A nice set of waterfalls. The truckee river falls are very close to the parking, and there's another waterfall about halfway up the trail to echo summit.

Oddly enough, the official Hawley Grade trail somewhat disappointed me (nice but just a typical mountain hike with one waterfall crossing, leading up to highway 50 at echo summit) -- but the unofficial part right near the parking more than made up for it. Just walk alongside the Upper Truckee River going straight up, and you get a whole series of great little waterfalls to yourself. I recommend it highly for that, moreso than for Hawley Grade itself. If you hurry you can catch the waterfalls while they're going good from snow melt.

I had some difficulty finding the official trail first time which is how I discovered the better trail. I don't remember exactly where I went "wrong" though... I think the official trail splits off away from the river very close to the parking?