Golden Ears is biiiiiiig. I think it took nearly 20 minutes just to drive from the entrance gate to the parking lot at the end of the road (Gold Creek lot, we skipped at least 3-4 parking lots on the way there). From the norther you can go many different ways - down to North Beach on the lake, East or West Canyon trails, or as we did, take the Lower Falls trail up to the waterfalls. We didn't even begin to touch this place.
This hike had all five of us - me, my wife, our oldest boy (5), only girl (4) and our newest (~7 months) tied onto my chest. We tried to get him onto my back, but weren't able to get the wrap working properly that way.
One of the first things I learned about hiking and camping with kids is you need to bring a whole lot more water and food with you. The great thing about 4+ year olds is you can give them backpacks with stuff in them. It makes things a lot easier on the grown-ups. Our newborn is not quite up to strength yet.
It took a minute to find the trailhead - it would have taken longer except I caught a glimpse of the sign driving in. With bladders empty and water bottles full, we set off down the trail. It was obvious a lot of work had been done on this trail recently. It was hard packed gravel the entire way out to the falls. A stroller with decently sized tires could easily handle it, and it was a joy to walk on.
The trail rolls gently through the woods, occasionally opening up to the river it runs along. The first half of the trail is pretty much all in the woods, but the second half is much more open. The view of the valley are majestic. Despite being less than an hour out of town, we felt completely removed from the city.
The trail is so large and well maintained you would have to try very hard to lose it, but there is still some flagging left over. More helpfully, there are markers noting every 500 meters. It's 2,700 meters to the viewpoint, but the major markers gave the kid something to look forward to and gave them a sense of progress.
It took us a little over an hour to get to the viewpoint, with a water break or two along the way. Once we got there the kids were more interested in eating than looking at the waterfall, but they did like it.
The viewpoint is nice, but at least when we went, it's very wet from all the spray. Use your sense - rocks are slippery, your camera will get misted, and your butt will get cold on the bench. On the other hand, the spray and mist does add to the character of the falls.
Right before the viewpoint another trail goes up the hill. Follow it up for a few hundred meters and it takes you to the top of the falls. The falls are partially fenced off up here, but there is a clear way out to them. There are some nice flat rocks for sunning on - I and the kids all preferred it up here to down below. But be careful if you take young ones up here - the rocks go straight into the water, and you are right at the fall's edge - if not careful you could lose someone over the falls very quickly.
After being fed and watered, the kids were ready for the trek back. Along the way we stopped at one of the gravel beaches along the creek to let the kids splash around the water for a bit and finish off our snacks. The water was cold but they didn't care. It started getting dark while we were there, though, so it was back to the trail and the Jeep. Being in the valley, sunset occurs much earlier than out in the city - keep that in mind if planning an afternoon or evening hike.
Overall, everyone enjoyed this hike. It was definitely an easy one - a good trail, pretty flat, with lots of river and forest areas to explore. If you're looking for an easy hike that definitely give you that out of the city feeling, I'd highly recommend this one.
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