Next up we're visiting Dog Creek Falls, on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge. It's a little turnout off SR14, east of the famous Dog Mountain. I was in the area looking for something else, and saw a sign labeled "Dog Creek Falls". That name didn't ring a bell to me so I figured I should at least stop and have a look. A very short trail leads to the base of what is, frankly, a fairly average waterfall, and no marked trails -- or any unmarked-but-obvious ones -- continue on from there. So I took a few photos and continued on my merry way.
It turns out that the part you can easily see from the base doesn't even scratch the surface of what's up there, including at least one more waterfall, about 70' high. But I gather the trip is difficult and highly technical and generally involves starting at the top and descending with ropes and lots of expensive spiky bits, and (long story short) that's why I have exactly zero photos of what's up there, and a short list of links and whatnot.
- A short video of Dog Creek above the falls
- old Canyoneering Northwest page (via the Wayback Machine)
- RopeWiki pages about the upper and lower segments of the creek
- Zach Forsyth's Waterfalls of the Columbia Gorge (2018) relates a story of local law enforcement busting an illegal weed grow somewhere high up in the Dog Creek watershed back in August 2007, and then realizing they'd bitten off more than they could handle when it was time to go home. They ended up spending the night up there and were rescued the next day by local search and rescue teams.
- The one and only historical news item I have for Dog Creek Falls comes from July 1987: The Forest Service had recently bought the land around the falls from the Trust for Public Land and wanted public input on what to do with the place.
- Has been the subject of OregonHikers forum threads now and then. Four from 2009 (which in retrospect was the heyday of the site), and one each from 2010, 2011, and 2018 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
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