Hiking Horsetail Falls Loop

This weekend, my friend Cassie and I went on a hike around Horsetail Falls.  For someone who has almost lived in Portland five years, I’ve never been to this location.  Just makes me realize that there is a ton of the Gorge area that I haven’t seen yet.

We talked a few days before about getting some hiking in as I’ve only got a few more weeks till I hike up Mt. St. Helens once again (it’ll be my 4th time!).  We didn’t have a clue where we were going, and knew we didn’t have a ton of time to do a long one.  So instead of driving far into the Gorge area and getting some real miles into a hike, we went the easy route and did this one here.

It’s a decent loop that can be done in under a couple hours.  Just over a couple miles.  We were going to make it longer, but the trail to Triple Falls was blocked by a mud slide.

The hike itself was easy going with only around 400+ feet of elevation climb.  I had an idea that it would probably rain, and it did, however on top of it we also got a bunch of hail falling on us which was pretty awesome for where we were hiking.

gorgefriends.org

Waterfalls In The Area

Horsetail Falls

Horsetail Falls

Ponytail Falls

Ponytail Falls

Middle and Upper Oneonta Falls

We saw the middle, but the upper was closed off due to the mudslide.  I didn’t get any good shots though of the middle.

Nice Views

While wandering the trail we saw some views that made us stop for a while.

For a simple hike, this one had some great sites.  Not too far from Portland and easily done by most.  So many more to do nearby that I’ll tackle sometime soon.