EXPLORE EAGLE CREEK TRAIL: A HIKER’S GUIDE

This is a very popular trail along the Columbia River Gorge. You can hike all the way to Wahtum Lake and camp along the way. The campsites are first-come, first-served. We decided to hike all the way to the lake and then back to the 7-mile campground because of the snowy conditions at the lake.

You will need to purchase a $5 forest pass either at the parking lot kiosk or online in advance. The parking lot at the trailhead has about 20 spots, but they fill up quickly. We got one of the last few spots at 7am and began the hike at 7:15am. There is another parking lot 0.5 miles down the road that has about 30 more spots.

Length: 26.3-miles

Elevation Gain: 3,727 ft

Average Time: 12.5 hours

Route: Out & back

Lower Punchbowl

About 1.8 miles into the hike, you’ll reach the wide junction for Lower Punchbowl Falls trail. I highly recommend taking the short 0.25-mile detour down to explore it.

If you prefer not to add the extra distance, you can enjoy the Punchbowl viewpoint directly from the trail ahead.

Bridge Crossings

You will cross four bridges on your way to Wahtum Lake.

Cable Sections

It rained the majority of the way to Wahtum Lake. You’ll cross through several mini waterfalls and narrow cable sections.

Loowit Falls

You’ll see all the massive boulders that fell into the gorge. Then, you will reach the 90-foot Loowit Falls.

High Bridge

About 3.3-miles in you will reach the High Bridge and cross over Eagle Creek.

Next, you will reach the 4.5-mile bridge. From here, you can see Tenas Falls upstream.

The trail was very overgrown in areas, with a lot of poison oak as well.

Wy’East Falls

You will cross a small stream here as you pass by Wy’East Falls.

Grand Union Falls

Grand Union Falls was named for the union of the East and West forks of Eagle Creek. The trail will become pretty rocky after this point.

Tunnel Falls

You will round the corner and be greeted by the coveted 175-foot Tunnel Falls, marking the 6 mile point of the hike. We reached this point around 10am, taking us just under 3 hours to get here.

You will pass through the famous tunnel behind the waterfall, which is the main attraction of the hike. Take some time here to enjoy it! If this is the final destination of your hike, I highly recommend continuing on to Twister Falls before turning around.

Twister Falls

This was my second favorite waterfall on the trail and will be the last major waterfall on the hike to Wahtum Lake.

This is the final cable section. Continue upstream and you will reach 7-mile falls.

7-mile Campground

The campground will be just past this waterfall. We ended up camping here after going all the way to Wahtum Lake. There are a few notable campsites right along the water, but if you keep going just a little further, there will be about 10 more sites hidden off the trail, which is where we ended up. There are a few small pathways that lead to them. We only noticed them on our way back down because there were tents set up there. They are VERY easy to miss.

There are some beautiful mossy rocks and interesting tree growth throughout the forest. The trail becomes quite primitive for the rest of the hike to Wahtum Lake, as you begin the 2,300 feet of climbing. You’ll also walk through a very large section that was burned in the 2017 fire before reaching the healthy, lush forest.

You will pass a few more campsites intermittently along this portion of the hike. I recommend taking the first site you can get. Depending on the time of year, the sites at Wahtum Lake may be covered in snow (they were when we went over Memorial Day).

Wahtum Lake

It took us about 7 hours to reach the lake, and there was still a good amount of snow around it when we arrived. Some people were still camping, but it was quite cold. It took us 2.5 hours to get down and find another campsite. We were exhausted by this point.

We woke up around 6am and packed up. It took us about 2 hours to hike the remaining 7 miles back to the car.

All in all, this was an amazing trail, but I don’t think hiking to the lake is necessary. All of the main attractions end after Twister Falls, and the stretch between there and Wahtum Lake is pretty dull. You can always drive to the lake instead.