St Mary's Falls

Parking lot at the end of the paved road for Saint Mary’s Falls. Beautifully maintained trail. Porta potties in the parking lot. The last part of the trail is the steepest. Lots of dogs on the trail. Mahalo to those who kept their dogs on leashes. The trail would be a pretty easy one because it’s so well maintained, if not for the altitude. Saw lots of kids and parents carrying kids in packs on the trail. GPS tracked 6.2 miles and 1319 elevation gain on the trail. From the car in and back out to the car it was 3 hours. I’m not a fast hiker and wasn’t about to rush. Lots of mountain bikes on the trail and even 2 gas dirt bikes tearing it up ( signs said no motorized bikes but they were still there tearing around the corner right past the old barred off mine.

Pretty straightforward trail from Gold Camp Rd, though the road portion isn't very exciting. Little to no snow despite the storm a few days ago - gets plenty of sunshine midday. A little steep as you get close to the falls but otherwise pretty tame incline.

This is kind of a challenging hike. The entire first half of the hike is a constant gradual uphill. It gets steeper as you get closer to the falls. We had to take many breaks along the way to catch our breath. You basically follow the creek the entire way there. The end falls were a-lot steeper than I’d imagined with almost no flat ground in sight. While there aren’t any good hammock spots at St. Mary’s falls, there are a ton of great spots along the trail to hammock and relax. Rated moderate on AllTrails. Definitely not the most difficult hike by any means but the constant uphill was challenging for the lungs. The falls are worth the struggle though.

Incredibly challenging hike if you’re not in super great hiking shape, but it’s a really fun one nonetheless. Bring lots of water and be ready for a crazy steep hike up the mountain. The falls aren’t super big or anything dramatically cool, but they are very pretty and make for a nice spot to snack and rest before heading back down the mountain. Pay close attention to the signs and don’t stop at the false falls about a mile before the actual ones!

Excellent trail. There are a couple of down trees across the trail for anyone biking or horseback that might be challenging to get around. Make sure to get there early as there are several trails that share one parking lot and it fills up quickly. I selected moderate but there are some hard parts that basically go straight up, especially the last .2 miles, as the sign said. I think it was longer than that, lol. But I struggled going up hill and had to take breaks. Lots of beautiful alcoves to take a break and snap some pictures. ❤️