An antidote to the Multnomah Falls circus.

Many waterfalls await discovery in Oregon. Some of the best are found in the Columbia River Gorge. Some are out there obvious to all while some like to hide away from prominent view. Multnomah Falls is the tallest and one of the most majestic. A large car park built in between the lanes of the freeway tries to accommodate the many who come for a visit. It is a standard by which others are measured. The Northwest Waterfall Survey rates Multnomah at 89.92 points. The falls are enchanting, but some of the magic wears off with the crowds you endure to witness. McChord Creek calls.

Driving up the Gorge on a Thursday in April, the car park at Multnomah Falls was, as normal, completely full. Five miles further east on the freeway, I-84, there were two cars parked at the Yeon State Park lot just off the freeway. Granted, two of the three trails leading out from here were closed – one from a fire in 2017 and another from a recent landslide this winter – but the one trail still open was pure enchantment.

YEON TRAILHEAD

The trailhead serves four trails actually. Trail #400 is a trail paralleling the freeway. It serves to connect to all of the other trails extending uphill into the nooks and crannies of the Oregon side of the Gorge. This trail moves through an area severely affected by the Labor Day fire of 2017 – some young kid thought it was cool to throw fireworks into Eagle Creek Canyon after weeks of drought and with high winds present. Fire was bad enough, but then landslides slough off the steep slopes with nothing to hold the ground in place.

Nesmith Point was one of the main trails leading out of the Yeon parking lot. In 5.3 miles – the map shows 4.4 – you could gain the highest point on the direct rim of the Gorge in Multnomah County at 3872 feet. The gain is something like over 3,700 feet. The trail before the fire was simply steep, grinding, in the forest and nothing spectacular in the way of views. All probably parts of the reason the trail has not been rebuilt yet since the fire.

waterfalls ahead

Two other routes take you to the two waterfalls of McChord Creek – Elowah and Upper McChord. Elowah – rated at 69.24 points (though recently, it seems to be downgraded to only 58.80 which does not do this magnificent falls proper justice) and 242 feet high – used to be known as Lower McChord Creek Falls, but was given a more Native American sounding moniker. I am not sure why the namers stopped there and not renaming the upper falls, too.

ELOWAH FALLS

The lower falls, Elowah, somehow survived the horrors of the fire of 2017. Even the wooden bridge over the creek lived on. That is until this winter. A large landslide came down splintering the bridge and closing the trail. This trail was also part of the #400 complex, so another closure for that trail, as well.

No fear, however. The trail to the Upper McChord Creek Falls still exists. Six switchbacks take you to the top of the Elowah Falls and on to the upper waterfall above. High above, the trail cuts into the face of basaltic cliffs. This part of the trail dates to the 1890’s, built for an iron penstock to bring water from the upper falls part of the creek down to a small pulp mill along the Columbia. There are a couple areas where you cross some of the old penstock tubes.

magic opens

The view as you come around the corner into the basin above Elowah Falls is truly magic. Across the river, Beacon Rock, Hamilton and Table Mountain all rise importantly high above the Columbia.

360 view above Elowah Falls. Click and hold with mouse and move for full effect.

UPPER MCCHORD CREEK FALLS

Noise from the freeway finally abates as you move above Elowah Falls. Only a short distance beyond you find the Upper McChord Creek Falls – rated at 57.74 points – dropping 64 feet down into a scrambling creek above Elowah.

360 view above Upper McChord Falls. Click and hold with mouse and then move for full effect.

Your return is the same way you came up.