Posted by Tar

The Doughnut Falls trail starts from the same trailhead as the Cardiff Mine trail, except it follows an actual trail, and not a road.

A sign posted at the trailhead noted that the falls are on private land, and the Forest Service does not have a right of way for most of the trail, and requests that trail users respect the private property. It strongly leads you to believe that you should not visit the falls, but we (and the approximate 20 other people we passed) completely ignored the advice. More about this can be found here. I did not see any No Trespassing signs, nor any indication of where we were not allowed to go, so I think we were in the clear?

This trail is very poorly marked, but is still fairly easy to follow. Look for the empty signposts (we assumed that the posts used to have trail markers, but when the property owners started asserting their private property rights a few years ago, they took them down). Somebody has written TRAIL with arrows on most of the signs, so that will help. When there is no post, go straight.

The first little bit of the trail is steep uphill and rocky footing. Then the trail turns to the right and gets easier to walk. Cross a few bridges, and you’ll eventually come to the two large graffiti-ed rocks that are also visible from the Cardiff Mine trail. Keep going and, around a few curves, and you’ll reach the stream and the first of your many (fairly easy) challenges. Climb down the rocks to the streamside, then continue upstream. Several yards upstream, you’ll need to cross the stream. Pick your path – we chose to cross over the logs, but several others chose to pick a path through the rocks.

I’ll stop to note that crossing a wide, fast-moving, freezing cold mountain stream with a squirmy two year old on your back is HARD. I had my hiking poles which helped a lot, as I was able to use them to help keep my balance.
<- Crossing / We Made it! ->

<–The Goat took a picture of every footstep across the stream

Many people chose to continue up to the very top of the falls, climbing on rocks and scrambling up the last bit. We chose to stop after the stream crossing, as I was not about to rock climb with Wally. (And one “helpful” woman felt the need to point out to me that she didn’t think we should attempt the final ascent with a baby. Well duh.)

But the falls were quite pretty, and it was very cool and breezy there. After a few minutes, we picked our way back to the parking lot. BTW, Doughnut falls is so named because the water falls through a hole in the rock, making the rock look somewhat like a doughnut. Or so I hear, because you apparently have to be right up there to really see it.

<- The Falls

Total Mileage: 7.8 miles including Cardiff Mine, 1.3 just Doughnut Falls
Total Time: Over 4 hours including Cardiff Mine, about an hour just Doughnut Falls

More info about the hike here. Most other websites have been taken down…