Best Trails in El Dorado National Forest

There is still snow that turned some folks back (for us that meant we had the top all to ourselves). From theHwy 88 TH it's up all the way but most of the climb is gradual until you actually get to Thunder Mountain itself. After passing through some beautiful wildflower fields and beautiful vistas we climbed above tree line. There were some small sections that required a bit of scrambling but not too bad. Actually getting out to the "top" can be a bit tricky and potentially treacherous but the views will not disappoint.

Would be more enjoyable if marked at all. 'Trail' does not really apply here, you pretty much need to follow the running water to it's source, or use alltrails' map with gps as guide, it is made for places like this. As it was i was constantly checking w my phone, which kind of took the wind out of hiking in the first place. Nevertheless it is a nice area, easy, and pretty short distance to the fall's base as long as you stay on the 'trail' (good luck with that)

Trail is dry. No snow. No extended climbs; good for kids. 2 log crossings, but wide and fairly easy

Very fun quick hike, no stars guns off of ice house rd so it can be hard to find. The turn off is after the silver creek bridge. Stay to the right. There are two parking areas off the gravel road. The first is easy and best for regular cars, the second lot to the right and down farther is washed out.

Beautiful, easy hike for most.

Simply beautiful. Loved walking by the water at different points on the path.

Nice trail. About .7 in there is a teaser cascading fall where there are some pools to swim. At the Falls itself, there are several swimming pools—wish I had my suit! Falls still running pretty good on June 14.

Perfect day hike. Trail completely open from trailhead to summit now. Wildflowers everywhere especially near summit. Creek is still full and flowing.

Desolation Wilderness is perfection right now, get out there.

No snow. beautiful hike.

The trail is relatively easy. That hard part is actually finding and staying in the trail. It isn’t clearly marked at all. I suggest running this app while you’re on the hike so you can see when you’ve ventured off trail. Overall it’s great!

Fun hike

Nice easy hike and beautiful. My children loved it. Be warned to get to the falls is a VERY steep entrance. And lots of rocks at the end. Careful with little ones.

Is the Grouse Lake drainage passable?

Just got back from this awesome hike (early June). The Tahoe Triple Crown was on my bucket list.

There’s still snow 0.5-2 feet in some areas which makes finding the trail difficult. If I were to do this again, I’d wait until late July or August. I got lost a few times which added unnecessary miles and anxiety to my trip. I had the gpx loaded on my Garmin that helped greatly.

Enter off Forest Service Road 051 — put the following coordinates in Google maps (38.7913412,-119.9328102). Definitely recommend an AWD vehicle with high clearance. If you’re hitting Jobs Peak first (counter-clockwise, I think people recommend that) drive to the very very end. The road does end. If you’re hitting Freel first (clockwise), park at the first round about.

Lots of water still flowing!

Great trail. The meadows were gorgeous- should have blooms in another week or two. Did see a big rattlesnake in the dry area before Government meadow. This was my first time on the trail. The route through the meadows is the easier way to go, although taking the bridge first and heading up via the old Silver Fork loop would be a helluva work out! I appreciated the earlier comment about the log crossing (easy). We camped near the falls, which was nice but noisy. If you want to camp where it's a bit quieter, turn right as you come off the log crossing. There's a nice space near there that's adjacent to deep water. Or better yet, continue over the ridge and down to the river - a few nice spots along there. Definitely doable as a single day hike, but the overnight was nice. And it's only 20 min off Hwy 88 via Mormon Emigrant/Silver Fork Road, so it's easy to go enjoy a Bloody Mary at Kirkwood Inn when you're done.

This was my first time going off road in my new TRD Pro 4Runner. It was a beautiful drive, a littlr dusty. I ended up taking a side trail that was pretty difficult but the 4Runner took everything like a champ. When I got off this side trail I got lost and I couldnt make it back on without a spotter. I just drove around for hours and finally found pavement. I will be coming back soon.

great trail! awesome terrain for novices like us. difficult to follow trail in some places. almost no snow left. prepare for some mud.

snow is all gone did this trail 3 weeks ago an you had 40 minutes of snow to go though as of 6 /2 less tha two minutes to go through great hike so awesome on top great views

Amazing

nice hike, but hard to find. Toward the end it does not seem that anything would be possible except hiking. This is mainly because of all the poison oak. We did not finish the hike. Too much poison oak and too steep. It was fairly warm 85 or so.

This trail / rough road was fun to explore. We kept finding ouselves on other roads because we did not have the map zoomed in enough. There are lots of roads and trails to explore connected to this trail. We did not find anything that a stock 4x4 could not handle. Make sure to download the map because there is no cell service.

First found out about this trail in 2001, when it was still relatively “secret”. A great little hike to some beautiful pools for wading and picnicking. Not sure if there are still cairns so best to use gps to follow the primitive trail to the waterfalls.

one of first big Jeeping experience. great trail but be wary.. if you don't have a true off roading vehicle this can be an almost impossible trek. a few boulders did have us getting stuck. overcame with a lil keeper help .... definitely for those able to manuver boulders , thin sides and come prepared in case you stuck.
also saw off-road motorcycle on trail and pull to allow passing.
one of our Favs on Camping spot found.

Hiked to the falls in late May and it was great. The hike is full of moderately challenging terrain with rocks, fallen trees, and other obstacles you need to climb over. The falls is beautiful. It's a place I could sit and watch for hours. Well worth each step and the $5 parking fee

I have ridden my horse on the trail. No problem and a whole lot faster than driving.

The views were great BUT IT IS SO POORLY MARKED!!! We had to use notched trees and stacked rocks to navigate. This is 7.4 miles but we got so off course it needed up being 16! Also, the Ranger isn't on office till August!

adorable trail and great waterfall views ! easy for all ages... just be wary of slippery rocks and rushing water parts of the year !

Nice trail! It was my wife and dogs first backpacking trip and they loved it!! Camp set up at creek with wire BBQ grill for over the fire pit that we made good use of!!

Beautiful & picturesque. There’s moderately easy incline, decline, large boulders to climb through, and puddles to cross. The trail is unclear where the big boulders are, but just follow the gushing abundant river and you’ll be fine. A moderate hike. It was about a 4 mile hike for us. Would definitely do this hike again! ❤️