We’ve written about Roaring River Falls and the very short hike to the beautiful waterfall in Kings Canyon National Park. However, there is a secret hike not seen on park literature. This trail gives a second, more direct view of this noisy waterfall if you know how to find it.
Park on the near side of the Roaring Falls River. This is not in an actual parking lot, but in the very large pullout, which is used as overflow parking for the hike. Park in the middle of this area, and you’ll see a path leading uphill through the trees.
This path, like the main path on the other side of the river, is very short. However, this one is neither paved, nor entirely flat. It climbs gently up to the rock face that you can see from the road. Then, it turns toward the river (to the left) and goes around to overlook the river. At one point, this must have been a sanctioned trail, because there is a railing in a bit of disrepair, and you can clearly see the waterfall.
What makes this walk to Roaring River Falls a bit different is that you can look directly up the river. This gives you a straight on view of the falls. The other trail will allow you to get closer up to the waterfall, but the view is from the side. Also, the large rocks obscure part of the bottom of the falls, which limits your photos.
You can also see the railing for this secret hike from the official Roaring River Falls trail. Then you can decide if this secret hike is for you. We found it short and simple enough to be worth our time since we were parked on that side of the river anyway.
