Elowah Falls & Upper McCord Creek 2022-10-3

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squidvicious
Posts: 525
Joined: May 11th, 2015, 8:41 pm
Location: Troutdale

Elowah Falls & Upper McCord Creek 2022-10-3

Post by squidvicious » October 3rd, 2022, 3:05 pm

Today I decided to do some serial hiking in the gorge, hitting several short hikes in succession. One of those was Elowah Falls / Upper McCord Creek, which I haven't visited since before the fire. The trail to Elowah is supposed to still be closed per the state parks website, but I've seen several trip reports that say the trail is fine, the only thing "closed" is the bridge (in the sense that it's destroyed). I figured I could at least go up McCord, and check the Elowah situation for myself.

At the trailhead I saw no signage about a closure on the Elowah trail. Then no signage at all at the Elowah / Upper McCord junction--no tape, no closed sign, and even the trail sign is just a burned stump (the TH had a closed sign for Nesmith Point, as well as closure tape at that junction, so it's not as if they just aren't marking closures). I left the base of the falls for later and headed up top.

The Upper McCord Creek trail is in great shape. It's clearly seen a lot of work, as it was smoother travelling then when I was last there before the fires. As I was the only car in the parking lot, I had the place entirely to myself. Too bad I had other places to visit, as it would have been a great day to just hang out on the creek.

Back down at the junction I headed for Elowah. Absolutely no problems on that trail today! In great shape, not even a little overgrown, and the part through the switchbacks that's always having one problem or other was as good as I've ever seen it. The only thing still going wrong there at this point is the ex-bridge. But a bridge would be superflous now anyway, as that entire area is buried in gravel that makes a natural dry crossing. There's no surface water at all, at least with the current water level.

The 400 trail on the other side initially looked well-trodden as well. I thought to keep going and loop back on the bike path, but a little farther down the trail it got thorny and the tread was a little washed out. As I was in shorts and didn't actually need to go that way I decided to just back track.

So, can you hike to Elowah Falls? Absolutely! Officially, should you? I can't see anything posted there that says you shouldn't.

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BigBear
Posts: 1836
Joined: October 1st, 2009, 11:54 am

Re: Elowah Falls & Upper McCord Creek 2022-10-3

Post by BigBear » October 4th, 2022, 8:44 am

I thought it was closed, too. I see cars there every time I pass on the freeway and wonder which closed trail they are hiking, but then wonder if that's where you park if you don't have a pass for the old highway. :)

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