Lower Greenleaf Falls Hike

From Portland Hikers Field Guide

Winter view of Table Mountain from the Greenleaf Falls Trail (cfm)

The new landslide east of Greenleaf Creek (cfm)

Lower Greenleaf Falls (cfm)

Start point: Aldrich Butte Trailhead
End point: Lower Greenleaf Falls
Trail Log: Trail Log
Hike Type: Out and back
Distance: 7.8 miles
Elevation gain: 1270 feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Seasons: Year round
Family Friendly: No
Backpackable: No
Crowded: No

1 Hike Description
2 Maps
3 Regulations or restrictions, etc
4 Trip Reports
5 Related Discussions / Q&A
6 Guidebooks that cover this hike
7 More Links
8 Contributors

Hike Description

This hike starts at the Aldrich Butte Trailhead. Head up the old road to the left. It quickly switches back to the right and enters the timber. This road, once a driveable route to the summit of Aldrich Butte, is now too rugged for anything other than ATVs. It's mostly used by hikers and today, it's usually called the Aldrich Butte Trail. The trails gains about 500 feet of elevation fairly quickly then the slope levels.

After almost a mile, you'll come to a potentially confusing set of trail junctions. The first trail, a single track to the right) is the Dick Thomas Trail, which starts at the Bonneville Hot Springs Resort. A few feet beyond this first junction, the Aldrich Butte Trail turns hard to the left and another, even older road heads north. This is the Greenleaf Falls Trail, also known as the Two Chiefs Trail, and marked on most maps as Moffit Springs Road. Head north and you'll soon loop around Carpenter Lake heading east. The trail heads up a small valley that's filled with little streams and skunk cabbage in the spring. About a mile up this trail you'll cross the Pacific Crest Trail.

Continue north on the old road, now signed as the "Two Chiefs Trail". After about two miles it emerges from the woods onto the scree fields below Table Mountain. A panoramic view of the Columbia River Gorge, and Mount Hood above Eagle Creek are seen to the south. The massive sheer walls of Table Mountain loom above you. Continue easterly on the road back into the woods, and you will come to the Lower Greenleaf Falls. Lower Greenleaf is the end of the moderate hike described here, but there are a couple of options for the more adventurous.

The more dramatic Greenleaf Falls is located upstream. There is no trail and you will have to bushwack up the steep unstable slope to view it. This extra push is for experienced off-trail hikers only.

Where the road meets the creek the bridge has washed out, but you can wade across or keep your feet dry by scrambling downstream and walking across on logs. Cross the creek and continue on the old road to visit the new landslide. Debris from the toe of the slide has wiped out part of the road, but users have created a new trail around it. The road continues all the way to Blue Lake if you would like to do this as a shuttle.