It was a beautiful morning with some mildly smokey skies in the area, but we hoped it would improve throughout the day.  We decided to hike to the upper falls and once we were there, decided to do the loop to the lake and return via the Greg Ball trail.  The trail to the upper falls is steep in places and could benefit from more switch backs, which obviously are not an option.  From the upper falls the Woody trail is a little sketchy but good blazes on trees keep you oriented.  That trail intersects at an old logging road; and eventually that road leaves the state park and on to DNR land.  This road turns into a rather ugly old clear cut area.  It is 2.5 miles to the lake on the road.  From the lake, you can take the Greg Ball trail which is a nice trail in the woods and much nicer than the road.  The trail intersect with the road again for a short distance and then is back into the woods on a lovely trail.  It eventually comes back to intersect with the Railroad Grade trail (aka road) and then one can get back on the Woody trail below the lower falls to return to the parking lot.  With our loop we did about 9 miles/1900 ft gain.  Our suggestion if you want to go to the lake is to skip the trail to the falls and eventually use the Greg Ball trail to the lake.  All the trails in the woods are in great condition.  

The trail was in great condition! Arrived at 7:30AM to an empty parking lot. Only saw about 3 people on the way up to the Upper Falls and to the Lake. Once back on the river trail, it started to get a little busy, and the parking lot was about 75% full by noon.

For all the gripes about social media, it was helpful this time! I saw the State Parks' Instagram post about new bear lockers at Wallace Lake (thank you, WA Conservation Corps!) and added it to my list of potential backpacking sites with my 9-year-old. 

When I looked at trip reports, many other options still had snow (or a recent cougar sighting - Goat Lake!). I called the ranger to book our permit and they told me about all the other amenities Wallace has and I was sold. This is bougie backpacking, making it perfect for kids/beginners. 

Route: Greg Ball Trail up (tracked 4.8 mi to the campsite), Day 2 day hiked to Jay Lake (2 mi ea way), returned via Upper Grade/Woody Trail so we could see the falls. 

There are berries galore along the trail - thimble & blackberries near the trailhead, red huckleberries further up and salmonberries + blueberries closer to the lake.

The trail to Jay Lake must have been pretty overgrown because the rangers did some maintenance on Monday and there was a lot of debris. Thank you!

Crowds: Absolutely none on Monday. We departed the TH ~8 am and saw MAYBE 5 people the whole day. Other than 1 early morning hiker, we saw no one else all day on Tuesday around the lakes. Very few people at Upper Falls on Wednesday, but lots of cheerful families and groups out on the trail from Middle Falls back to the TH. When we got back to our car around 12 pm on Wednesday the parking lot was almost full. 

Site: Wallace Lake only has 1 site (call for a permit) and it has a sandy tent pad, picnic table and fire ring. It was shaded most of the day and kept us cool on warm days. There's a creek just past the campsite that was running well and was easy to filter water from. The privy was almost full and plagued by flies later in the day. The bear locker is further from the campsite (pro/con) than at Jay Lake.

Jay Lake notes: 3 sites with less space share a picnic table and fire ring + a composting toilet (much better smelling than the one at Wallace Lake) and bear locker that's closer to the tent pads. Would be a fun spot for a group.

Lake access: The ranger told us about the pebble-y beach on the Wallace Lake shore opposite from the campsite (~1 mi ea way). It was a great spot to relax and watch the little fish. I especially appreciated it after seeing the muddier lake access near the campsite and near Jay Lake.

Other: We heard logging noise pretty persistently throughout the day on Tuesday, but not until ~ 9 am and it died down by the afternoon. The ranger pointed out that the logging roads are another reason this backpacking site is a good option for families - they provide easier access if there's a medical emergency!

We hit the trail at 7:30am, the weather was nice and cool, overcast, with on and off light rain. The ascent to the waterfalls gets progressively more difficult but evens out once you hit the logging road. The remainder of the loop is nice and fairly easy.

Did a loop from Wallace Falls to Wallace Lake for a trail run yesterday and it was a lovely day out. We got to the trailhead around 10:30 and while the sign stated parking lot full, we drove up to give it a look and found someone leaving as we were arriving so we were able to snag a spot. But by the time we got back to the trailhead around 2:30 people had parked out along the street for at least 0.6 miles.

We set out on the trail and at the first fork we went right to take the Woody Trail up and see all the falls. The trail was pretty mobbed at late morning on a Saturday but surprisingly it didn't feel overly crowded, groups seemed to spread out through the climbs and mostly everyone was respectful of hiking etiquette.

After 2.4 miles and 1,350 feet of elevation gain we got to the Upper Falls, we then dropped the crowds and continued on following the diamond trail markers or blazes along the trees for 0.2 miles up to the DNR road. At the road we continued to the left and followed the road for 1.3 miles until we met back up with a section of trail clearly marked for Wallace Lake on the right hand side of the road. Follow this trail for 0.5 miles until it spits you out onto a short section of road for 0.2 miles that connects you back to more trail heading up to Wallace Lake for about 0.5 miles. There are checkpoints with a map at many of these intersections and signs at all of them pointing you towards Wallace Lake. Even though you could probably navigate with the signs there are many intersections of trail and I would highly recommend downloading a map if you do this route to make sure you stay on route.

We arrived at Wallace Lake and headed around the west side of the lake just a bit to find a viewpoint, we ended up bushwhacking down a faint little trail that spit us out on some logs to get a view of the lake. Then we headed out down the Greg Ball Trail instead of back the way we came. Follow the Greg Ball for about 0.7 miles before it spits you back out onto the DNR road for 0.1 miles and then picks back up on the left side of the road. We took the Greg Ball from here for 1.7 miles all the way down until it meets the Railroad Grade Trail. We then followed the Railroad Grade for 2 miles avoiding the cutoff trails that dropped back to the Woody Trail. The Railroad grade eventually takes you back to the fork with the Woody Trail just 0.3 miles from the trailhead.

Overall stats came out to 10.59 miles and 1820 feet of elevation gain.