Tumwater Falls

Yesterday, I wrote about our family field trip to the McLane Creek Nature Trail (aka the beaver ponds). Well, that walk was short enough that we decided to also stop by Tumwater Falls while we were in the area.

All the photos that do not have the kids or dog in them were taken by Mika, my 9 year old. I found out that if you give her a camera, she's more than happy to go on that walk.


The first thing you come to is a couple of moderate waterfalls at the beginning of the trail. At least one of them is man-made with the now defunct Tumwater Brewery on the other side of the water. This photo shows the view downstream from the upper falls.

On the left, you'll see a wall. The walkway is just on the other side of the wall. The ground of that walkway is mostly grates, below which are salmon ladders. It would be a great place to visit when the salmon are heading upstream. It is not a great place to take a dog who is freaked out by walking on grates. LOL

We walked downstream and crossed the bridge that you see in the background. It offers a great view of the of the upper falls. Then we walked down the stream on the right side of the river, across a bridge at the bottom of the trail and back up the left side. It's a beautiful, and short, walk.


At the bottom of the trail, you can cross a bridge that goes over the waterfall you see in the background of this photo. Then you can walk down a flight of stairs to this landing where you get quite a bit of spray from the waterfall. It's nice on a hot day.


Coming up the other side, Mika got this photo of a little falls on the opposite side. We walked by it, and she got a photo of the upper half, but we forgot that there was a lower half to this falls as well. The trail goes right over the middle.


This little fall was on our side of the river coming back upstream. The little falls along the way are just as nice to look at as the swift, roaring river and larger falls.

At the beginning of the trail is this totem pole. I read the plaque last year but don't remember what it said it was there for.


There's also a small park area near the parking lot. It has sand/dirt and two concrete boats to climb on. The kids loved pretending to walk the plank.


My kids found another child their age to play with. They had a grand old time running through the grass.


Meanwhile, our dog, Zach, chilled out next to me on the grass watching the fun. He was pretty tired between the two trips. He normally stays home so this was a big day for him. In fact, he passed out in the car using Sam's backpack for a pillow.


Mika found a stick and pretended to be an elf from The Lord of the Rings. She brought her "bow" home with her for future use.

When we got home, we hung out in our front yard while the kids played. It was such a fun day that Josh crashed about 7:00-7:30pm which is pretty early for him.