This easy loop is perfect for a hot, lazy summer afternoon. And though that means hordes of weekend hikers, the chance to visit four beautiful waterfalls and explore a unique box canyon more than makes up for the crowds. In fact, this may well be the perfect introduction to the Gorge for novice hikers and out-of-towners. You can hike this trail in either direction, but you?ll save the best for last by starting at the Oneonta trailhead.
From the trailhead, Trail 424 leads to an intersection with Trail 400. Stay left, round a bend into Oneonta valley, and at about one mile, stay right at the well-signed intersection with Trail 438. The views of the canyon and the creek below get progressively better as the trail climbs to Triple Falls at 2.1 miles. In spring, the forest is a wild palette of greens, and in winter, red cedar and mossy trees turn incandescent in the sun. Excellent viewpoints overlook the aptly-named falls, with three segments falling more than one hundred feet to the pool below. The boulders and logs under the footbridge just above the falls make a great picnic spot before you return to the intersection with Trail 438 and turn right to hike down to the creek.
At the bridge, the steep, mossy canyon walls are just a tease of what?s ahead, so continue up the hill and along the top of deep, narrow Oneonta Gorge. After a short stroll, you?ll reach a lookout over the Columbia. The cliffs are dangerous, so use caution and enjoy the view stretching across the river and east past Beacon Rock. The level trail then curves left, paralleling the highway before dropping to impressive Ponytail Falls.
Ponytail Falls isn?t the biggest waterfall on the hike, but it?s easily the most exhilarating. The trail leads directly under the high basalt cliffs and passes underneath the waterfall as it pours through a chute and fans out into a pool. The wide ledge is often wet with spray and shaded from the sun, lending a subterranean feel to an unusual perspective.
After Ponytail Falls, the trail quickly drops down to the highway and 176 ft high Horsetail Falls, the third and largest falls on the loop. Stone walls and steps lead down to the pool, providing plenty of space to meditate or photograph the falls at what must be one of the most beautiful trailheads in the northwest.
To get back to the parking lot, walk west along the highway for about half a mile, past the entrance to Oneonta Gorge. The cool Gorge is a welcome place after the dusty trails above. Here the creek follows a fault and cuts a high, narrow box canyon through hundreds of feet of volcanic rock. A set of stairs leads down to the water, and the temperature drops noticeably as you leave the road. Bring swim-wear if you want to explore, because you?ll need it. One thousand feet up the Gorge is Oneonta Falls, and there?s only one way to reach it: get wet.
Strap on sandals, wade up the cold creek to a treacherous logjam, carefully climb over, and continue wading through deep pools to the hundred-foot high falls at the end of the box canyon. Along the way, lush ferns and moss drape the walls, and rare and unique species of flowers bloom from cracks and seams. Clear water glides over multicolored pebbles, and in the autumn, bright leaves swirl in eddies and collect along the gravel bars. Sharp-eyed observers will spot holes in the canyon walls formed when lava flows solidified around ancient trees. Oneonta Gorge is one of the most beautiful places in the Gorge, perhaps in the state, and the summer crowds don?t make it any less special.
This hike has a total distance of just under four miles, and although the trail winds up and down, it doesn?t ever climb higher than 800 ft. From Portland, take exit 28 (Bridal veil) from I84 East, drive 5 miles east on the old Columbia River Highway, and park at the Oneonta Gorge trailhead.
Article By Jason Weeks, Borrowed Times
