Upper McCord Creek Falls Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
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- Start point: John B Yeon Trailhead
- End point: Upper McCord Creek Falls
- Trail Log : Trail Log
- Hike type: Out and back
- Distance: 1.9 miles round trip
- Elevation gain: 445 feet
- High point: 540 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: Year-round except during winter storms
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: Yes
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Hike Description
A pair of short hikes from the busy John B Yeon Trailhead take you to two picturesque but very different waterfalls on McCord Creek. Both Elowah Falls (see the Elowah Falls Loop Hike) and Upper McCord Creek Falls can be viewed from the vertigo-inducing Upper McCord Creek Falls Trail, the pathway itself being carved out of a cliff face and a highlight of the hike. On a good day, there are also views across the Columbia River to Hamilton Mountain and Table Mountain. This is a switchbacking hike with a reasonable amount of climbing and a ledge section under a dripping cliff face protected by handrails. While most of the hike is within the John B. Yeon State Scenic Corridor, you'll cross into the national forest's Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness just before you arrive at the waterfall.
The wide trail heads up from the parking area to switchback at a wooden water tank which seems to be permanently dispensing its contents. The 2017 Eagle Creek Fire burned down to the freeway here, and you’ll notice scorched alders and maples right away. There’s a somewhat tangled understory of thimbleberry and trailing blackberry. Pass the junction with the Nesmith Point Trail, which has been closed since the 2017 fire. Once you enter the Douglas-fir forest, you’ll see that most of the conifers on this section survived the fire even though the flames blackened the lower reaches of their trunks. Through the trees, there are views to Pierce Island, Beacon Rock, and Hamilton Mountain. After rising steadily up a slope, you’ll come to the Gorge-Upper McCord Creek Falls Trail Junction.
Make a sharp turn right here. The rock walls above and below the trail were constructed along this scree slope by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. They were partially destroyed in scree slides after the Eagle Creek Fire but were painstakingly restored by Trailkeepers of Oregon crews in 2018/2019. You’ll enter a section of forest that experienced crown fire and will then make a couple of switchbacks up a steep scree slope. Part of a rusty old penstock, once 400 feet long, crosses the next switchback. The pipe was put in place in the 1880s by one Myron Kelly to divert water from McCord Creek in order to power his pulp mill on the Columbia River below. The trail crosses another, partially buried, penstock pipe and switchbacks to give you a view up to the railed trail that passes along the cliff face. A last switchback takes you to the trail along the cliff face.
Myron Kelly took advantage of a layer of entablature (column basalt) to blast a platform for his penstocks coming from McCord Creek. The cliff face drips constantly and a pipe railing keeps you from stepping into the void. The dripping rock comes alive with native wildflowers in the spring, including cliff paintbrush, rockslide larkspur, stonecrop, saxifrage, mist-maidens, bolandra, kittentails, and two rare fleabanes that are endemic to the Gorge. Views open up across the Columbia River to Table Mountain, the town of North Bonneville, the top of Mount Adams, and other locations on the Washington side. When you round a curve in the cliff, Elowah Falls (below) and Upper McCord Creek Falls (straight ahead) hove into view at a wonderful high vantage point.
From the end of the cliff railing, you’ll pass a photogenic viewpoint to Upper McCord Creek Falls, 64 feet tall and splitting into twin chutes around a mossy rock. You’ll get more views down to the creek as it plunges towards the lip of Elowah Falls. A user path leads around the root ball of a large tree to pretty McCord Creek and you can look upstream to a small picturesque cascade.
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Green Trails Maps: Bridal Veil, OR #428 and Bonneville Dam, OR #429
- 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, etc.
- Dogs on leash
- Limited parking; trailhead gets full early on weekends
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Upper McCord Creek Falls Hike
- Elowah & Upper McCord Creek Falls - 11/18/2022
- Elowah Falls & Upper McCord Creek 2022-10-3
- McCord Creek-Elowah Falls to Tanner Creek 1-6-21
- Upper McCord Creek and Elowah Falls 11/14
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Upper McCord Creek Falls Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Day Hikes in the Columbia Gorge by Don J. Scarmuzzi
- Hiking Waterfalls in Oregon by Adam Sawyer
- PDX Hiking 365 by Matt Reeder
- Curious Gorge by Scott Cook
- Best Hikes With Kids: Oregon by Bonnie Henderson & Zach Urness
- Oregon & Washington: 50 Hikes With Kids by Wendy Gorton
- Day Hiking: Columbia River Gorge by Craig Romano
- 100 Hikes: Northwest Oregon by William L. Sullivan
- Afoot & Afield: Portland/Vancouver by Douglas Lorain
- Columbia Gorge Getaways by Laura O. Foster
- Portland Hikes by Art Bernstein & Andrew Jackman
- 70 Virtual Hikes of the Columbia River Gorge by Northwest Hiker
- Best Short Hikes in Northwest Oregon by Rhonda & George Ostertag
- Columbia River Gorge: 42 Scenic Hikes by Don & Roberta Lowe
- 35 Hiking Trails: Columbia River Gorge by Don & Roberta Lowe
- The Columbia Gorge: Short Trips and Trails by Oral Bullard & Don Lowe
- Oregon Hiking by Sean Patrick Hill
- Pacific Northwest Hiking by Craig Hill & Matt Wastradowski
- Oregon State Parks: A Complete Recreation Guide by Jan Bannan
- Waterfall Lover’s Guide: Pacific Northwest by Gregory A. Plumb
- Waterfalls of the Pacific Northwest by David L. Anderson
- Waterfalls of the Columbia Gorge by Zach Forsyth
More Links
- John B. Yeon Trailhead (Elowah Falls) (Oregon State Parks)
- Rediscovering McCord Creek! (WyEast Blog)
- McCord Creek Falls Hike (Northwest Hiker)
- Elowah & McCord Creek Falls (Ted’s Outdoor World)
- Upper McCord Creek Falls (Friends of the Columbia Gorge)
- Elowah Falls, OR (EyeHike)
- The Trail Less Traveled: Elowah Falls & McCord Creek Falls (The Good Hearted Woman)
- Hike to Upper McCord Creek Falls (The Outbound Collective)
- Upper McCord Creek Falls (ProTrails)
- Elowah and Upper McCord Creek Falls Trail (All Trails)
- McCord Creek Falls (Hood-Gorge.com)
- Upper McCord Creek Falls (World of Waterfalls)
- Upper McCord Creek Falls (Northwest Waterfall Survey)
- McCord Creek/Elowah Falls (Northwest Wildflowers)
Contributors
- Stevefromdodge (creator)
- bobcat