All-in-all Great hike! typography is consistent. It's mostly a road. my crew tried going to see the rail road, but couldn't find it. It gets moody near the end, but the rest is a breeze.

mostly flat, minor rocks in trail. muddy in places. Views of river and creeks.

The road to the trailhead was easily navigable with our lower clearance vehicle. We just went slow and avoided the larger depressions. Plenty of available parking when we arrived at 15:30.

The trail was in good shape, albeit a little tight in spots due to the vegetation. Recent trail work kept obstacles to a minimum. There are some sections of protracted mud towards the far end. Lots of flying insects, though none that were biting, so it was annoying but tolerable.  

Total distance was 6.96 miles with 729 feet of elevation gain. Total time was just over 2:20. Probably a dozen other hikers on the trail. 

Big black bear sighting. Be bear aware. After the kiln, two hikers told me they saw a big black bear on the other side of the river. It ran up the hillside. I continued on. At the sign that says lake loop in .2 miles or rail bridge view, I took the rail bridge view. Suddenly beihind me I heard a lot of branches breaking heading my way. I turned around and saw a black bear cutting through the woodsy gully. I started banging my hiking poles because it continued moving in my diretion. Finally it climbed the hillside opposite me. It was a big black bear. Wow. Since I was on my own, I called it for the day.

Now for the trail info: There's a portable toilet stocked with TP and in decent condition at the trailhead. The trail is in amazing shape. There are a couple easy step over downed trees, one appears to be part of the trail; it has its own habitat. One downed tree requires you to be very bendy, three feet tall, or willing to crawl under. The bugs are just starting to get annoying. Add a few more degrees and more flowers and it will be a balmy buzzy walk. And this is more of a walk through the woods hike. After a couple miles you hear water, but you can't see through the berry bushes to see it. Then you get glimpses of brilliant greens and blues below, you just want to get down there and see it up close. After the kiln, there are 3 sections of serious water/mud back to back. Poles helped not just to balance on the the various branches and pieces of wood, but to test the depth. All trails said 7 miles and 1000 ft. elevation gain. It's a rolly hike that seems to ask a little more of you on the way back than on the way in. 

We got to the trailhead at 10am. Plenty of parking and a stocked porta potty. The trail was aside from a few trees to duck under, and some muddy stretches we were glad to have poles for.
Not too many people on most of the trail, though we encountered more as we headed out. We had the river to ourselves during lunch, until someone showed up with a pair of well-behaved but unleashed and uncollared dogs.
I hadn't done this one before, and it's a marvelous leisurely walk through mossy woods. Flowers included miners lettuce and bleeding heart.