Length: 2 miles
Elevation Gain: 400 feet

My friend Jessica was in town this past week, and because Houston isn’t exactly known for splendid mountain views, lush forests, and gushing waterfalls, we decided to go for a ramble for all three of those things.

Franklin Falls is one of the easiest hikes I’ve done, and because it’s pretty tame and short, it’s also quite popular. Luckily, we were able to go on a weekday because I took the day off work, which meant the trail was far less crowded than I imagine it’d be during the weekend.

Getting to the trailhead was easy, though we did get momentarily confused about where to park. There’s a large parking lot up the main road from where the trailhead is located, so just follow the printer-paper-sized signs and you’ll find it. Don’t forget to put your Northwest Forest Pass on display!

We got to the Falls in about 40 minutes, counting all the little detours we took to check out various views of Denny Creek, including some spots where you could dip your feet in. We even saw a little American Dipper wading around.

Franklin Falls itself, though — wow. You can get riiiiight up to the base of it! We wandered within 10 feet of the roaring water and got soaked by the spray. And when the sun broke out, we even saw a little rainbow off to the side! Awwww.

It’s a very cool experience to be so close to something so powerful. And to make things even more surreal, there was a friendly Steller’s jay that hung around with us at the waterfall, and then proceeded to “lead” us back towards the trailhead for a good quarter mile.

We named it Marvin.

Marvin is naturally blurry. It’s very weird.

Marvin hopped along the trail, always about 10 feet ahead of us. When we stopped, he would stop and look back until we started moving again. If someone else came along the trail to pass us, he flew into the trees nearby until they were gone, then flew back to the trail in front to continue journeying with us. It was overwhelmingly adorable.

He only left us for good when we came across a squirrel in a tree on the side of the trail. Marvin flew into the same tree and seemed keen on inspecting this squirrel, so we carried on without him.

If you happen to encounter Marvin on your next trip to Franklin Falls, count yourself lucky because he is precious and obviously only befriends the most amazing of hikers.