9 Things You Can’t Miss at the Historic Columbia River Gorge Highway!

(Disclaimer, I wrote this post before the 2017 Eagle Creek Fires.  Click here for the most up to date closures)

Last summer my sister and I went on a hardcore road trip through Oregon.  The trip spanned over 500 miles and lasted 9 days which were jam-packed with adventure! On our last full day, we spent our time hiking in the Columbia River Gorge amongst the waterfalls.  It’s a really hard decision to make, but I think I liked the day we spent here best of all.

(Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind about that, because every day was monstrously awesome in an epic way.)

So here’s the deal…if you are in the vicinity of Portland OR or Vancouver WA, then you HAVE to plan a day to go spend at the Columbia River Gorge.

(Visiting Oregon? Check out my other posts for ideas on what to do there!)

The Columbia River Gorge, complete with its infamous wine country, is one of the 7 Wonders of Oregon.  There is SO MUCH that you can do in this area, it would literally make your head spin.  Despite the tons of activities, there are in the area, if you only have one day to visit your time will be best spent driving and hiking along the Historic Columbia River Highway. (Unless you’re a wine junkie…then your time would be best spent in the wineries 😉 )

The Historic Columbia River Highway is located on the Oregon side of the Columbia River. For those of you who don’t know, this Highway is famous for its spectacular display of waterfalls.  Some of these waterfalls can be seen from the road, such as Multnomah Falls, and some are accessed via hiking trails. I don’t know how many waterfalls there are in the 10 mile stretch between the Vista House and Horsetail Falls, but from what I’ve read it numbers over 20!

Directions:

(Coming from the west on I-84) Exit Graham Rd, turning right onto Graham Rd.  You will cross over the railroad tracks and turn left at the intersection onto SW Halsey St/Historic Columbia River HWY. Follow this road over the Sandy river until it dead-ends into a T intersection and then turn Right.  (There should be signs at this point telling you that you’re on the Historic Columbia River HWY.) Just stay on this highway through Springdale and Corbett, it will take you through all the waterfalls and scenic views.

Coming from Troutdale, I’m going to list out some of the scenic spots and waterfalls that you will come across in order:

1. Portland Women’s Forum State Scenic Viewpoint, aka Chanticleer’s Point

The very first place that you will see right before the “Waterfall Row” (as I like to call it) is the Portland Women’s Forum State Scenic Viewpoint or Chanticleer’s Point. This area offers a wonderful viewpoint of the Columbia River, and in the distance, you can see the Vista House.  Now, I super suggest stopping in this area first to enjoy the scenic view, because the Vista House can be a madhouse. There were people at the Women’s Forum Viewpoint, but it was just a few other cars.  When we drove a short distance down the road to the Vista House, it was insane with cars and people. The Vista House is a more well-known stop, but for those of you who don’t like crowds, Chanticleer’s Point would be a better option with the same awesome view.

2. The Vista House at Crowne Point

The Vista House at Crowne Point is just a short distance down the road from Chanticleer’s Point.  You can see from the pictures that the view is near identical.  The Vista House is the best-known point on this road for scenic views, hence the throngs of people.  The upper level is pretty cool to get a more “bird’s eye” view of the valley, but as I said before, if you don’t like crowds, you could get the same views at Chanticleer’s Point with a lot fewer people.  When my sister and I went, there were tons of people here, and we almost couldn’t find parking.

3. Upper and Lower Latourell Falls

The first waterfall that we came across was Latourell Falls, which is a waterfall that’s visible from the Highway.  They had a trail where you could hike down to the base, but my sister and I decided to hike to the Upper Falls.  I super suggest hiking to the Upper falls, because it was a really beautiful hike!

Let me tell you, the pictures don’t do it justice!! I won’t lie to you, the hike was semi-strenuous, but worth it when you get to the Upper Falls.

From my experience, I would suggest that you don’t take the loop back to the parking lot.  I suggest that you just hike to the Upper Falls and then return the same way you came.  The reason is

1. The trail can be ambiguous.  There was a split in the trail that several of us went down because it looked like it headed more in the direction of the parking lot.  However, the split leads to a dead end and we all had to hike back to the split. While this isn’t a huge deal, it does take time away from the many other sights you are going to want to see during your time here.
2. It’s faster to go back the way you came.  I’m pretty sure it took us more time to complete the loop than if we had just gone back down the way we came.
3. The loop doesn’t actually put you back at the parking lot.  The loop comes out at a random place on the highway a short distance from the parking area.  Again, this isn’t necessarily a deal breaker, but you are walking on a 2 lane highway, which can be dangerous, especially if you have kids.

4. Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls was our next stop.  You have a couple of options with this waterfall, you can either hike to the overlook or hike down to the base…of course, I suggest that you hike down to the base! It was strenuous coming back up, but it’s only a short distance compared to hiking Upper Latourell Falls. There’s a huge rock that my sister and I climbed on top of at the base to get a closer view. I can’t really say why, but this was my favorite waterfall.  There weren’t as many people here, and I’m not sure if that was a fluke or because they didn’t want to hike down to it.  Either way, I enjoyed sitting on the rock being up close to such a large waterfall.

5. Wahkeena Falls

Next on our stop was Wahkeena Falls.  This is a waterfall that you have to hike a short distance to from the parking lot. Wahkeena Falls was my sister’s favorite waterfall. It’s probably the second tallest we saw (next to Multnomah), and it’s one that you’ll get misted on! Once you get to this waterfall, the trails start to interconnect and take you to other places.  I’ll tell you what we did and then you can decide what’s best for you!

There is a loop that will take you above Wahkeena Falls and loop all the way over to Multnomah Falls Parking lot.  There are trails that veer off to other places from this loop as well if you are interested.  Before embarking on this, it would be my suggestion to get a trail map from the Multnomah Falls visitor center, which is right down the road from the Wahkeena Falls parking lot.  The trails are very clearly marked, and the trail map was very useful.

Here’s what we did: we parked our car at Wahkeena Falls and hiked up to it, then we hiked to Multnomah Falls on a trail that paralleled the highway.  Once we got to Multnomah Falls, we ate lunch at the lodge, then hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls and made the loop back down to our car at Wahkeena Falls.

Either way, you really should make time to get a map and hike the loop, for reasons I’ll discuss below.

6. Multnomah Falls & Lodge

As I stated earlier, we hiked to Multnomah Falls from the Wahkeena Falls parking lot.  Some of you may know that Multnomah Falls is kind of the “top attraction”, meaning it’s one of the most well-known waterfalls on this highway.  From the research I have done, Multnomah Falls is the tallest waterfall in Oregon, thundering down 635ft from the highest point.

Multnomah Falls was by far the most crowded of all the places we stopped.  If you travel in the order that I went, you will for sure be hungry by this time! My sister and I had lunch at the lodge found in the parking lot of Multnomah Falls.  There’s a visitor center with historical information, souvenirs, and a restaurant upstairs.  The food was good if maybe a tad overpriced, but we were so hungry we really didn’t care! We also picked up our handy dandy trail map here at the visitor center.

We enjoyed the scenery from the base of the falls and then headed up the trail to the top of the falls.

I won’t lie to you guys, this was probably the most intense hiking!

After this hike, I didn’t want to hear the word “switchback” ever again!

Despite how strenuous this hike was, I was surprised to see that a large number of people were deciding to hike to the top.  It kind of felt like we were amongst a herd of cattle, all slowly moving to the same destination…but that was OK because I really didn’t want to go any faster than I was going.  I might have died.

Finally, after what seemed like ENDLESS switchbacks, we made it to the top.  They have a platform set up almost directly over the mouth of the falls.  We had to wait our turn for an opening at the edge, but it was worth the wait!

7. Hiking the loop back to Wahkeena Falls: Wiesendanger Falls, Ecola Falls & Fairy Falls

There are 3 reasons why I would suggest you hike the loop from the top of Multnomah Falls back down to the parking lot at Wahkeena Falls:

1. Once you continue hiking beyond the top of Multnomah Falls, there are EXPONENTIALLY fewer people.  There were so few people that I actually began to question if I was headed in the right direction. I maybe came across 6 people the whole loop as opposed to the throngs of people crowded at the base of the waterfalls.  This made it a much more peaceful and enjoyable experience.
2. You see 3 extra waterfalls by hiking the loop: Wiesendanger Falls, Ecola Falls, and Fairy Falls.
3. It’s extremely beautiful.

The first waterfall that you will come to is Wiesendanger Falls.

Even though there were millions of people around the bottom and top of Multnomah Falls, we didn’t see one person near this waterfall.

The next waterfall we saw was Ecola Falls.

I suppose you could find a way to get a better view of this waterfall, but this is the best view we got.  We would’ve had to backtrack quite a bit to find a way to see the falls from the bottom, and we weren’t interested in doing that at the time.

From here we hiked for quite a ways before getting to the next waterfall, but it was a beautiful hike, and we really enjoyed it.

After hiking for a while, we started to gradually wind our way back down toward Wahkeena Falls.  This is when you’ll come across Fairy Falls.

Fairy Falls is probably the smallest waterfall that we saw, but I think it was one of the prettiest!

As you hike down toward Wahkeena Falls, the trail follows the water.  It made for a lot of beautiful spots!

8. Oneonta Gorge & Waterfall

We finally made it back to our car at Wahkeena Falls and drove on down to the Oneonta Gorge.  Even though we had seen some amazing scenery up to this point, the Oneonta Gorge was a really cool experience and one that I definitely suggest!

There is one tricky aspect to the Oneonta Gorge that you should take into consideration before hiking to the waterfall.  Sometime in the past several years, there was a flood that came through the Gorge and created a log pile at the entrance.  This is not a deal breaker in my opinion, as I saw elderly people and young children navigating it safely, but it is something to consider.

Once you cross the log pile, you are pretty much home free! In the Oneonta Gorge, the river is the trail to the waterfall.  There is one part right before you get to the waterfall where the water gets about chest deep, so be prepared to get your shoes and clothes wet!

I never really liked the way the lighting came out in my pictures because we were here at about 7 pm.  I would like to return one day when there is still sunlight beaming through the gorge.

Here are some tips for visiting Oneonta Gorge…some might be repeats for the skim-readers out there!

1. Bring water shoes or shoes that you don’t care about getting wet and dirty
2. Wear clothes that you don’t mind getting wet, and make sure you have a towel to sit on when you get back to your car.  You can do that or just bring a dry set of clothes to change into afterward.  Some people were better prepared than we were and came in their swimsuits.
3. You can safely bring your nice camera into this area, just hold your bag above your head when you get to the chest-deep part of the river you have to cross!
4. Be careful with your footing on the log pile, the logs are very smooth and could pose a slipping hazard.

The hike to the waterfall is not long at all, and it’s such a unique place, you really have to include it during your day!

9. Upper and Lower Horsetail Falls

Last but not least, we made our way to Horsetail Falls.

Horsetail falls is visible from the road.  At this point in our day, it was getting late, and so we decided to hike to the Upper Horsetail Falls and call it a day.  There are other waterfalls further past Upper Horsetail falls, but we were unfortunately not able to see them on this trip.  The hike to Upper Horsetail Falls did not really take too long, but given all the hiking we had done on this day, it felt very strenuous :).

By this time we were thoroughly exhausted but happy with how we spent our day.

Here are some tips & things I would have done differently that might help you plan your trip.

Things to consider:

1. Expect a lot of people.  My sister and I went during the middle of June..aka, tourist season.  There were A LOT of people here, doing the same thing we were doing.  I’ve read reviews about how this ruined the experience for some people, but I would caution you not to let that deter you! Remember, all these people are coming here for a reason! I’m a big fan of solitude, but I still really enjoyed the whole day that I spent here, even with the people.  Just set your expectations for a crowded experience, and don’t let it ruin your day.
2. Head out really early or later in the afternoon to escape some of the crowds.  We got here sometime between 10 & 11 am.  Apparently, this is when everyone else was getting here too.  I’m pretty sure if we had got here early in the morning we would have missed the crowds at Multnomah Falls (which was by far the busiest place).  Also, remember that summertime in Oregon sees daylight until almost 10 pm.  When we left around 8 pm, we drove past Multnomah to get back on the highway and there was almost no one there. Even at 8, there were still hours of daylight left.  If I were to go back, I would plan to visit the busier waterfalls either very early or late in the afternoon.
3. When you see a no parking sign, don’t park there. I saw cars parked in no parking zones, probably thinking they would be right back, and they had “TOW” written across them in huge letters.  Your car will get towed, so don’t chance it.
4. Get a trail map from the visitor center before hiking the loop above Multnomah.  The reason is that the loop has many forks, and a map makes it easier to navigate.  The trails are clearly marked, and the trail map was accurate and easy to read.
5. Bring shoes that you don’t care about getting wet, so you can play under some of the waterfalls! Make sure they’re comfortable for hiking as well!
6. Bring lots of water with you on your hikes.  Dehydration is a killer!

So that’s how we spent our day at the Columbia River Gorge.  The picture below is a little blurry but it sums up the way we felt at the end of the day:

What about you guys? Have you been to the Columbia River Gorge?? Are there waterfalls you saw that I missed?? What are some tips you have??

I wanna know, so leave a comment!

Until next time!