Our time in the PNW is swiftly coming to a close, but we’re making the most of every second we have (before the chaos of packing and pack outs begins in earnest, that is). I mentioned last week that my parents were in town for the weekend and, thankfully, they’re game for just about every adventure we throw their way. My PNW bucket list is never-ending, but I have a few adventures, hikes, and excursions on there that I just have to make happen. One of those was hiking Marymere Falls in the Olympic National Park area. We finally managed to check that one off the list this weekend and, spoiler alert, it was amazing!
Hiking Marymere Falls Trail in Olympic National Park
Marymere falls is a fairly short trail located in Joyce, Washington, within the Olympic National Park grounds. It’s known as one of those hikes that offers a fantastic payoff for relatively very little effort. While my boys are pretty adept at hiking these days, there are a lot of shorter hikes that are just as beautiful, and Marymere Falls is one of those. My mama had both her knees replaced last year, too, so we wanted to find a hike that was good for her as she begins to get back into it again.
We’d planned to go as a family, but Ryan got a work call right before we left that morning regarding a soldier in crisis, so he had to stay behind and deal with that while we went on ahead. It’s a longer drive from JBLM than some of our past hikes we’ve done with my family – like those in Snoqualmie – so we knew we had to get out earlier. Thankfully, we were all game for the roadtrip, and we left around 8:30 AM.
Marymere Falls Trail
You may remember that on one of our recent hikes to Garfield Ledges, Mieke did her first full half mile of hiking by herself. That was a pretty significant vertical elevation gain, so we were incredibly impressed. She just turned two years old, and that’s a huge feat for little feet. I didn’t expect her to hike much herself this time, so I brought the Deuter but planned to carry her once she said she was ready.
True to form though, Mieke decided she was ready to bring her A-game, and Mieke hiked the whole two miles on her own two feet! She rocked it, and she had so much fun. There’s a little footbridge she was wary of on the way up, but she rocked it on the way back, and she climbed all the natural stairs by herself. To say that she did well would be an understatement. We were super grateful that it was such a well-maintained trail, and all the kids loved it (as did the adults!)
Is Marymere Falls Dog Friendly?
In short, no. We actually brought Danny with us for the trip and our friends brought their pup, Batman. We realized halfway through, however, that because Marymere Falls is on National Park grounds that pups can’t walk the trails. Thankfully, the weather was nice and cool, so we walked Danny before we started our hike, then gave her food and water, and she slept in the car for the two hours of our hike. We were sad she couldn’t come, but those are the rules!
The Marymere Falls hike was honestly worth every second of that drive. The trail, the views, the sun filtering through the trees, the epic cascading waterfall…it was mesmerizing. The trail sort of bottlenecks right by the falls where there are both upper and lower lookouts and viewpoints, but beyond that, the trail was beautiful and well worth its spot on my bucket list! I’m so glad we were able to do this one!
Tips for Hiking Marymere Falls Trail
Trail Length: AllTrails has this one listed as 1.7 miles roundtrip. Start to finish with a few diversions though, we clocked it as 2 miles.
Level of Difficulty: Easy – this one is ideal for all skill levels! The trail is well maintained, and there is minimal elevation gain.
Cost: You need your America the Beautiful pass for this one.
Dogs: No. Dogs are not allowed on national park grounds.
Tips: As with most of the beautiful hikes out here, going early is the key! We got there around 11 AM after a 2 hour and 45 minute drive, and the lot was completely full – but we’d expected this. We parked on the side street by the lot and just walked a little further. By the time we got back, even the overflow was full. Plan ahead!
