Sixteen hikers were willing to take the three hour drive that will take us deep into a remote canyon of the Coast Range where three spectacular waterfalls tumble through the jungly rainforest.  Even though it's long, the drive is beautiful as we follow first the Umpqua River along highway 138 & 38 and then along the Smith River just north of Reedsport.  Since we have enough drivers, all of the cars will go to the upper trailhead and will then be shuttled back to the lower trailhead by those who are hiking in and out.

It's already 11:00 when we get to the trailhead and everyone is anxious to don their packs and hit the trail.  The faster hikers that are planning to do the 8.7 mile through hike are soon out of sight.  The first part of the trail winds gently downward through a forest lush with ferns and woodland flowers... trilliums, bleeding heart, yellow violets and oxalis along with currents and salmonberry were all in bloom.  Calling this a rainforest was appropriate as we had drizzle with an attitude off and on most of the day.  Occasional shafts of sunlight highlighted moss shrouded branches with a beautiful glow.

After 1/2 mile the trail skirts a rocky cliff and we have our first views of beautiful 100 foot Upper Kentucky Falls.  Then it's switchbacking down the canyon for 3/10 of a mile to the base of Upper Kentucky Falls.  Since the leaves are just starting to come out on the trees and bushes, we have wonderful glimpses of babbling brooks  rushing along beside us as we continue the 1.4 miles where the trail ends at an observation deck in a misty grotto by Lower Kentucky Falls.  Lower Kentucky Falls (on Kentucky Creek) plunges off a cliff side by side with North Fork Falls (on the North Fork Smith River) about 50 yards apart.  Both falls are about 80' high.  There was so much water coming over the falls that the viewing platform was shrouded in mist.  When we got there, the faster hikers were already leaving, but a few were still huddled in the mist finishing their lunch.  In past years we've eaten our lunch sitting by the creek with a wonderful view of the falls.  This year there is so much water that the creek is actually running down the short trail that continues to another viewpoint of North Fork Falls.  

After enjoying lunch and the falls, we backtrack to the North Fork Trail and follow the river on a muddy track for another 8/10 mile to a beautiful pool with a small (10 ft.) waterfall... the turnaround point for those doing the 6 mile hike.  This part of the trail isn't used as much and had several areas where we had to push our way through the overhanging VERY wet bushes.

After the pool, the through hikers continue as the trail made a long and steep traverse up and around several side canyons while the North Fork splashed unseen somewhere down in the canyon.  A look at the map showed the reason for the detour... the trail has to skirt around private riverside property.  It was a lot of uphill for a trail that basically heads downhill.  This middle third of the trail apparently does not see a lot of foot traffic as it was badly overgrown and the trail tread was faint.  As we tromped through the brush, the water on the vegetation was transferred to hikers so we got wet even though the drizzle had let up some.  Six miles into the hike, we crossed the North Fork on a magnificently constructed bridge, contrasting dramatically with a number of lesser bridges we crossed.  Some of those bridges were pretty slick with all the moisture and a wade across the river would almost be preferable to risking life and limb fighting for traction on the slimy planks