In Portland this weekend visiting family and decided to take a side trip on the way home up Eagle Creek in the Columbia River Gorge. The grade is relatively easy and you can make your turnaround destination just about anywhere. I ended up going to Twister Falls which is 6.5 miles in (13 miles R/T). The weekend rains had all the creeks pretty full which made for great waterfall viewing. The bridge at Tish Creek is out but you can cross the creek if your careful. Started hiking at 8:45am with just a few cars in the parking lot and by the time I got back to my car at 2:45 the parking lots were full. Very popular hike but well worth it for viewing waterfalls.

This hike has been on my bucket list for forever and it was wonderful! Having owned Gregory Plumb's Waterfall Lover's Guide Pacific Northwest for so long, and reading that this was his favorite, I've always wanted to do it. No wonder one of the waterfalls on this trail is on the cover of the book! My husband and I had the week off and wanted to do this mid week, hoping for less crowds. We did this on a Tues-Wed and there were still quite a few people, although notably less after Punch Bowl Falls, which seems to be the main attraction. Still, parking was easy. Our first stop was Punch Bowl of course, but couldn't sit long because we all had to take turns to share the view. This is one popular hike! The lower falls were absolutely gorgeous, but we couldn't get a very good view of the upper falls from the trail above. Too much bush in the way. I had to do a little research to make sure I was associating the right name to the right waterfall. We were most impressed with lovely Loowit Falls, although looking at other pictures of it online, its running quite thinly right now, but still very pretty. We ended up camping for the night at Tenas Camp, right next to the thundering Skoonichuk Falls! It serenaded us to sleep and we very much enjoyed our campsite. I'd recommend it, as long as you don't mind your fellow hikers wanting to come in to have a look. The waterfall is accessible to see from another direction, but coming from the trail head, the campsite is the most direct walk through to it. We enjoy meeting other people though, and its so interesting to see where everyone is coming from! The next day we started out early to reach Tunnel Falls. MIND BLOWN. It was ..... well I can't really describe the amazingness accurately you're just going to have to see it yourself. The whole set up of the waterfall is just really cool. We decided we had time to do the half mile jaunt to Eagle Creek Falls, or Crossover Falls or Twister Falls as it is also called. Totally worth it, its a pretty great waterfall. Unique, in my opinion. We turned around here and headed back to our camp and out for the day. We had passed Metlako Falls on the way up and was sure to see it on our way out. A word about the other campsites we saw, they look like the type to be real cozy with you neighbor, or if you had a group. We liked Tenas Camp for more privacy.

This trail is so amazingly beautiful. We got an early start on Friday morning avoiding most of the crowds at punch bowl falls. They really started pouring in as we were continuing on. IT WAS HOT. This trail was pretty cool. The tree cover and the gentle breeze through the river valley were so nice on a 90+ degree day....We had originally planned to hike all the way to Wahtum lake but the beauty of the falls and the desire to stay in the tree cover and enjoy some swimming won over. We camped just past 7.5 mile camp and hung out in the river and did some swimming just past twister falls in the small swimming holes there. Plenty of places to camp all along the trail. The next day we opted for a day of swimming and moved camp closer to the river, hanging our hammock over the water from a log. We hiked up to some other falls. (not sure which one) and we had it all to ourselves...we did some swimming and diving. The water was quite warm. The bugs weren't too bad...there were mostly horse flies and bug spray didn't seem to help to much they seemed to be immune. On Sunday we headed back and didn't see many people for most of the trip until we got to punchbowl falls...it was actually unbelievable how many folks were heading up seemingly unprepared in street clothes, carrying babies, and lacking water on what was bound to be a day nearing 100 degrees. We even saw a stroller ditched halfway up the trail. A STROLLER. I mean just sayin...this trail ain't paved and it sure ain't meant for strollers. Also people...bring water. Anyway it was a beautiful hike and I would absolutely explore this area further. If you want to swim and enjoy the water and many swimming holes...this is the place. The high points along the cliffs are exciting and dangerous and the trail is flat and long and easy.

Beautiful hike-- lots of great waterfalls. We arrived very early Monday morning so we could get in and out before the crowds. Hiked it in 4 hrs. which was a fast pace for us.

This is one of the most spectacular hikes in the Northwest. This popular Columbia Gorge trail is well known to Portlanders but perhaps not so well known for Puget Sounders. It is the ultimate waterfall experience. We counted 21 separate waterfalls along the 12.6 mi round trip to Tunnel Falls. The trail itself is a something to marvel. It was built in 1915 by Italian engineers. Much of the trail was carved out of the basalt cliffs high above the river. There are many areas with scary exposure but the trail is always wide and sturdy. Not a place for wild kids or dogs. People have definitely fallen to their death on this trail. There is even a cable to hold on to if you get vertigo. I would not go if there is any chance of ice. The trail only gains 1200 feet in 6 miles. The first 4.5 miles also traverses beautiful old growth forest. Beyond that the forest if second growth regenerating from a fire from 1902. A shorter 6 mi RT to Loowit Falls would make for a great short day hike. The long haul to Tunnel Falls however is definitely worth it for the unique up close waterfall experience. The trail traverses a short tunnel that goes right behind this powerful falls.