Olney Falls on Nov 30

Over the holiday weekend I really wanted to get the family out for a hike. It's been cold here so we haven't stretched our legs properly in a while. Eric was working but I decided he would be joining us too. So we needed a. short drive b. short hike  c. not popular  . We were racing

I decided on Olney Falls, which is in Startup and not too far from Wallace Falls. We were racing the setting sun. The trail head is just a gate on a logging road but we were able to fit two vehicles out of the way directly at the gate. There is also a pull off further back along the road that could fit more cars. You don't need a pass for this, since you're on logging property but you are allowed access. We saw two bikers returning from a trip up to Wallace Lake and otherwise we were alone.

 The hike is all gravel road and flat until the end. Once you reach the second gate it's either all uphill or all downhill. The trail is wide with good footing. Our friend with us had thinner soles on her sneakers and could feel the large road gravel underfoot. Not enough to be totally painful, but definitely noticeable.

 There were lovely peekaboo views of the surrounding peaks.

Second gate at 0.8 miles and the climbing starts

Quickly fading daylight

 We reached Olney Falls without much incident. You hear it before you see it. Eric had done this trail back in June and found it lackluster, but the water flow was much greater on this trip. Don't do it in the summer if you want impressive falls. It needs a bit of rainy season to be worthwhile but I could see this being a great winter hike in general.

 We returned in the dark but with enough ambient light of dusk that pulling out cell phone flashlights weren't necessary. Plus the footing is secure enough to be traversed in the dark. It was lovely, cold and relatively short at 3 miles round trip.