I wanted to try a high mileage day trip, somewhere with low enough elevation that snow wouldn’t slow me down. I chose the Eagle Creek Trail 440 in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge. I had hiked the first six miles of the trail when I was a teenager, and knew that I could make good time on those first few miles. So I bought a map, and chose a route that would follow the Eagle Creek Trail south to Wahtum Lake, then return via the northbound Pacific Crest Trail and Ruckel Creek Trail to end up with just less than a mile of road walking back to my car.

I carefully checked the sunrise and sunset times, and decided I could start a couple of hours after sunrise and still finish in time. So I got up at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday and drove south, then east of Portland on I-84, to exit 41. I arrived at the trailhead at around 6:45 a.m. and read the signs warning of vandalism. They advised parking a half mile back, near a campground host. Good advice. Two of the four vehicles there had broken windows. Your Northwest Forest Pass is valid in either lot.

When I actually started at the trailhead, it was 7:20 a.m. The trail is flat and heavily traveled, but it does have some narrow spots with sheer sides. Cable handholds in the rock are common in those areas. At 1.5 miles, you can see Metlako Falls (over 100 feet). At 2.1 miles is the world famous Punch Bowl Falls. I’ve seen it depicted many times, including on a t-shirt and a full sized poster. I spent 35 minutes taking photos to compare to those I had taken decades earlier.

The trail continues along Eagle Creek, to High Bridge at 3.3 miles, a steel bridge spanning the narrow gorge carved by Eagle Creek. The sides of the gorge are so steep that even though sunrise had been at 5:25, I didn’t see any direct sunlight on this clear day until 9:21.

Beyond High Bridge are a few small camp sites. Are were occupied early on this Saturday morning. The first vacancies I noticed were at 4.7 miles, at Wy’east Camp. Camping is limited in the narrow gorge, but there were more spots than I expected. You just have to walk further to find unoccupied ones.

At 4.8 miles is a self-issue permit kiosk, announcing that you are entering the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness. Get your free permit, and continue. You are still within sight and sound of Eagle Creek almost constantly, providing many photo opportunities.

At 5.0 miles is the first junction, with the Eagle-Benson Trail 434. Continue straight. When you round a curve and hear the roar, you’ll know you’ve arrived at the next major waterfall, Tunnel Falls, 6.0 miles. The trail past Tunnel Falls was blasted out of a sheer rock face, BEHIND the falls. This portion of the trail is not for the squeamish. After passing through the drippy tunnel, the trail narrows to about 4 feet wide, perched halfway up the 175 foot drop. There is a cable handhold, and you can count on the bumpy basalt path being wet and slippery underfoot. If you do pass through the tunnel, keep going; there is another beautiful waterfall just a quarter mile ahead.

At 6.25 miles is Twister Falls, so-called because the stream is divided in two by a rock formation, but then mixed back together as it falls. You can’t see the full 200 foot drop from the trail, but you don’t need to. What’s easily visible is spectacular.

For the next mile or so, there are more camps and possible vacancies. The trail begins to be slightly overgrown with salal, Oregon grape, berry vines, vine maple, and even a bit of Devil’s Club. Still, it’s not too bad. But as the trail moves away from Eagle Creek, the scenery ends.

At 7.6 miles is a junction with the Eagle-Tanner Trail 433. This trail provides another alternative for a loop, but from what I read, it can be badly overgrown. I wanted to finish before dark, so my plan was to continue along the better maintained Eagle Creek Trail. So far, the trail had gained only 1300 feet. From the junction to Wahtum Lake at 13.3 miles, the trail was steadily but gently uphill another 2000 feet. The next 2 or 3 miles, there were numerous blowdowns along the trail, a couple of them problematic. But the forest kept the trail shady, helping to mitigate the heat of the 90 degree temperatures.

By the time I got within a half mile of Wahtum Lake, insects had found me. This is another good thing about the Eagle Creek Trail – I had not been bothered by insects up until this point! At Wahtum Lake (elevation 3732), the bugs were thick. The lake is accessible by car, so there were quite a few people too. It had taken me 7 hours and 15 minutes to hike the 13.3 miles, gaining 3300 feet. But this included one hour’s worth of side trips, and a 40 minute lunch break.

From the north end of the lake, I took the signed shortcut to the Pacific Crest Trail. It heads steeply uphill 0.6 mile to join the PCT just below Chinidere Mountain. From there, the PCT travels past a side path up Chinidere, then in moderate ups and downs to the Benson Plateau, a two-square-mile flat forested area at 4000 feet. The PCT continues along its eastern edge, intersecting four trails to the west. The first is at Camp Smokey, three miles from the Chinidere Mountain path. The trail is the other end of the Eagle-Benson Trail 434. A sign announces that water is available 0.1 mile along this trail. I thought I had enough water, and so continued along the PCT without refilling. I would regret this later, as the Ruckel Creek Trail doesn’t even get within sight or sound of any water (not even Ruckel Creek) until you reach the trailhead.

I continued on to the second of the four junctions, and went west on the Ruckel Creek Trail 405, through the Benson Plateau. Mosquitoes were plentiful. At the west end of the plateau, I was pleased to note that I still had over 3.5 hours before sunset, and less than five miles to the road. Ha! I knew that I was still at 4000 feet, and needed to drop to 400 feet, but the topo map didn’t alert me to just how treacherous the next two miles would be. They drop quickly, on wickedly slick and marbly soil, with only a couple of switchbacks. (I dropped slowly, now feeling the mileage I had done.)

Then, when you finally reach the reasonably graded portion of trail, there are a few seemingly pointless ups and downs to negotiate, and still no water. The only good parts of this last 4.5 miles were the viewpoints. The trail edges dangerously close to some sheer dropoffs as it winds its way down to the trailhead, but they do offer some nice views of the Columbia River.

From the Ruckel Creek Trailhead, I walked approximately three fourths of a mile, partially on road and partially on trail, to the parking lot where my car was. Total distance was just over 25 miles if you include the road walking; total time was 13 hours.

My recommendation: skip the Ruckel Creek Trail. The Eagle Creek Trail is so scenic, it would have been worth it to double back and see the same sights again. For my long distance hike, I wish I had taken the Eagle-Benson trail from Camp Smokey, past the water source, back to the Eagle Creek Trail, then out the way I had come in. It would have added less than a mile of distance, passed a water source, eliminated some of the road walking, and been much easier and prettier to hike. I recommend the “Trails of the Columbia Gorge” map by Geo-Graphics. I found mine at REI.