Waterfall Bagging in Oregon

It has been said that the road trip is a right of American passage.  For some it is the thrill of endless possibility, the rush of the open road and a pervasive sense of freedom.  For others it is literally Hell on wheels.  Visions of being cramped in a car, with endless miles of road, each more or less indistinguishable from one another, took me back to the days of driving across the country with my family.  We would drive for hours on end without stopping.  Bathroom breaks and were frowned upon and McDonalds was mandatory.  With this in mind, I hoped that this trip might just heal my childhood cross-country trauma.

As we traveled a definite theme emerged without any planning at all.  We knew that Oregon was home to several fantastic waterfalls, after all we HAD done our research well.  What we didn't realize was how addictive "waterfall bagging" can be.  After a few days or driving around central Oregon we'd already bagged 7 beautifully photogenic falls and all we could think of was finding just one more.  Just when we'd thought that we'd seen the most beautiful one, another would surpass it and we would have to amend our rating scale once again.  By the end of the month (aided by a drive to "Waterfall Alley" near the Columbia Gorge) we'd bagged our 17th one.

Here are a few of our favorite ones.  By the way, hiking to them made them that much more spectacular so some of our choices are most definitely influenced by the effort exerted to reach them.

Bridal Veil Falls on the Historic Columbia River Scenic Highway.  An easy 1 mile round trip hike to this small but lush rainforest falls that empties into the Columbia River

Tokatee Falls is one of the most famous in Oregon and we agree that it is spectacular. 1 mile roundtrip.  It was at the end of a very long day for us that started in Crater Lake, so we didn't take as long as we would have liked here.

The two-tired falls are fantastic but we were more excited by the two bowl shaped pools at the top of the basalt falls.

Elowah Falls was a hidden gem.  We hiked a bit further to get to it but who cares when you are hiking through rainforest, lush with green and wildflowers booming all around you.  The falls had a distinctly Hawaiian feel to them and were very peaceful.

Our Chow thought so too.

The last falls that I will share with you are Salt Creek falls in the Willamette National Forest.  It is the second highest waterfall in Oregon and a great starting point from which to explore more falls.

Drawn in by the name Too Much Bear Lake, we went on to Diamond Creek Falls from here and hiked through thickets of rhododendron loaded with blooms and buds.  We were the only people on the trail and enjoyed the many bridges and streams along the way.

Without question the best road trip yet...and not a McDonalds in sight.