I’ve been busy with my personal life and haven’t been able to get out and hike. When I finally got some free time, I decided to hike the Staircase Rapids Loop. This is a hike that I’ve done a few times before but it’s one of those that I enjoy enough to do multiple times.

Before you decide to do this hike, you should know that the drive here is a journey in itself. The last 5 miles or so before the trailhead is just gravel and compact dirt. What makes this bad is the minefield of potholes. They are everywhere and some are quite deep. Having a vehicle with some ground clearance and tire sidewall will greatly help but not absolutely necessary. I mean, if I can make it there and back in a Toyota Corolla, almost any other vehicle can. Just take it slow because some vehicles can definitely bottom out the suspension if you try to speed through this area. Be EXTREMELY careful at the beginning where the gravel road warning sign is. Right at the transition between the paved and gravel road, there is a chunk of road missing. I won’t call this a pothole because it’s multi-feet long and pretty deep. Be aware and dodge it if you can because if you hit this thing at full speed, you’re probably not going to have a good time.

Once you make it to the trailhead, things should go pretty smoothly. This is an easy to moderate hike. A good bit of the trail is flat ground but there are some hill climbs no matter the direction you go. I like this trail because it offers some nice scenery. You get the big moss-covered trees, crowded woodland, rivers, streams, bridge crossing and a variety of other things. For the relatively little effort that you have to put in, you get a lot in return.

On this day, the trail was in overall good condition. There were around 6 trees that have fallen onto the trail but almost all of them can be easily walked around or stepped over. There’s only one fallen tree by the suspension bridge that may give some people trouble. This tree has fallen just so that there’s enough space for a smaller person to squat (knees to chest) and shift their way under or a bigger person to use the other fallen trees to climb on top of the trunk and make an approximately 4 feet high jump. Some people may not be able to do either of these things and at that point, there isn’t much else to do but crawl under the trunk.

Aside from that, there wasn’t much to complain about. It’s been raining in the area so mud was kind of expected but I found that all the patches of mud can be easily walked around. That being said, there were quite a few footprints in the mud. I would assume that these people just wanted to walk through the mud because again, you can easily walk around it.

I should also mention that I was hit by a few bugs. It happened less than a handful of times so maybe I just got unlucky. Spring is just around the corner so you can expect to start seeing more bugs in the future.

Overall, this is a hike that I can recommend. The road to the trailhead may be a nightmare but the trail itself is quite enjoyable. Definitely give this one a try.