Great little hike to the falls with a well maintained trail. We camped nearby at the Sol Duc campground. Separately, the Sol Duc campground <-> Sol Duc Trailhead trail is less well maintained with a couple fallen trees and minorly flooded spots during rains, still traversable but hiking poles would've helped in a few spots.

#FirstTripReport

What a beautiful example of the rainforest and the powerful rivers in the Olympics! We started from the campground area, Loop A, for this hike and did encounter lots of areas where trees had fallen but had been cut away by some diligent trail workers. At one point we did have to scramble and make sure we were still on the trail as it rerouted around some lost ground that must have been cut away by the river. But it was nothing too strenuous, and we saw many families with young children having fun on this hike. The falls were wonderful; make sure you don't stop at the first set of cascades you see. The real falls are past the old shelter and have lots of platforms and viewing areas. No bugs, well shaded, and lots of refreshing spray to cool you down at the end!

We took the Lover's lane trail back to the hot springs, and this trail actually was in a little bit better condition and less people, with good stopping points to view the river.

If anyone is interested to see how the trail looked
like, feel free to catch a glimpse of it in the video

https://youtu.be/P6kOWIxAEDA

In the rainforest, don't believe the NWS weather forecast! Altho less than 10% chance of rain on the day of our hike, the skies opened and buckets poured out. So much water that all 4 channels of Sol Duc Falls overflowed. Started the Lover's Lane Loop from our campsite in Loop B of the campground. The trail from campground to intersection with Sol Duc Falls trail passes through forest with few views of the river. After passing Sol Duc Falls and turning west onto Lover's Lane, the trail became a channel of avoiding mud and wet foliage crowding the trail.  By the time of reaching Sol Duc hot springs, everyone's boots were soaked through. The first glimpse of the hot springs through the trees was a relief and welcome sight. All were quite happy to soak and warm up in the hot springs afterward.

By the way ... although the Sol Duc Hotsprings Resort website says, "Reservations are made on a first come, first serve basis and can only be made in person. Availability is limited." On the date of our visit, reservations were not necessary and the cashier/receptionist told me there was no method for them to limit how many people were in the pool at a time, anyway. In vain, I made the effort to get to the resort in the early morning to secure reservations for the last session at 6pm 😝.  Also, there's another session from 8pm-9pm and it's not shown on the Resort's website.

The mission for new-to-us trails continues.  We tackled some North coast trails of ONP on an extended birthday weekend.  First up, Sol Duc Falls. We began at the hot springs resort on the Lovers Lane trail.  We were prepared for rain but it barely sprinkled during our hike.  We did not see anyone until we reached the falls.  We saw several people once we departed the falls.