Panther Creek Trail East Trailhead

Ashley Wilson

I would not hike this area. Too sketchy, too many fallen trees and too hard to get around. We made it a litttle ways over the 3rd bridge and came back. Too dangerous in my opinion.

#1 Head

This place was beautiful. Stocked weekly and worth the drive. Missed the fish frenzy by a day but still caught two stockers. Not to busy and the few people we passed were very kind. Camping available in some areas. There's a boat ramp not to far around the corner if your up for lake. Hey, bring a trash bag and pack out your trash, plz. Maybe take what's on the ground to, thanks. Good luck.

Kevin Standridge

Great place to go on a ride. Didn't go hiking this time just on a drive. I hear they shut the trail down because of storm damage and the simple fact that there was so much littering. Used to be a primitive hike experience until it got popular. My first time was in 1997.Has totally changed, just sad

John Raimondi

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE ENTERING TRAIL: This trail is not what it seems like. The East trailhead tightly follows the river upstream all the way to the popular Panther Creek Falls; however, this hike is beyond difficult, beyond probably anything you've ever seen on a trail. This out-and-back trail is roughly 2.4 miles from the trailhead to the falls (4.7-4.8 miles round trip), and let me tell you... it will be the longest 2.4 miles you've ever experienced. I do NOT recommend this trail to anyone who is not an excellent hiker, especially children. There were many places on the trail that were simply too dangerous for the average hiker. When I say some places had enough room for 1 foothold... I am being generous. The trail was so badly overgrown and washed away. I had never seen anything like it. Very few areas had the usual steel cables to protect against falls. These were barely in tact; very different from the popular panther creek trail. One part of the trail had a huge drop off, wet rocks inclined perpendicular to the path (slanted downhill towards river as you are hiking along side it), no steel cables, and water dripping off the rocks above onto your head. Talk about anxiety. I literally got so nervous that I used paracord to get across that section. Never in a million years did I think I would be using paracord to simply get through a hike. Because of how overgrown the trail is, it's extremely difficult to keep track of where you are going. There are faint blue blazings every once in a while, and they did not help at all honestly. Not to mention the incline is insane. Definetly some climbing involved. I had to hang onto some sketchy and some good roots to keep from falling one hundred to several hundred feet in some instances. Those roots are also used to get up the steepest parts of the trail where you physically can't just walk. I also had to almost crawl on the ground to get under the larger fallen trees. All three people in my group were around 21 years of age, and we all fell hard at least once. BEING YOUNG AND IN SHAPE IS NOT ENOUGH FOR THIS TRAIL. I dont consider myself an expert hiker, but i have seen many many difficult trails. In my opinion, it takes knowledge, patience, stamina, and strategy in order to complete this "hike". We hiked from 11 AM to about 4:30 PM. We took a 30min break to eat at the falls, and we stopped for 15 min to look for a cellphone and keys that my cousin dropped. You move very slowly through this trail because of its overgrowth, incline, and potential danger. Plan ahead for that. Also, the trail is very deceiving. It seems to go on and on and on, increasing in difficulty before you reach the falls. Do not be afraid to turn back. Your friends and family would much rather hear you complain about not seeing the entire trail, rather than getting a heartbreaking phonecall about how you didn't make it for whatever reason. Please consider your own safety. I gave this trail 3 stars simply because of the lack of information. If I had known how much danger was involved, I wouldn't have gone. It was more frustrating than anything. I wish there were better photos of the trail as well. I guess most people didn't make it to the end to take pictures, im not sure (ill try to post my own to explain everything more). There is also a 2 mile dirt/gravel road to get to the trailhead, and you lose ALL cell service at the trailhead. I was only able to get service at the highest point of the hike (about halfway - 1.2 miles from trailhead) Hope my review helps!