Oregon Hikers

Taking advantage of what looked to be the warmest day so far this year I headed out to the gorge for a hike. I didn't have a plan so this was completely ad libbed. As I passed Multnomah and saw the tremendous volume coming over the falls I thought to give Oneonta a shot. (Multnomah was already busy). Arriving at the Horsetail TH, the falls, absolutely roaring, so off I went.

Lots of rocks and trees down but nothing that was more than a minor irritant: This is right near the start of the trail:


Incredible flow over the upper falls:


More downed trees and rocks past there but again, just minor stuff:


"Lake Oneonta" was full.


Huge ice accumulations in the canyon have started to melt but have a long way to go.


This is just before the Triple Falls viewpoint. Again, easy to pick your way through.


Triple Falls:


Looking downstream from the bridge above the falls:


I hadn't needed spikes at all so far and the few spots where snow and ice covered the trail were well tracked and easy to navigate. However, above the bridge, things changed dramatically so I called it a day:


4.9 miles, two hours, 1,030' vertical.
dn

Nice report. Looks like a slow spring.

Nice TR Don! My friend and I decided to check out the new Tish Creek bridge (made of plastic) just past upper Punchbowl Falls. Eagle Creek pretty much looked like the Triple Falls trail; a few patches of snow on the trail and a lot of downed logs and branches. Time to break out the saws and shovels. I love the flow of Triple Falls. I haven't seen that much flow in years.

That's quite a chunk of snow next to Oneonta Falls. Thanks for the trail report, it confirms the snow and blowdown conditions I expected to see. Looks like another candidate for a trail tender.

I was wondering how that trail was doing. Thanks for the info!
Woodswalker (AKA Colette Grace)

forestkeeper wrote:Nice TR Don! My friend and I decided to check out the new Tish Creek bridge (made of plastic) just past upper Punchbowl Falls. Eagle Creek pretty much looked like the Triple Falls trail; a few patches of snow on the trail and a lot of downed logs and branches. Time to break out the saws and shovels. I love the flow of Triple Falls. I haven't seen that much flow in years.

I saw this morning that they have closed the Eagle Creek trail above Tish Creek due to sketchy landslides.

Colette Grace

I checked this out two days ago and meant to post an update before the weekend, but forgot! Anyway, the snow Don found past Triple Falls is nearly gone. I went a half mile past the falls and only saw a few patches that were no problem to walk across (except one patch that had a bunch of fallen brush on top of it).

The only real obstacle was the stream that flows across the trail between the Triple Falls lookout and the log bridge. This had fallen logs funneling waist-high snow flows on either side, and some fallen brush in the stream itself. So getting past this involved sliding down the snow into the stream, then rock-hopping through the brush, then climbing up the other side. Fortunately the fallen logs provided some hand-holds for climbing up and down the snow. Also fortunately, the only danger here was getting wet, which I managed not to do.

I saw the same fallen trees Don reported, but had no trouble going over or under. On that note, am I the only hiker who gets the limbo song stuck in my head after squeezing under a fallen tree?

arlohike wrote: On that note, am I the only hiker who gets the limbo song stuck in my head after squeezing under a fallen tree?

Nope!

thanks for the update too.

dn