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| Hiking | 4.70 Miles |
1,425 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.70 Miles | | | |
| 1,425 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Day 6 of my Columbia River Gorge Trip and my final full day here. It was the Friday of the Memorial Day Weekend and I wasn't going to stick around for the rest of it. This is the furthest east waterfall hike in the Waterfall Corridor Section of the Gorge, along Historic Highway 30 at least. There is one more along a frontage road, but I'll have to hit it another time. I also would not have the time to hit any of the other Waterfall sections.
I kept my expectations of this hike limited. The Eagle Creek Fire in 2017 pretty much burned the Oneonta Gorge to a crisp. So the hike would be mostly through green understory and black sticks of trees. I wanted to see the 6 falls on this loop, but also kept my expectations low about how photogenic they would be as well. 7 years of dead downed trees would take it's toll on the waterfalls and creeks. While the trails will always be open, recreating in the narrow slot of the Gorge to Lower Oneonta Falls has been closed since the fire. They are just now discussing whether they will open it back up at all and exploring their options. In the 10 years before the fire, the slot and lower fall became heavily visited and not only was it getting trashed, but people were also dying trying to cross a very large, deep log jam in the middle of it. Now, that log jam isn't alone. Just that single stretch of the Gorge has at least 3 more jams that span the width of the Gorge and are between 10 to 25 feet high. And apparently landslides continue to be a problem. A decision on what to do or not do with the Gorge itself as far a public access won't be made until at least 2026.
I parked at the Oneonta TH, just west of where Oneonta Creek flows under the highway. Wanted to get the road walk out of the way first on this one. Took a few photos of the creek through the chain link fence barrier and walked through the cool tunnel before arriving at the Horsetail Falls TH/Parking area. Horsetail Falls was very nice and apparently escaped the majority of wrath from the fire. Then it was on up the hill to Ponytail Falls which was pretty cool too, but was definitely getting into burned stick territory. Then it was up some more and soon I was above the narrow slot of the gorge itself. At one point I could see the lower falls and then I was past them, switching back down to cross the creek, just below the middle falls. There were a few people at the bridge and after taking a break, I hiked up to the junction with the Oneonta Trail. And then it was up, up and up some more. Passed Upper Oneonta Falls, but all you can see from the trail is the top of the falls. The trail finally leveled out about 100 yards before you turn the final corner and see Triple Falls. It was a very impressive and unique waterfall. I followed the trail around to the bridge upstream of the falls and then after some pics, turned around and went back to the front view of the falls where there was a large landing with some nice rock ledges. It was the perfect lunch spot.
After a bit it started to rain so it was time for raingear and the waterproof camera, before doubling back to the trail junction. I screwed up and forgot to turn pause off on RS until just before the trail junction. So to figure the total mileage and elevation, I cloned that section in Route Editor. Followed the Oneonta Trail back to the highway to complete the loop.
Nice hike, despite the burn. Would have loved to have seen this pre-fire for sure, but a 15 year old playing with fireworks ruined that for everybody. Now it was time to finish a tour I started earlier in the week and try to coax nature into a nice sunset on my last evening. |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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| Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty & well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming, "Wow What a Ride!" |
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