It's been a while since the last trip report for this hike. We did not see any bears nor any signs of bears.
Didn't get an early start, arrived to the parking lot around 12 noon. It was packed, a few other cars were looking for spots and many cars parked along the curb, etc. We had to backtrack and parked closer to the ferry. No big deal, just walked the road back to the trailhead.
We were worried the trail would be crowded because of all the cars but that was not the case. I think most people were just hanging out at Diablo Lake.
We had the trail to ourselves for the most part on the way up. Only one hiker passed us when we were near the waterfall. We caught up when he was headed back down. He was disappointed there was no view at the end. We knew to expect a waterfall so we were not disappointed but I could see how if you were expecting views of the mountains and/or lake, then yes, this would be disappointing.
Trail well-maintained. Nice hike when it is sunny because you have mostly all tree coverage all the way up so you have lots of shade! There are a few sets of stone steps at the top but nothing difficult to navigate. I was carrying baby in hiking backpack and was fine.
There isn't a lot of space to sit and hangout at the waterfall but since we were alone, we took off our packs in a shady flat area next to the water and then had our pup and baby play in the little pools of water that formed among all the rocks and stones. Definitely be careful with your footing and with small children as there are drop offs and deeper parts of water. It was very refreshing to dunk our heads in after a sweaty hike up. Saw about four groups of people headed up on our hike back down.
GPS tracked us at 4.8 miles round trip (because of the extra we had to walk from where we parked) and took us a total of 1hr 49 minutes. This time included multiple stops on the way up for water breaks as well as time spent at the waterfall. I would recommend this hike because of the tree coverage and reward of water to play in at the top in the summer. (Of course, the "play" is nothing like what you would have with somewhere like Denny Creek. This is not a large area and also you have to be careful with footing so I would not bring kids with the intent that they can hang out for the afternoon there.)
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