Little Mashel Falls - Bud Blancher Trail — Saturday, Sep. 6, 2025

I hiked with an adventurous 9-year-old, but was glad I had left my 80-yo mother at home. Though the first part of the trail is an easy, wide, flat, gravel pathway, the trail that leads up to the falls was steeper and had more trip hazards. The trail spurs that take you down to each of the waterfalls were quite difficult to navigate - definitely recommend poles, though some spots we just had to use our hands to grab on to tree roots or rocks. The wet rocks are extremely slippery.

It was raining on the beginning of our hike and we were glad we kept going — the waterfalls were magical, especially the Middle Falls. The signage for middle falls and upper falls are tricky. I used AllTrails to navigate and was glad I did. Getting to the Upper Falls is tricky and requires a stream crossing; it was low enough that we could step across without getting our feet too wet.

We saw crawdads in the water near the Upper Falls. Also saw frogs in several places along the way. Overall, a beautiful hike! Not strenuous at all, just tricky to navigate the rough terrain.