Difference between revisions of "Eagle Creek to High Bridge Hike"
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=== **Falling Hazard** === | === **Falling Hazard** === | ||
Be careful with dogs or small children on the Eagle Creek trail. There is a steep cliff to one side of the trail. Maybe this isn't the best trail for dogs or small children. | Be careful with dogs or small children on the Eagle Creek trail. There is a steep cliff to one side of the trail. Maybe this isn't the best trail for dogs or small children. | ||
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=== Hike Description === | === Hike Description === | ||
Revision as of 15:26, 20 July 2021
- Start point: Eagle Creek Trailhead
- End point: High Bridge
- Trail Log: Trail Log
- Hike Type: Out and Back
- Distance: 6.4 miles (round trip)
- Elevation gain: 840 feet
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Seasons: All year
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: Yes
- Family Friendly: Yes, for older kids
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Contents |
**Falling Hazard**
Be careful with dogs or small children on the Eagle Creek trail. There is a steep cliff to one side of the trail. Maybe this isn't the best trail for dogs or small children.
Hike Description
The hike to the Eagle Creek Trail's High Bridge is a popular day-hike option. At about 6 1/2 miles round trip, and with a mere 840 feet of elevation gain, this option gives you a great balance of effort vs. reward, and will hopefully whet your appetite for return visits that take you far farther up the gorge. As compared to the shorter excursion to Punch Bowl Falls, you'll get slightly smaller crowds, more waterfalls, an additional pretty waterfall, and a lot more dangerous cliff exposure. The 2017 Eagle Creek Fire burned hot in this section of the gorge, so you will be constantly reminded on the burn. In addition, two bridges, the Fern Creek Bridge and the High Bridge itself, had to be replaced because of fire damage. The PCTA (Pacific Crest Trail Association) has done a magnificent job over to restore the trail, however, and the tread is in good shape. Bear in mind that it is only above the High Bridge that overnight camping is permitted on the Eagle Creek Trail.
Starting at the trailhead, pass a weir, and then follow the wide well-groomed trail above the creek for a stretch. The steep slopes above you are composed of conglomerates from the Eagle Creek Formation, sedimentary deposits laid down by the ancient Columbia River millions of years before the Columbia River Basalt Flows. In fact, you'll soon pass a large fossil tree stump, now much diminished because of the depredations of decades of souvenir snatchers. Also, you'll notice blackened conifers from the 2017 fire almost immediately, and most of the maples went up in flames but are vigorously sprouting back from their lignotubers. You'll pass into a dripping grotto festooned with maidenhair fern. Soon, you'll rise above the Eagle Creek Formation and reach cliffs of Columbia River Basalts where the trail was blasted out of the rock. Here there is the first set of handrail cables, one of several along the trail. Penstemon, arnica, and saxifrage cling to the rocky fastness. Looking across the gorge, you can see different layers of basalt entablature separated by narrower bands of colonnade. Many months, the fog hangs low in the canyon, blocking your view of the sheer basalt walls towering above you. In places the trail is narrow, and you need to take care when passing others.
Soon you'll reach your second cliff face, also with a cable handrail. The small oaks on this steep slope were burned but are coming back from their bases. Conifers at the bottom of the canyon survived the fire with a full canopy, but you'll pass through a scorched area where fireweed, thimbleberry, poison oak, and ocean spray flourish. After you walk between two large Douglas-firs, you will see up the narrow gorge to the lower horsetail of 100-foot Sorenson Falls splashing off the east rim. Then 82-foot Metlako Falls spouts on Eagle Creek itself, where it makes a tight turn east. This will be your best sighting of Metlako Falls as the former overlook, on a now abandoned spur trail off the trail ahead, disappeared in a landslide in December 2016. As you turn into a gully, you'll get a glimpse of the top of Metlako Falls across the gorge and then cross Sorenson Creek, with its round concrete steps.
At the junction with the Lower Punch Bowl Trail #440B, you can descend 300 feet down into the gorge to see Lower Punch Bowl Falls and a 2018 landslide that blocked the creek (see the Eagle Creek to Punch Bowl Falls Hike). Otherwise, stay on the Eagle Creek, and cross a massive crib wall constructed by the PCTA at a spot where the trail slid away. Soon, you'll come to the Punch Bowl Falls overlook, where you can view Punch Bowl Falls spouting into its circular amphitheater and magnificent deep pool below. You may recognize this viewpoint from photos and postcards. Please stay inside the guardrails. Every year, there is a story about someone falling from this spot and injuring themselves.
There's another view to Punch Bowl Falls as you continue along the Eagle Creek Trail, and then you'll cross the Tish Creek Bridge, this version installed in 2017 and miraculously a survivor of the fire later that year.
Longer alternatives include:
Before you've gone a mile, you'll find yourself high above the creek, which has now opened up to a glorious valley. Many months the fog hangs low in the canyon, blocking your view of the snow-encrusted cliff-sides towering around you. In places the trail is narrow and the drop-off is quite steep. Cable lines were built into the walls in sections to provide some stability.
As the trail steadily gains elevation, it begins to divert away from the creek. You'll notice the quiet as you ascend away from the rushing water and deeper into the lush old-growth forests of douglas fir, cedar and hemlock. Dewy ferns, moss-covered rocks, and sometimes poison oak blanket the forest floor. You will be surprised at the beauty and quiet of these sections, which at times are like scenes from a fairy tale.
Along the rest of the hike, you'll cross various side-creeks—some by rock steps, many by footbridges. Be sure to look upstream as you pass by—especially in the wetter months—as you will be treated to waterfalls and more lush greenery.
After you've walked about a mile and a half, watch for an obvious spur trail off to your right. The path drops down to an overlook with a view of the magnificent 100-foot Metlako Falls, the tallest falls on Eagle Creek proper. Metlako seemingly shoots straight out of a cliffside into a large pool below. NOTICE: The spur trail to the Metlako Falls Overlook is closed as of January 2017. The Overlook has collapsed into the gorge and there is no safe spot to view the falls.
Walk back up the spur trail to the main drag and continue Southward, winding high away from the gorge with the creek well out of view. In just over a half-mile, you'll be at an obvious junction and resting spot near Punch Bowl Falls. Many will take the optional spur trail down to the creek bed which is to your right. This is a recommended diversion for newcomers! Otherwise, you can still see Punch Bowl Falls from a viewpoint about a quarter mile uptrail.
Continuing onward, you'll again swinging away from the gorge for a spell, crossing more footbridges on your way past toward High Bridge. You'll reemerge from the forest very high above the creek bed. At this point watch for the necktie-shaped Loowit Falls on the opposite side. It drops from side creek seemingly from nowhere into a uniquely-shaped pool below before spilling over into Eagle Creek.
Turn the next corner and you approach the homestretch. The trail leading up to High Bridge—although wide, well groomed and oft-traveled—is rocky and can be slippery in places. The path is carved into the cliffside 120 feet up! A cable-line is affixed in the rock to your left, providing some security, but on a busy day you will encounter two way traffic through this short, but vertigo-inducing stretch! Pass with care. As a courtesy to other hikers hold your dogs close to you through this stretch.
You should see High Bridge amid the trees ahead of you to the right.
The name high bridge is well-earned! It dramatically spans a very narrow channel 120 feet high. It's hard not to gawk as you cross to the other side.
This is your turn-around spot. Should you choose to rest and fuel-up before heading back, you can sit at one of the (often crowded) scenic viewpoints near the bridge or walk the trail another hundred yards to Tenas Camp and find a quiet spot to sit.
Return to the way you came.
Should you still have energy and want to continue on, there is a lot more to see, including Four and a Half Mile Bridge and Tunnel Falls.
See these other hike alternatives:
- Eagle Creek to Punch Bowl Falls Hike (shorter)
- Eagle Creek to Tunnel Falls Hike (longer)
- Eagle Creek to Wahtum Lake Hike (backpack option)
Maps
- See clickable image to the right
- Maps: Hike Finder
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Eagle Creek
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Eagle Creek
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Day Hikes in the Columbia Gorge by Don J. Scarmuzzi
- Day Hiking: Columbia River Gorge by Craig Romano
- I Heart Oregon (& Washington) by Lisa D. Holmes
- 100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington by William L. Sullivan
- Trips & Trails: Oregon by William L. Sullivan
- Afoot & Afield: Portland/Vancouver by Douglas Lorain
- Best Hikes Near Portland, Oregon by Fred Barstad
- Day Hike! Columbia Gorge by Seabury Blair, Jr.
- Take a Hike: Portland by Barbara I. Bond
- Hiking Oregon’s Geology by Ellen Morris Bishop
- PDX Hiking 365 by Matt Reeder
- Curious Gorge by Scott Cook
- Pokin’ Round the Gorge by Scott Cook
- 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Portland by Paul Gerald
- Hiking the Columbia River Gorge by Russ Schneider; revised by Jim Yuskavich
- Best Short Hikes in Northwest Oregon by Rhonda & George Ostertag
- Columbia Gorge Getaways by Laura O. Foster
- Oregon Hiking by Sean Patrick Hill
- Pacific Northwest Hiking by Scott Leonard & Sean Patrick Hill
- Hiking Waterfalls in Oregon by Adam Sawyer
- Best Outdoor Adventures Near Portland, Oregon by Adam Sawyer
- 50 Hikes in Oregon by David L. Anderson
- Hiking Oregon by Lizann Dunegan
- Hike America: Oregon by Lizann Dunegan
- Portland Hikes by Art Bernstein & Andrew Jackman
- Oregon’s Best Wildflower Hikes: Northwest Region by George Wuerthner
- Oregon’s Wilderness Areas by George Wuerthner
- 35 Hiking Trails: Columbia River Gorge by Don & Roberta Lowe
- 42 Scenic Hikes: 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 & Trails: The Columbia Gorge by Oral Bullard & Don Lowe
- 70 Virtual Hikes of the Columbia River Gorge by Northwest Hiker
- Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge: Camping & Hiking by Tom Steinstra & Sean Patrick Hill
- Trail Running: Oregon by Lizann Dunegan
- Best Dog Hikes: Oregon by Adam Sawyer
- Canine Oregon by Lizann Dunegan
- Fire, Faults, and Floods: A Road & Trail Guide Exploring the Origins of the Columbia River Basin by Marge & Ted Mueller
- Waterfall Lover’s Guide: Pacific Northwest by Gregory A. Plumb
- Waterfalls of the Pacific Northwest by David L. Anderson
More Links
- Information, history and photos of Eagle Creek at Splintercat.org
- Punchbowl Falls from Waterfalls of the Pacific Northwest
- NWHiker.com Hike #55