Oregon’s Beautiful Proxy Falls

Guys, if you have never been to Oregon, lemme just tell you: You need to go at least once in your life…for real!! My sister and I went to Oregon a couple of summers ago, and it was still one of the prettiest places I have ever been!! We had a jam-packed travel itinerary, but out of the many things I could write about today, I really want to share our adventure at Proxy Falls!

Proxy Falls is a beautiful and well known/well-photographed waterfall.  As it turns out, my sister had a screensaver of this very waterfall years ago without knowing anything about it.  When I showed her pictures of Proxy Falls and told her we’d be seeing it, she couldn’t believe she was actually going to see a place she had once made her computer background! Such a small world.

Proxy Falls is located on the McKenzie Pass Scenic Highway, close to Sisters, OR.  On a total side note, if you ever visit Sisters (which I highly recommend) or Eugene you can make a day trip dedicated solely to driving the McKenzie Pass Scenic Highway.  There are many hiking trails, beautiful Cascade mountain views, the Dee Wright Observatory, McKenzie Pass, lava fields, lakes, camping spots…you name it, and this Scenic Highway delivers!!! We could easily have spent our whole 9-day trip exploring spots on this highway alone.

Seriously, you need to get out your calendars and schedule a trip…and hurry.

Ok, back to Proxy Falls:

Directions to the Trailhead: (From Eugene) Get on HWY-126E.  You will follow this highway way east, traveling alongside the McKenzie River.  When you cross the McKenzie Bridge, you will be getting close to your turnoff. You will see signs for the turnoff to the McKenzie Scenic Highway/HWY 242.  Take this exit, the parking for Proxy Falls is along this highway, and the area is well marked.

Restrooms: Yes

Distance: This trail is around 1.5 miles, and is a loop trail

Difficulty: Easy, but is very steep when actually walking down to the falls. I don’t suggest bringing baby walkers or wheelchairs.

Pets Ok? Yes, but dogs are supposed to be on leash.

Crowds: Depends on when you go. From my research, the spring and fall is the best time of year to go for less crowds, and summers are the busiest.

Fees/Permits: There will be a $5 parking fee

Tips:

• Proxy Falls is around 200ft, so bring your wide angle lens to get a great close up shot!
• Bring shoes that you don’t mind getting wet!
• Avoid the weekends for a better chance of less people
• The highway where this waterfall is found is not open year round. Typically it’s open anywhere from March through November, but this will depend on snowfall. I did read somewhere that the falls are close enough to the gate that you could park and ride your bike there, but do so at your own discretion. The comments I read said it was about 2 miles from the gate to the falls, but I can’t verify this.
• I’ve been reading a lot of people talking about the Upper Falls, which I didn’t know about when I went. Apparently, if you follow the entire loop you’ll see the Upper Falls as well, but make sure you go down to the Lower Falls before you complete it!

The hike will start out going through lava fields before continuing through dense forest. I gotta say, Oregon has some of the most awesome forests I’ve ever hiked through!! The ground wasn’t rocky like I’m used to from New Mexico and Colorado. The ground in Oregon was soft dirt with moss and pine needles…pretty much the forest floor was carpeted with magic.

Ok, so look at the above picture. It’s hard to make out, but just under where the sign says, “Proxy Falls TR 3523”, there’s little writing where someone wrote, “This way” and points to the right.  My sister and I are trusting souls, and so we went to the right. After going that way we soon saw why people suggested we follow it, because on our left the trees opened up to the below view:

And Bickety-Bam, there was Proxy Falls!

Now, in retrospect (and since I found out there was an Upper Falls I missed), I’m wondering if we got off the Loop to go down to the feet of the falls.  There was a little footpath we took not far from the above picture that led us down right up to the falls.  I think if we had kept on, it would have took us to the Upper Falls.

Don’t be me and please see the Upper Falls!

But maybe be me a little bit, because I’m pretty awesome. That and I think you should scramble down to get right underneath the Lower Falls like I did.

So at the risk of being redundant, here are a few of my favorite pics from this spot:

Believe me when I say we could easily have spent all day here! This is one place where all the pictures you see of it have actually not exaggerated.  It’s actually every bit as awesome as the pictures make it look.  Unfortunately, we still had a lot to see and we had to get to Sisters before dark, so we cut our time short here to hike back to the car.

We ended up finding the loop again around the base of the Falls. The trail stayed very visible and consistent, and before long we were back at the beginning.

The trail brought us out a little further than we entered, but still in the same vicinity.

I CANNOT recommend this attraction highly enough!! The falls were awesome and you could get right up underneath them if you wanted to! If you are ever in the area, you can’t leave before checking out Proxy Falls and the McKenzie Pass Scenic Drive! I won’t stand for it!!

Don’t forget to leave me a comment and tell me what you think!! Have you been here?? Do you have any awesome tips to add?? Do you want to visit here?? I wanna know!

Until next time!