Getting there: Sol Duc Hot Springs just opened for the season, and with it, the entrance road into the Sol Duc Valley. The road was snow-free from the junction with Highway 101 until the resort, but the final two miles from the resort to the trailhead had a thin layer of snow/ice. The parking lot at the end of the road had a modest amount of snow, but it was mostly plowed clear. The privys at the trailhead were well-stocked with paper and sanitizer. 

To Sol Duc Falls: A bit of snow and ice on the trail, but no microspikes needed. The falls have excellent volume and are a sight to behold.

Up to Deer Lake: There's a small blow-down by the junction to Deer Lake, but it's easily navigated. You won't need snowshoes until maybe half a mile up, but then you'll really need them. There's several feet of powder at times, interspersed with small creeks caused by melt-off. We had to do some step-kicking at times to cross three-foot deep rivulets, which caused us to ascend a bit more slowly than I anticipated. The only truly dicey portion of the trip is the final approach to the lake, where there's a steep drop off to the left.

Heading Down: The lake itself is placid and a bit unremarkable, almost entirely frozen over. We made good time on the way down, and around halfway ran into an ill-prepared hiking party in jeans that did not have snowshoes. They had been postholing up the whole way, and looked less than thrilled. Also, the amount of snow melting and falling from the tree canopy was visually stunning, and physically too: I got a few hard knocks on the head from plummeting clods of ice.

Bonus: The hot springs at the resort make for a nice soak! They were surprisingly busy for such a cold weekend.