Columbia River Gorge Waterfall Hikes–Part 1…

We moved only 20 miles from Viento State Park to what we hoped to be a somewhat quieter park for a couple of nights at Ainsworth State Park.It has indeed been much quieter than our two day stay at Viento State Park where a very close road crossing had trains often rumbling through with horns blaring.Trains run near this park as well but not anywhere near as loudly as in Viento.…

Our main goal for staying at this park was to revisit many of the beautiful waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge. The first day we focused on the part of the road going east on the old Columbia River Historic Scenic Highway. Our first stop was at the John B Yeon State Park to visit Elowah Falls. As we made our way near the cutoff trail to the falls I noticed a sign for another falls hike to McCord Creek Falls, further up the slope.

So straight up the hill we went and in about half a mile we came to McCord Creek Falls, and it is one we haven’t been to before. What a beautiful cascading falls and we were so glad we made the turn on the trail to this one…..what a beauty. After enjoying the spectacle for awhile we headed back down and took the turn to the Elowah Falls. This one is more of what I  would describe as a ponytail falls (long narrow waterfall). It is beautiful too but we really enjoyed the one nearer the top of the slope more than this one.

With it getting late we headed back home for dinner and to plan for the next day of waterfall hikes….  

NOTE: We are currently in Portland Oregon where at the Columbia River RV Park where we will leave on Tuesday, October 4th.