Our goal was to see how long it would take to visit the 6 waterfalls that are accessible to the public by hiking.  We didn’t plan to spend a lot of time at each waterfall, but just enough to enjoy it.

We left the Florence Natural Resource and Wild Rivers Interpretive Center just after 8:00 am to go to Meyers Falls.  A 15 minute ride down Hwy 70 and then the Goodman Grade to where we parked next to a quarry.  Meyers and Bull Falls are both accessible from the north and south on the Goodman Grade.  We came in from the north.  While hiking, we crossed a small stream and stayed on what appeared to be the main logging road.  There was only one intersection where would could have strayed off course, but we stayed to the left and ended up at a small grassy area.  There was evidence of a campfire.  We could hear the river by now.  Several trees had been blown over in the 60+ mph winds the night before.  We made our way down to the river while removing limbs and branches from the trail.  After enjoying the falls for a few minutes and taking some pictures, we headed back to the car.  The walk in, moving branches, enjoying the falls, and the walk out took 50 minutes. 

Bull Falls was next on our list.  It is east of Meyers Falls approximately 2.25 miles via logging roads.  We thought we followed the map, but we never did find the falls.  Bull Falls is 0.9 miles east of the Goodman Grade.  We spent around 1.5 hours looking and wandering on logging trails.  With any luck, we will have signs to guide future hikers to Bull Falls.  I hear that it is easier to find Bull Falls from the south.  We headed back up the Goodman Grade to 70.

 Jennings Falls is 9 miles south of Florence off of Hwy 101.  It took us about 15 minutes to get to what we thought was the gate to reach Jennings Falls from the Bull Falls area.  We walked what was supposed to be a 0.7 mile hike in 1.25 hours while looking for Jennings Falls.  We eventually gave up and headed back to the vehicle.  Upon closer look at the waterfall guide, we had gone to the wrong gate.  Mulberry Lane runs north/south with a little jog at the end of the road.  The gate to reach Jennings Falls is at the end of that jog, it has red and black candy cane stripes.  There is also a gate where the jog in the road is, this is not the right gate (a plain gate).  You need to follow the road all the way to the end.

 Big Bull Falls was our next goal.  We continued south down Hwy 101 for a little bit over 5 minutes until we reached West River Road.  If you cross the Popple River, you have gone too far.  There is a small parking lot 0.6 miles up West River Road that we parked in.  The trail leading to Big Bull Falls is less than a quarter of a mile long.  The trail is close to the Popple River and we walked up to the river several times to check out the river.  There is a rock that sits just downstream of Big Bull Falls that provides a nice view of the falls.  We would have had our picnic lunch there, but there were some people fishing for brook trout.  We spent less than half an hour hiking in and viewing Big Bull Falls.

 After our picnic lunch, we took a short break at the Fence Post for an Ice Cream Snickers. 

Our next stop was Washburn Falls.  Including the stop at the Fence Post, it took us half an hour to get to there from the parking lot at Big Bull Falls.  The falls are about 100 yards down the trail from the parking lot.  If we would have started our trip an hour earlier, or if we hadn’t been so hungry, we would have had the perfect place to sit and view the falls while eating lunch.  There is a small peninsula that gives you a straight on view of the falls.  It has a few small trees, but it is mainly grass.  I was there earlier in the year with higher water and the peninsula was dry that time also.  This is my current favorite place to go.  It is quiet, other than the water, peaceful, and beautiful.  It is also an easy hike that is suitable for people that aren’t as mobile as they used to be.  Accessing the peninsula is trickier and requires walking a steep bank and crossing a stream on a log.

 LaSalle Falls is 4 miles from Washburn Falls via White Ash Road and LaSalle Falls Road.  We saved the best waterfall for last today.  It is about a mile hike in to see LaSalle Falls, but it is well worth it.  The trail is fairly easy except for 2 small hills that are steeper than any of the other trails leading to the rest of the counties waterfalls.  All 22 feet of LaSalle Falls looked spectacular to us.  There are trails that lead upstream and I encourage everyone to go a little bit farther to see the falls from a different view.  One could spend a lot of time exploring the LaSalle Falls area, but we needed to get back.  The hike takes 20 minutes one way and we spent 20 minutes looking around and enjoying the scenery. 

 We got back to the Natural Resource Center at 3:30.  Our trip took less than 7.5 hours and we covered 64 miles in the vehicle.  We saw 4 waterfalls, but should have seen 6.  Hopefully you can learn from our mistakes and can visit the 6 in one day.  Florence County actually has 7 waterfalls, but one of them, Little Bull Falls, is only accessible by crossing private property.  Little Bull Falls can be viewed by paddling in.

 If you are looking for something to do, I hope that you would consider doing a waterfall day trip.  We walked about 8 miles today, but normally it would be a couple of miles less.  We were tired when we finished, but it was well worth it.  If you are looking for a short, easy trip, I recommend Big Bull and Washburn Falls, but I hope at sometime you will take the time to check all of them out.