Larch Mountain Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Multnomah Falls Trailhead
- End Point: Sherrard Point (Larch Mountain)
- Trail Log: Trail Log
- Hike type: Out and back
- Distance: 14.4 miles round trip
- High point: 4,055 feet
- Elevation gain: 4010 feet
- Difficulty: Difficult
- Seasons: Apr-Nov
- Family Friendly: No
- Backpackable: Yes
- Crowded: Extremely crowded to Falls Lookout; quite crowded to Wahkeena Trail junction
Contents |
Hike Description
How do we describe this hike? It's a 2/10 paved stroll for an elderly woman with a walker. It's a grueling one mile uphill battle shoving a baby stroller. It's a quiet walk next to an incredible stream thundering with cascades and waterfalls. It's a five-hour, 4000 foot exhausting climb to the most beautiful view in the area. In addition, throw in some imposing old-growth Douglas-firs and hemlocks, a lush mossy understory, and a variety of Gorge blooms at Sherrard Point in the summer. Part of the route crosses the westernmost tongue of the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness. The hike is anything you want it to be. It just depends on how far you go.
The Larch Mountain trail was constructed in 1915 by founding members of the Trails Club of Oregon. Portland residents might recognize the names of a few early members such as store owners Julius Meier and Aaron Frank, newspaperman Henry Pittock, and Columbia River Highway Builders Sam Lancaster and Simon Benson. Today the Trails Club still maintains Nesika Lodge on a spur trail off of the Larch Mountain Trail.
The trail begins at Multnomah Falls Lodge, a historic building built to serve early automobile travelers in 1925. From a photographer's viewpoint get a head on vista of both the lower and main tiers of 635-foot Multnomah Falls and the picturesque span of the Benson Bridge. From here, the trail is a gently sloped 2/10 mile trail to the Benson Bridge, built in 1914 by Simon Benson, one of the builders of the old highway. This part of the trail is a paved cakewalk, although one small flight of a few stairs blocks the way to wheelchairs beyond the lower falls viewpoint.
Beyond the bridge, the asphalt trail switches up steeply for another mile to a ridgecrest (There are 11 switchbacks to be exact). At the first switchback, you'll come to the Larch Mountain-Gorge Trail Junction. At the third switchback, a scree slope shelters a busy colony of pikas, which tend to disappear when the midday crowds show up. As you ascend higher on the slope, look for Columbia River views. From the top, the trail drops slightly to a junction with a trail labeled "Top of the Falls Trail #441A" on some old Forest Service documents. Today's sign just says "Multnomah Falls Viewpoint". The asphalt follows the side path to the Multnomah Falls Upper Viewpoint, a balcony of sorts at the lip of the falls looking down on the lodge and the less motivated people below. Most people take in this view, grab a couple of snapshots and return down the steep hill to that mocha latte thing.
On returning to the main trail, more patient people will turn upcreek and enter a magical place. The next three miles of the trail parallel Multnomah Creek past scores of scenic creek views. The trail passes Lower, Middle and Upper Dutchman Falls, followed by a unique trip through a creek washed overhang called Dutchman Tunnel. Just beyond the tunnel, you'll come to Weisendanger Falls (A plaque honoring Albert Weisendanger, a Forest Service ranger, can be found in Dutchman Tunnel). The trail switches up above Weisendanger Falls and keeps rising to clear Ecola Falls. The trail is rocky in places, but the climb isn't nearly as steep as it was in the beginning. Another quarter mile brings you to a trail junction with the Wahkeena Trail and then another creek bridge, this one made of steel.
Above this bridge, the trail follows Multnomah Creek a short distance up the hillside. You'll cross a wide creek: it's hard to keep your feet dry here in the wet season. When the trail drops back to creek level, it splits into two trails. The main trail goes close to the creek through a rocky area of platy andesite, an outflow from the Larch Mountain shield volcano, carved out of the cliff in the creek bed. During the summer, it's a beautiful walk next to the creek. In the spring, this area floods, so hikers will need to take the alternate route signed as the "High Water Trail" to switchback up the ridge a bit to go over the rocky formation right next to the creek. The two trails come back together opposite the place where Big John Creek flows into Multnomah Creek from the west.
After crossing Multnomah Basin Road and meeting Franklin Ridge Trail #427, the trail enters a 2009 extension of the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness and crosses the East Fork of Multnomah Creek and then the West Fork, both on single log bridges with handrails.
Now, the climb begins in earnest: after all, you have 4000 feet to gain from the Multnomah Falls Lodge. The trail switchbacks up from the creek and traverses a long ridge up the west side of the Larch Mountain crater. I did tell you that this pile of rock is an ancient shield volcano, didn't I? You'll pass a large open rock field: at the south end of the rockfield, you'll see the biggest tree on the trail, a gnarly old Douglas-fir. There are more big trees as you hike up past the Larch Mountain-Multnomah Creek Way Trail Junction through a mossy carpet, and cross a small closed road. Next, there's a stint on an often boggy tread through a vast stand of silver fir. You'll know you're getting close when you begin to pass abandoned picnic tables and firepits filled with moss and ferns. Eventually, winded and worn out, you'll reach an old turnaround: the Larch Mountain Trailhead is down to your right. There are restrooms there as well as a picnic spot.
From the turnaround, hike up 3/10 mile on paved Sherrard Point Trail #443 to, naturally enough, Sherrard Point. The trail dips and passes the spur from the Larch Mountain Trailhead before ascending a series of steps in a summit forest dominated by noble fir. Blooming on the steep rock faces are Howell’s daisies, alumroot, rock penstemon, matted saxifrage, and Cardwell’s penstemon. The view from the top makes it all worth while. Below the point, you'll see a tarn and the crater meadow. The Columbia River can be seen west to Washougal and east past Mount Defiance. On the Washington side, you'll also see Silver Star Mountain, Birkenfeld Mountain, and Table Mountain, while behind them rise the snowy peaks of Mount Saint Helens, Mount Rainier, and Mount Adams. To the south, Mount Hood and the top of Mount Jefferson are visible.
You can return to Multnomah Falls by making a loop around the Larch Mountain crater using the Oneonta and Multnomah Creek Way Trails: this will add about two miles to your day.
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- No fees
- Share trails with mountain bikers around Larch Mountain
- Restrooms, restaurant, Forest Service information at Multnomah Falls Lodge
- Picnic area, restrooms at Larch Mountain Trailhead
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Green Trails Maps: Bridal Veil, OR #428
- Green Trails Maps: Columbia River Gorge - West #428S
- Geo-Graphics: Trails of the Columbia Gorge
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service/Bureau of Land Management: Columbia River Gorge
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Zigzag Ranger District
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Mt. Hood National Forest
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Larch Mountain
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Larch Mountain
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Portland by Paul Gerald
- Afoot & Afield: Portland/Vancouver by Douglas Lorain
- Day Hiking: Columbia River Gorge by Craig Romano
- Best Hikes Near Portland by Fred Barstad
- Hiking the Columbia River Gorge by Russ Schneider, revised by Jim Yuskavitch
- Take a Hike: Portland by Barbara I. Bond
- Columbia Gorge Hikes: 42 Scenic Hikes by Don & Roberta Lowe
- 35 Hiking Trails: Columbia River Gorge by Don & Roberta Lowe
- 70 Hiking Trails: Northern Oregon Cascades by Don & Roberta Lowe
- 100 Oregon Hiking Trails by Don & Roberta Lowe
- Short Trips and Trails: The Columbia Gorge by Oral Bullard & Don Lowe
- Oregon Hiking by Sean Patrick Hill
- Hiking Oregon's Geology by Ellen Morris Bishop
- Trail Running: Oregon by Lizann Dunegan
- Best Hikes With Dogs: Oregon by Ellen Morris Bishop
More Links
- Larch Mountain Trail #441 (USFS)
- Sherrard Point Trail #443 (USFS)
- Larch Mountain Trail #441 (Columbia River Highway)
- Multnomah Falls ~ Multnomah Creek - Larch Mtn ~ Sherrard Point Loop Hike (Northwest Hiker) (longer loop)
- Larch Mountain on Summit Post
- Multnomah Falls Lodge
Contributors
- Stevefromdodge (creator)