Carbon River Rainforest Trail — Attraction in Prairie Ridge

Easy hike on well maintained paved and fine gravels path along the picturesque Carbon River through awe inspiring old growth temperate rainforest. Reminiscent of Trail of the Cedars in Glacier, MT, massive western reds dot the landscape. Very busy all year due to its close proximity to Seattle and Tacoma, but still feels private after the one mile mark, and endless opportunities to explore the glacier fed Carbon River. Dispersed camping near park entrance, riverfront. Vault toilets were...

This was a nice easy walk for the first few miles. There were lots of huge old trees as well as lots of new growth. A few miles down the road/trail is the green lake trail. It is full of steps along a mountain with the reward of seeing Ranger Falls about a mile up towards the lake. If you continue you will cross a one log bridge with a flowing stream/river and shortly after you take a short decent into a basin where the river is surrounded by mountains on the side. The falls and bridge were...

Honestly it was boring. Maybe the day wasn't perfect for such hiking (it was very hot), but we just got tired and didn't see anything significant. We walked more than 90 minutes one way, but didn't find any waterfalls or lakes. I assume we might choose the wrong way (even though we had a paper map), but it seemed there was just one trail. I am a hiking lover and always find something interesting in the wilderness, but not this time. The river was cool and refreshing though and I liked the...