Hiking among the old growth, Lover's Lane (bobcat)

Cobbled bar on the Sol Duc River, Lover's Lane (bobcat)

Nootka rose (Rosa nutkana), Lover's Lane, Sol Duc (bobcat)

Upper Lover's Lane Falls on Canyon Creek, Lover's Lane (bobcat)

View of Sol Duc Falls from the bridge (bobcat)

The loop to Sol Duc Falls using Lover's Lane (bobcat) Courtesy: Gaia GPS

• Start point: Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Trailhead
• End point: Sol Duc Falls
• Hike type: Loop
• Distance: 6.4 miles
• Elevation gain: 540 feet
• High point: 2,065 feet
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Seasons: All year
• Family Friendly: Yes, for older kids
• Backpackable: No
• Crowded: Yes, in summer

Hike Description

The short and very popular hike to Sol Duc Falls attracts thousands of visitors every day. A longer but still moderate and less trafficked approach allows you to get a sense of the Sol Duc River valley with its magnificent old-growth trees, lush understory, burbling creeks, and even another waterfall. It’s recommended that you do this loop in the morning and then relax in the pools at the Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort after your hike.

Walk back from the resort parking to the left of a line of cabins. Where a gated service road leads up into the deep green forest, you’ll see the Lover’s Lane Trail, also signed for Mink Lake, leading up to the left. In about 50 yards, keep left at the junction with the Mink Lake Trail. The Lover’s Lane Trail continues through an old-growth forest of Douglas-fir, western hemlock, western red-cedar, and even a few large Sitka spruce. The trail itself has a rough, rooty, sometimes rocky tread as it passes above the hot spring pools at the resort. Other sections of Lover’s Lane can be very boggy early in the spring and early summer. A spur leads left to the alder-shaded Sol Duc River. You’ll pass through an alder bottomland and cross one footbridge before taking another bridge over Mink Lake Creek.

Large-fronded lady fern, wood fern, sword fern, deer fern, bracken, and pretty little oak fern thrive in the understory. A raised boardwalk takes you over a bulrush swamp. As you wade through head-high bracken, you’ll gape at a massive Douglas-fir on the right. Then the trail passes close to the rushing Sol Duc River. Thimbleberry and huckleberry grow thick in the understory. The trail crosses a couple of small creeks and then rises to a single-rail bridge above 53-foot Lover’s Lane Falls on Canyon Creek. This is a lovely spot to pause, but a good view of the falls themselves is almost impossible. You’ll get a better view of a pretty cascade just upstream of the footbridge.

Continue through the huckleberries, and find yourself above the deeply incised Sol Duc Gorge. As the trail rises, you’ll get a view of a thin ribbon waterfall on the opposite side of the gorge that drops over a mossy grotto into the Sol Duc River. At the junction with the Deer Lake Trail, turn left to descend to the footbridge that spans the chasm just below roaring Sol Duc Falls, which usually splits into four separate 50-foot horsetails, at least one of which might produce a rainbow on a sunny day. There are viewpoints and a backpacker’s camp just above the falls. From the footbridge, there’s a great view down the narrow gorge.

Beyond the bridge, the now more crowded trail rises in a few rooty steps to the Canyon Creek Shelter (a.k.a. the Sol Duc Falls Shelter). Here, you’ll also pass the junction with the Sol Duc River Trail, signed for the Seven Lakes Basin Loop. From here, the trail is wide and easy as it traverses through an old-growth forest of hemlock and Douglas-fir. You’ll pass over a cascading creek and take steps down to a wide path before reaching the junction with the Sol Duc Campground Trail, where you should head left for the campground. (Going right would take you, in short order, to the Sol Duc Trailhead.)

The stretch of trail down the north side of the Sol Duc River is once again quite unpopulated. Keep your eyes open for foraging deer. At first, you’ll pass through a brushy clearing with much blowdown. Then the trail braids in a small swamp before reaching the eroded bank of the river. Large Douglas-firs and hemlocks tower overhead, along with a few big spruce. After passing through more bracken clearings, the trail enters dark woods with a sword fern and moss understory. You’ll hike along a bluff above a lush bottomland and then reach Loop B of the Sol Duc Campground. Walk around the campground to your left looking for a trail leading to Loop A.

This trail drops into shady forest and soon reaches Loop A. Keep left on the campground road until you see a sign for the resort at Campsite 7. A paved trail takes you past walk-in campsites and then past the RV campground in an alder/vine maple bottomland. A pipe brings warm spring water up to the surface. You’ll see the pools of the hot springs resort across the river. The trail takes you to the road bridge, where you’ll turn left to find your car.

Maps

• Maps: Hike Finder
• Sol Duc Area Brochure (National Park Service)
• Green Trails Maps: Mount Olympus, WA #134
• Green Trails Maps: Seven Lakes Basin-Hoh River Trail #133S
• U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service & National Park Service: Olympic National Forest - Olympic National Park
• National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map: Olympic National Park
• Hike 734: Day Hikes of Olympic National Park Map Guide

Fees, Regulations, etc.

• $30 Olympic National Park 7-day pass or America the Beautiful Pass
• Hot spring pools, store, nearby campground, restrooms
• No dogs on trails
• Access road subject to closure in the winter

Trip Reports

• Search Trip Reports for Lover's Lane-Sol Duc Falls Loop Hike

Related Discussions / Q&A

• Search Trail Q&A for Lover's Lane-Sol Duc Falls Loop Hike

Guidebooks that cover this hike

• Day Hiking: Olympic Peninsula by Craig Romano
• Hiking Waterfalls in Washington by Roddy Scheer, with Adam Sawyer
• The Best of Olympic National Park by Alan Leftridge
• Best Easy Day Hikes: Olympic National Park by Erik Molvar
• Day Hikes in Washington State by Don J. Scarmuzzi
• Day Hike! Olympic Peninsula by Seabury Blair, Jr.
• Washington Hiking by Scott Leonard
• Pacific Northwest Hiking by Scott Leonard & Sean Patrick Hill
• Best Hikes With Kids: Western Washington & the Cascades by Joan Burton

More Links

• Visiting the Sol Duc Valley (National Park Service)
• Hiking Lovers Lane And Soaking In The Hot Springs (Mutiny Ranch)
• Lover’s Lane Loop (Washington Trails Association)
• Lovers Lane Trail (10 Adventures)
• Lover’s Lane Loop (hike734)
• Hiking the Lover’s Lane Loop to Sol Duc Falls in Olympic National Park (My Backyard & Beyond)
• Your Guide to Hiking the Sol Duc Falls Trail (Washington Is for Adventure)
• Lover’s Lane Loop (Hiking Project)
• Lovers Lane Trail (All Trails)
• Olympic National Park (National Park Service)
• Lover’s Lane Falls (Northwest Waterfall Survey)
• Sol Duc Falls (Northwest Waterfall Survey)

Contributors

• bobcat (creator)