WITH A FEW OTHERS LOWER DOWN THROWN IN FOR GOOD MEASURE

After covering waterfalls I enjoy in Southwestern Washington and the Coast Range of northwestern Oregon, we move east of the Willamette Valley to mostly waterfalls in the northern Cascade Mountains of Oregon. Again, no way these lists are anything close to comprehensive and others may have other favorites. There is a two hour limit from Portland to help limit the number of waterfalling excursions. Also recent wildfires limit access to many waterfalls. Abiqua and Butte Falls in the foothills above Scotts Mill are prime examples. One waterfall making the list here – Shellburg – is also presently inaccessible. I included it only because I visited the falls just before the fires and wanted to show some of its former magic.

So, off to the northern Cascades – the name somehow appropriate – of Oregon to visit our first waterfalls. Links take you to the Northwest Waterfall Survey pages which give the waterfalls ratings 0-100. The highest rated waterfall in Oregon is Multnomah Falls with a rating of 89.92, so you have something to compare other waterfalls here to.

Many of these Northern Oregon waterfalls lie in the western foothills of the Cascades, best visited in winter or spring when they flow at their best.

FROM THE SOUTH

MCDOWELL CREEK FALLS COUNTY PARK

On the east side of the Willamette Valley we continue our northern Oregon waterfalls tour. Starting from the south, again with the two hour limit. First, a few miles to the north of Sweet Home are several waterfalls found in the McDowell Creek County Park. A trail system covering three miles takes you past four waterfalls, three on McDowell Creek and one on Fall Creek, a subsidiary of McDowell.

Oregon boasts of many waterfalls. The most famous lie in the Columbia River Gorge. Here are some of the others lying east of the Willamette Valley within two hours of Portland.

LOWER MCDOWELL FALLS

View from downstream at Lower McDowell Falls – 360 view click and drag mouse for full effect.

Lower McDowell Falls is the smallest with a drop of 20 feet (rating 37.59). The waterfall survey suggests not taking much time with this one, but I found it pleasant in a comfortable way. Plus, it seemed less trafficked than the others.

ROYAL TERRACE FALLS

A panoramic view of the Royal Terrace Falls – 360 view click and drag mouse for full effect.

The path leads out to Royal Terrace Falls on Falls Creek next. The 119-foot drop (rating 45.54) is considered by some to be the prettiest of the falls here. Again, that depends upon the volume, because in late summer it is not really “royal”.

CRYSTAL FALLS

Walking back to McDowell Creek, Crystal Falls is next. A 14-foot drop (rating 46.14) with a nice pool at the bottom for summer dips.

MAJESTIC FALLS

The path then finishes at the uppermost falls, Majestic Falls, with a 39-foot drop (rating 40.14). The wooden staircase and observation deck are almost as impressive as the deck juts out over the top and the staircase winds its way to the bottom of the falls. All in all, a good start to the east side of the Valley.

360 view of Majestic Falls.  – 360 view click and drag mouse for full effect.

SHELLBURG FALLS – PRE-FIRE

The tour of northern Oregon waterfalls moves further north now as we come into the valley of the North Fork of the Santiam River, a region damaged by huge fires in the late summer of 2020. Oregon highway 22 runs up this valley and the next waterfall is just north of the hamlet of Mehama. Visits are presently interrupted because of fire damage, so here are pictures from 2019.

Shellburg Falls consists of the main falls and a lower falls. The access was found off of Fern Ridge Road and consisted of hiking up a closed gravel road for about a little over a mile to a bridge over Shellburg Creek at the top of the lower falls. The access to the falls was going to change before the fires and the final result remains to be seen.

LOWER SHELLBURG FALLS

The lower falls drops 40 feet (rating 40.84) below and might be seen from below, but it looks to be quite a scramble.

SHELLBURG FALLS

A short trail leads upstream from the bridge to the main Shellburg Falls, a beautiful 100-foot plunging drop (rating 47.18, a lower figure than I would give it during winter volume) which you can hike behind. This waterfall is simply magnificent in season. It is on par with the next series of waterfalls falling within the nearby Silver Falls State Park.

SILVER FALLS STATE PARK

Silver Falls is home to the best-known waterfalls outside of the Columbia River Gorge in the State. The park definitely needs to be included on our visit to northern Oregon waterfalls. Plunging falls on both the South Fork and the North Fork of Silver Creek are among the highest rated in the State. A trail – the Trail of Ten Falls – wanders past ten of the eleven falls in the park in a seven mile loop. The loop is for hikers only without pets. Since I travel usually with a corgi beside me, I made only short ventures off the highway while the dog whined in the car.

SOUTH FALLS

South Falls is the best-known falls plunging 177-feet (rating 67.91) over a ledge allowing you to walk behind the falls. The falls is drama personified. Drama can equal a lot of people and crowds are definitely attracted seeing as the park is only a little over ten miles east of Salem. I like to avoid the park on summer weekends. Like all waterfalls, wintertime is best for viewing anyway.

NORTH FALLS

North Falls is the third highest fall in the park at 136 feet (rating 60.25). Like South Falls, you can walk behind this plunging fall, as well. The sound of the falls from underneath is magnificent for the power of the water. South Falls probably gets a higher rating for its width and prettier splash pool, but this waterfall certainly seems nearly its equal.

UPPER NORTH FALLS

A short distance above North Falls is another Upper North Falls. With a 65-foot curtain (rating 52.11) dropping into a plunge pool guaranteed to promise mists, this is one you look at and not walk behind.

WATERFALLS OF MT HOOD

Deeper into the Cascades of northern Oregon are many waterfalls. For example, Mt. Hood features many great waterfalls with Wallalute and Stranahan maybe being the most impressive though I have only seen Stranahan (282-feet high not rated) from the distance. Wallalute is a 177-foot drop. Unlike the waterfalls on the east side of the Willamette Valley, many of the waterfalls up here are accessed best in summer.

RAMONA FALLS

Curiously, the Waterfall Survey does not list much about Ramona Falls which is one of the most magical multi-veiled falls – drop of 120 feet – you will find hidden away in the forest beneath Yocum Ridge on the west side of Mt Hood. That might have to do with its access. Bridges have long ago been washed away and you have to cross the Sandy River on downed logs. The best time to view the falls is spring, but the river runs hard then, as well. Later in the summer, the magic still exists as snowmelt continues, so take heart. The crossing can be worse later in the day on the way back as more snow melt comes off the mountain, so beware.

TAMANAWAS FALLS

Another popular waterfall found on the east side of Mt Hood is Tamanawas Falls. A 109-foot plunge found up a mile and a half trail along Cold Creek off of Oregon highway 35 south of Hood River. The hike is fairly well known and you might not have it to yourself, but it is still worth the effort to enjoy. This beautiful falls is not rated by the survey either, though it probably should go in the 50-60 range.

WHITE RIVER AND CELESTIAL FALLS

Moving eastward beyond the Cascades and just at the two-hour limit, maybe a little beyond, is White River Falls with Celestial just below it. Down the road a little further is Sherars Falls on the Deschutes River, scenic and historic. These and the last waterfall I am including in this list of northern Oregon waterfalls even though they lie outside of the Cascades proper.

On the trail below White River Falls – 360 view click and drag mouse for full effect.

White River Falls drops 75 feet (rating 61.44) with multi-braids. Celestial lies 180 feet downstream in a more constricted lava canyon dropping 41 feet (rating 52.07). Both are included in the White River Falls State Park. The White River begins on a glacier next to Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood. Just down from the falls is an old hydroelectric plant which provided electricity to the neighboring counties from 1910 until 1960.

The area is popular for swimming in the summer and there is one more smaller falls just downstream from the old electric plant.

SHERAR’S FALLS

Sherar’s Falls drops 14 feet in the last cascade of the Deschutes River before it runs into the Columbia a little further to the north. This is an important stop on our northwestern Oregon tour of waterfalls. It is a microcosm of two larger falls – one now flooded by a dam, Celilo Falls on the Columbia and Willamette Falls which follows.

Sherar’s Falls is an important fishing ground for Native Americans. You can see them out on their stilt platforms fishing and netting salmon and steelhead using techniques the ancestors used both here and on the much greater falls at Celilo. The land around the falls is tribally owned and public access is available only on the west side.

The water fall is shaped into a narrow horseshoe shape – similar to the last entry on our tour of northwestern Oregon waterfalls . The falls has been rafted before, but the power and the horseshoe nature make it a very difficult venture.

BACK TO THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY

WILLAMETTE FALLS

We finish our tour of northern Oregon waterfalls back near Portland at what has been described as the “Niagara of the West”. Willamette Falls drops 42 feet in a big horseshoe. It is the mass of water helping make it the fourth-highest rated waterfall in the State at 81.75. It is the largest waterfall by volume in the Northwest – second in the U.S. only to Niagara – with the amount varying from around 60,000 cubic feet per second during the winter to around 7,000 cubic feet per second in the summer. At around 1,500 feet wide, it is also one of the widest waterfalls in America.

water power = industry

Willamette Falls was the site for the first town of the Oregon Territory, Oregon City. The old townsite was replaced with a huge paper mill – now defunct – with time. Another paper mill operated until only recently on the other side. Both sides featured some of the first electric powerplants put in use in the U.S. Portland General Electric still operates its 1895 plant on the west side of the falls. PGE puts out a very fascinating video going into detail about the falls and the industrial development around it.

Navigation locks used to allow boats to passage the falls from 1873, but those were finally closed in 2011. A fish ladder is operated by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to encourage migration of salmon and steelhead diminished by the industrial development around the falls.

RENEWAL

The former papermill site on the Oregon City side of the falls was purchased by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde in 2019. There are plans to build a river walk allowing non-boaters an up close look at the waterfalls not seen since the 19th century.

With the closure of the paper mill on the West Linn side, plans are in the air for repurposing the industrial areas here, as well.