Journalist By Nature: Eagle Creek Trail: Waterfalls Galore

One of the most popular hiking trails within shouting distance of Portland is the Eagle Creek Trail #440. It begins at the Eagle Creek National Fish Hatchery which lies between Bonneville Dam and the Bridge of the Gods. The hatchery raises ocean migrating salmon varieties and releases them in Eagle Creek as well as on regional Indian Reservations as a way of stocking the rivers after dams have interfered with salmon runs. Eagle Creek is a water runway cascading towards the Columbia River in the folds of the Mt. Hood National Forest terrain. It is fed by adjoining but smaller streams along its route, each juncture producing a dramatic waterfall.
The creek is full of mountain runoff at this time of the year, making its flow to the big river loud, splashy and fast-moving. These conditions lure ultra-kayakers to test their skills and courage as they make an adrenaline infused run over rocks and waterfalls. Warning: don't even think about this if you're not extremely experienced and your life insurance policy is not paid up! Be sure to catch the video at the end of the blog link.

The creek at the trailhead is relatively smooth in places as it burbles over rocks along the stream bed. As the trail ascends paralleling the creek, there are more and more sensational falls, some wide and noisy as an oncoming freight train, others slim and tall, spilling almost silently down the basalt walls covered in green mosses and ferns down to the pool of convergence.

The trail is packed hard by the feet of thousands of visitors who make the trek to various view points and campsites all year long. The falling fir and pine needles can't keep the soft carpeting underfoot so the sharp basalt rocks that comprise the area lie above the trail and make it challenging and by the end, painful to hike. Well-constructed hiking boots are a must on this trail. Tennis shoes and flip flops will keep your journey short.

Water drips freely down the rock walls that line the trail, providing a moist environment for maidenhair ferns, sword ferns, licorice and deer ferns as well as various mosses and succulents. As the rains increase, as they did today, the dripping turns to small waterfalls along the trail, splashing down on hikers as they hug the wall on parts the hike that are narrow and edged on the opposite side by precipitous drop-offs to the creek far below. Wildflowers are beginning to make the scene, the trilliums gone now but larkspur, wild bleeding heart, saxifrage, pathfinder, solomon's seal and yellow wall lettuce dotting the landscape with tiny blooms and promising more to come with unopened buds. Strong stalks of meadowrue were just beginning to show their flowers along with a selection of other native plants as well as the invasive shiny geranium, an innocent appearing flower that spreads rapidly.

At the most narrow and rocky points on the trail a cable has been attached to the rock wall for a handrail to steady the dizzy, unsure-footed or otherwise uncertain hikers. Children should be held by the hand along these place as one misstep will send a person tumbling over the edge to grave injury or death. As always, carry your ten essentials when hiking.

The grade of Eagle Creek trail is a gentle up and down but gradually climbing steeper the further you travel. The Forest Service has built a number of bridges to span the canyons carved by years of rushing waters and boulders. One of the most iconic spots on this hike is the Punch Bowl, one of many crashing waterfalls that has made its own bowl over time as the falling waters have carved out a hole in the stream bed.

Punch Bowl

The crowd on the trail today included overnight campers, photographers with tripods, young couples in sleeveless shirts (yes, it was raining) and a large group of stoic young men and women intent on returning to their cars just as we were starting our climb. They must have made a very early morning start. By the time we reached our lunch destination, beyond High Bridge, the hilltops were shawled in a light misty fog that swirled about the rocky formations high above our heads. A pounding waterfall rushed behind us, just out of sight through the leafing vine maples and young hemlocks that were finding cracks to support their growing root systems. Like ants on a log we sat in a row on a downed tree trunk, minuscule Ikea seat pads protecting our rumps from the moisture. Raindrops, slipping and sliding through the layers of the understory, plopped onto the rocks and moss that softened the increasing downpour.

In the summer you can mount the 13 mile hike all the way to Wahtum Lake and make a week of it trekking around the lake. Tunnel Falls, another two miles from our lunch spot, is also a popular destination and reminiscent of Silver Falls State Park hike where you can walk behind the waterfalls. However far you hike, the Eagle Creek trail will thrill you with its scenery. Being a 30 minute drive east of Portland, it is a great outing for guests to showcase the beauty of the Columbia River Gorge Scenic area. The hiking season has begun. Don't waste a day of it!