I had never hiked in this area before, at least not that I can remember. This is a really beautiful hike and it's surprising we don't hear more about it. It took me about and hour and a half from Tacoma, and only 35-45 minutes hiking in. It's a very easy two miles with beautiful forest, a small, rushing river, big trees, and a lake/pond. No mountain views, but it has everything else. The lake doesn't seem to have many fish though, but I did get a few bites.

Great hike today on the Greenwater Lakes trail.I got to the trailhead at about 08:15 this morning, only a few vehicles there. Not many people encountered on the trails all day. 

Bugs started irritating me a couple of hours into the hike, but after slathering exposed skin with bug spray, was good for the rest of the day. :-) 

I only hiked up to the Maggie Creek Trail cutoff at about 6 miles, and then hiked the Maggie Creek Trail down to the river for lunch, and then back to the trailhead. 13+ miles.

All in all, a great hike, and good sweat. 

Solid hike- started about 4:30pm had the trail mostly to my self- took my time at the lakes and was out by about 10:30. There’s a number of trees down near echo lake and the trail past the lake was clearly damaged by the fire but, other than that the trail was great. Ton of elk up at echo lake

Another gorgeous day on the Greenwater Lakes trail! No news is good news - everything was great; the trail was in great condition, those AWESOME new bridges get more appreciated every time we cross them (thank you, trail workers!!!), not too hot, not too cold, it was a perfect Goldilocks kind of day!

Lots of cars in the parking lot when we started but we didn't really run into many on the trail coming back - they must have went further. We stopped at a lovely riverside area about 3 miles in and had a lovely lunch. 

Camping areas were pretty clean - good job packing it out, people!

Greenwater Lakes area is where I like to take newbies hiking. The first lake is a short 4 miles roundtrip and relatively flat at only 500 feet of gain. The trail follows the river and has you surrounded in the greenest canopy of trees, shrubs, ferns and ground cover. The bridges crossing the river are new and sturdy. Thank you forest service and volunteers. I could hear my fellow hikers delighting in this wonderland. Although the weather forecast called for unusually hot weather, the canopy of trees and the breeze from the river kept us cool. We made our destination to the first lake where there were a few overnighters camping. That is where we stopped for lunch and made our return. 

Additional information:

1. Forest service road is paved all the way to the trailhead turnoff. That makes it a smooth drive, but also makes your vehicle susceptible to car theft. Do not leave anything in sight of thieves.

2. The sign to make your right to the trailhead parking is gone so use your directions.

3. Pay station is available for the trailhead parking. Discover Pass is NOT the pass for this location. This is US Forest Land. You'll need a one of these: https://www.fs.usda.gov/visit/passes-permits