Ponytail Falls Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Horsetail Falls Trailhead
- End Point: Ponytail Falls
- Trail Log : Trail Log
- Hike Type: Out and Back
- Distance: 0.8 miles round trip
- Elevation gain: 320 feet
- High point: 350 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: Year-round except during winter storms
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: Yes
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Hike Description
NOTICE: This trail was impacted by the Eagle Creek Fire in 2017. The Forest Service has reopened the trail, but warns hikers to enter at their own risk because of hazardous conditions, including loose rocks, falling trees and limbs, debris flows, and damaged or blocked trails. There may be vegetation carpeting the trail tread in places. Less experienced hikers should consider an alternative to this hike while these conditions exist, and all hikers with dogs or small children should consider safer alternatives.
This is the easiest waterfall hike in the gorge. You get a stunning waterfall at the trailhead and a second one less than half a mile up the trail. As of Summer 2019, however, you cannot hike much past Ponytail Falls as the Horsetail and Oneonta Creek drainages are still closed to hikers in the aftermath of the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire.
The trail begins at Horsetail Falls, one of the most scenic trailheads anywhere. Plan on a little time before or after you hike to view and photograph the falls. The Horsetail Falls Trail #438 begins climbing two easily graded switchbacks with beautiful rock walls. Some tall old-growth trees scorched by the Eagle Creek Fire were cut down in the area, so the slope is more open than it used to be. You'll pass your first trail junction here, as Gorge Trail #400 heads east.
Keep right at the junction and, after four more switchbacks, the trail levels out to traverse below basalt cliffs. You'll get views to the Oneonta Wetlands across the railroad. After 4/10 of a mile, the trail suddenly turns into the small valley containing Ponytail Falls. In literally a few steps, you leave the modern freeway noise and enter a different world. An unmaintained user trail clambers up the roots of a Douglas-fir on your left]]. The main trail passes behind Ponytail Falls in a cavernous area eroded beneath a lava flow. Turning big-leaf maples and vine maples make this a beautiful hike in the autumn, specifically late October through early November.
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
- National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map: Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area
Fees, Regulations, Facilties, etc.
- Picnic tables, information kiosk
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Ponytail Falls Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Ponytail Falls Hike
- Rockslide on trail near Ponytail Fals
- Cutting the switchbacks at Ponytail Falls
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Day Hike! Columbia Gorge, by Seabury Blair, Jr.
- Afoot and Afield Portland/Vancouver, by Douglas Lorain
- 35 Hiking Trails, Columbia River Gorge, by Don & Roberta Lowe
- Columbia River Gorge, 42 Scenic Hikes, by Don & Roberta Lowe
- Hiking the Columbia River Gorge - 1st and 2nd Editions, by Russ Schneider
- 100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon - 3rd Edition, by William L Sullivan
More Links
Contributors
- Stevefromdodge (creator)