If you ever find yourself in Seattle or Portland for more than a few days, definitely check out the Columbia River Gorge! The Columbia River serves as a natural border between Washington and Oregon, and the Columbia River Gorge area includes both states.
The Columbia River Gorge is full of beautiful nature and hikes in both states! I thought about going last year, but many of the popular trails in Oregon closed in 2020 due to the pandemic. In 2021, more and more have re-opened.
My parents and I were watching the current season of Top Chef, based in Portland, and the contestants competed in challenges along the river. It looked beautiful, so I decided to take a few days off from work to spend 4 days exploring the area for my birthday!
I planned this trip down to the minute so that I knew we’d have time to do everything I wanted to do. I researched hikes that my parents and I could do, so all of them were under four miles. Unfortunately, some trails were unexpectedly closed in the Mount Hood area, but we still saw plenty of waterfalls. The best time to go to the orchards on the Fruit Loop is July-August, but a few were open in June.
A few things to remember:
- Always download the offline Google Maps for hikes because you’ll probably lose service. You’ll also want to read and take screenshots of the trail directions just in case. I used oregonhikers.org for trail descriptions and then AllTrails.com for recent hike reviews and conditions. For Washington hike trail descriptions, reviews, and current trail conditions, use wta.org.
- Best Western, Holiday Inn Express, and many other hotel chains are on Rakuten so you can get cash back! Read more about how to save money with Rakuten in my other blog post.
- Washington State Parks require a Discover Pass ($30/annual pass or $10/day pass). Mount Hood and several other hikes in Oregon and Washington require the Northwest Forest Pass ($35/annual pass or $5/day pass).
- The weather can change every hour in the PNW, so be sure to bring layers and a raincoat just in case!
Our exact Columbia River Gorge road trip itinerary can be found at the bottom of this post.
DAY 1
Thursday: Seattle to Cascade Locks
We left the house at 8am and started to drive to Portland. We didn’t run into any traffic and made it to our lunch destination, Sammich PDX by 11:20am. My mom and I shared a Cubano, which was very mustard and mayo heavy, while my dad got the Chicago Italian. The sandwiches were a bit messy, but overall, it was a decent lunch stop and we were able to leave by noon before the lunch rush.
Next, we headed to our first waterfall of the day, Bridal Veil Falls. There are waterfalls called Bridal Veil Falls in both Washington and Oregon, so be sure to select the correct Oregon address! There is a small parking lot for about 20 cars, and since it was early on a Thursday, there we easily found a spot. We did both of the two short trails in 45 mins.
One was a flat, paved, ADA accessible loop that led you around to see a view of the Columbia River and across at Washington, and then put you back at the parking lot. The other one was a slightly steep downhill rocky trail to the waterfall. It was quick and easy, and we saw a couple of other groups. There’s a little wooden platform to view the falls from, but some people were on the rocks below.
A twenty-minute drive later and we came to the busiest stop of the entire trip, Multnomah Falls. I had been there six years ago in August 2015 when my mom and I road-tripped down to my college freshman year, but I still wanted to get new photos in June. This is probably the most popular waterfall in Oregon and since there’s no hiking required, we saw hundreds of other people there even at 1:30pm on a Thursday.
It’s a true tourist destination with real bathrooms and a lodge with food. It’s a super tall waterfall, a total of 620 feet, so you can see it from the parking lot. There’s a lower lookout that you just walk up to, or you can hike up a little over a mile to the bridge. I feel like the best pictures are from below so you can get the bridge in the photo, so we didn’t hike up.
There are two parking lots, one is a small lot right next to the falls, and the other is across the street. It requires you to walk through a tunnel under the highway. You can’t easily drive between the two lots, so I’d recommend parking in the larger lot to make sure you aren’t waiting forever for a spot in the smaller lot. To get to the larger lot, type Multnomah Falls Parking into Google Maps instead of Multnomah Falls Lodge or Multnomah Falls Trail Lookout.
Our next little hike was Upper McCord Creek Falls. The trailhead has a small gravel parking lot, and it serves as the start of several hikes. Elowah Falls is the most popular, and when you google Upper McCord Creek Falls, you will likely see images of Elowah Falls instead. The trail to Elowah was closed due to a mudslide, so I had planned to do Upper McCord without completely knowing what it would look like.
It was around 80 degrees, and this hike did not have much shade at all, as many of the trees were burned in a fire a few years ago. It was less than a mile one way and had a steady incline the whole time. It was not too steep, but in the heat, it felt longer. I don’t know if it’s because of COVID-19, but the trail was extremely narrow and overgrown with plants. Some of them had thorns, so be careful! You end up walking past the top of Elowah Falls, and then a little ways up for a view of Upper McCord Creek Falls. Then the trail then became blocked by a ton of blackberry bushes, so we turned back. We only saw three other hikers in the hour and a half we were there.
In all, Upper McCord Creek Falls wasn’t that impressive of a waterfall, so I would not recommend it unless you want to do it as an add-on after Elowah Falls.
After that disappointment, we drove for 10 mins and to the Wahclella Falls trailhead. The first part of the trail is flat and wide gravel, and then you get to a more normal trail and start the hike by going over a bridge next to Munra Falls. It was very hot and humid on most of the trail. There’s a fork in the trail, and didn’t know which way to go, so we followed the couple ahead of us and took the trail that went upwards to the left. We learned that the trail to the right would’ve also led us to the falls and we could see it from across the way. Soon after, we were at the waterfall.
Wahclella Falls was a beaut! It was significantly colder by the waterfall and there was a nice breeze from the power of the rushing falls. We stopped and took a few photos, then took the other path back to the fork. It leads you across a few bridges and next to a little cave, so it’s definitely the more scenic route! Also, most of it was in the shade in the afternoon. Since the sun doesn’t set until 9pm in the summer, you could probably start this hike at 7pm if you wanted!
Next up, we went across the Bridge of the Gods (you might recognize it if you’ve seen the movie Wild), back to Washington to Beacon Rock State Park. The bridge has a $2 toll, so be sure to have cash. I had planned to do the short hike up Beacon Rock on the second day of our trip, but I checked the Washington Trails Association hike page the day before we left and learned the trail closed after Memorial Day Weekend due to damage to the guard rails. So, we just drove there to take photos of Beacon Rock from the docks at the boat launch.
At that point, we were pretty hungry and went back to the Oregon side to Thunder Island Brewing for dinner. To our surprise and delight, Thursdays are trivia nights there, and we arrived just in time to participate, around 6:15. We were seated indoors, but the doors to the patio were open and this was our first experience of the wind in the Columbia River Gorge. It was 70 degrees out, but I got kind of chilly.
We ordered some marionberry cider, which I liked! However, it was 6% ABV and I was dehydrated and had only consumed alcohol maybe five times in the past year, so after half a glass, I started to feel it in my head and let my dad finish the rest. I got the salmon bowl, which was one of my favorite meals of the trip.
Trivia was unfortunately painfully slow, and we didn’t leave the restaurant until almost 9pm. Luckily, our hotel was right down the block. We stayed at the Best Western Plus Columbia River Inn, which was definitely the best option of three places to stay in the small 4-block town of Cascade Locks.
It was an 18,000-step day, and we were exhausted, so we just showered and then went to bed.
DAY 2
Friday: Cascade Locks to Hood River
The best part of our hotel was that you get breakfast coupons for the restaurant next door. We walked over to Bridgeside, and ordered from a small, but solid menu. The lodge-style restaurant overlooks the river, and we got a booth right next to the window. We all ordered the Cascade Breakfast which included two eggs, sausage or bacon, hash browns, and toast. We all finished our plates in preparation for the first hike of the day.
Another perk of the hotel was that it was across the street from the Dry Creek Falls trailhead, and we were allowed to leave our car in the hotel parking lot until 2pm. The trailhead only has about 10 parking spots, but there is another street parking nearby. We crossed the main road, then started on the trail a little before 10am. There are a few roads you need to cross and turns you need to make, so I was glad that I had screenshotted the trail directions before we went. The trail is actually a part of the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from California to Washington, so that was pretty cool.
Similar to Upper McCord Creek Falls, this trail was narrow and overgrown. I was glad I was wearing a sweatshirt and long leggings. However, this trail was mostly in the shade, surrounded by forest, so that was a nice change. The incline wasn’t too bad. I think the most uphill part of the hike was the wide gravel path right before the waterfall. We were the only people there for five minutes, and we took some photos and then headed back down. We only saw maybe 30 people on the trail during the whole time, but I imagine it could get fairly busy on Saturdays and Sundays.
We finished our hike and then walked the four blocks of town and stopped at Thirsty Coffee for a cold drink before getting lunch at Brigham Fish Market, which was located next door to where we had dinner the previous night. Definitely get the cod and chips if you want the traditional golden battered fish! The halibut a different thinner coating. The fries weren’t that great, but after a hike anything is good.
After lunch, we headed back across the Bridge of the Gods to the Washington side. Our next hike was Panther Creek Falls. It’s not a super well-known hike in Washington since it’s so far from Seattle but it is a stunner! We drove down a narrow two-lane paved forest road (no potholes!) for 8 miles which felt like forever. I had lost cell service, so I was glad I had downloaded my Google Map because when it said we had arrived at the trailhead, we didn’t see it. We parked in the little gravel lot a hundred feet up the road and saw about 5 other cars. In white spray paint, “<-waterfall” was written on the road, and we followed another arrow to a little path across the street.
The hike is kind of steep the whole way down, and therefore steep on the way back up. I didn’t have trekking poles and I was okay, but I’m glad my parents each had a pole. If you take the path to the right, it leads you to an overlook near the top of the falls. The other main path leads you down to the bottom of the falls. This waterfall is mesmerizing and majestic. It looks like something you’d see in the jungle in Costa Rica. It was definitely different from any other Washington waterfall I’d seen before!
After getting back to the parking lot, we proceeded down Lewis and Clark Highway along the river for 45 minutes and then drove up to the Columbia River Gorge Viewpoint. I had only seen the little camera icon on Google Maps and had no idea what the view actually looked like. If it’s a clear day, it’s absolutely worth the trip because there’s a great view of the river with Mount Hood in the background! There were a few other cars up there, and we just took a few minutes to take photos.
Then we drove another 50 minutes down the highway to the Maryhill Stonehenge Memorial. The drive is nice, and you pass by vineyards. I’m not a big wine person so I didn’t plan to stop anywhere, and I wasn’t sure if anywhere was open because of the pandemic, but they looked pretty.
This is Washington’s version of Stonehenge, and it serves as a memorial for World War I soldiers. It overlooks the river, and you can walk right up to it and wander around inside. I’ve never been to the Stonehenge in England, but my parents said it was similar in size. It’s on a hill overlooking the water and it was super windy! We only stayed there for about 10 minutes.
It was now 5pm and there hadn’t been a bathroom since lunch, so we stopped at Maryhill State Park, about 5 minutes away. We crossed back into Oregon via the 97 Sherman Highway, which didn’t have a toll, and then there was a 30-minute drive to Rowena Crest Viewpoint.
I had seen photos of this iconic road on Instagram since high school and I was excited to see it for myself. I thought you’d just have to pull off to the side of the road, but it’s actually a whole lookout point with parking, but no bathrooms. You can see the hairpin turn from the sidewalk, but there’s also 365 degree views. You can also do the 2-mile Rowena Plateau hike if you want.
It was extremely windy here, like almost a little dangerously windy. I’ve seen photos where people go right up to the cliff’s edge and get photos of Rowena Crest below, and I was legitimately afraid I’d get blown off the cliff, so I didn’t even attempt the shot. You can still safely see a different angle of the road from the safety of the rock wall barrier.
Twenty minutes later, we checked into the Holiday Inn Express Hood River. The hotel was nicer than the previous night, but the breakfast options weren’t as good. However, there was more than a continental breakfast!
Hood River is a lot larger than Cascade Locks, it’s an actual city with a Dairy Queen and everything. For dinner, we drove 10mins away to The Mesquitery. We arrived around 6:40pm and got the last table. The service was very slow, which was mentioned in the Yelp reviews, but the plates are large and not too expensive, truly a great value for the money.
You can really taste the mesquite flavor in all the meats, which wasn’t my favorite though. Do get the Thai Beef Salad, don’t get the Greek Chicken Salad. Save room for the apple crisp for dessert! It’s a big bowl of apple and oats with three scoops of ice cream for $7! We didn’t know it was going to be that big, so we ordered two, but one is definitely enough for three people. We left completely stuffed.
I didn’t know this before our trip, but it makes a lot of sense that the Columbia River Gorge is a top destination for windsurfing. We had seen a bunch of windsurfers while driving on both Washington and Oregon sides during the day, so we went to Port Marina Park after dinner to see if they were still there. The wind had completely died down by 8pm, so no one was there, but it would be fun to watch during the day!
This was a 20,000-step day and again, we took showers, watched some women’s college softball, then went to bed.
DAY 3
Saturday: Hood River to Government Camp
I had originally planned on doing Columbia River Gorge Viewpoint, Maryhill Stonehenge, and Rowena Crest Viewpoint this Saturday, but with our hiking not taking as long as I thought, it had made geographic sense to move them to Friday. The weather also started to come in, so I was glad we had gotten everything done the day before. That left us with a completely clear Saturday morning, so we decided to get brunch.
We went to one of the highest-rated nearby brunch places on Yelp, Egg River Café. We arrived at 9:30am and snagged one of 15 parking spots. There was already a line out the door. They said it would be a 25-minute wait, but it ended up being longer.
The menu was extensive with a ton of breakfast options. My dad and I each ordered a breakfast egg skillet, and my mom got the veggie benedict. The portion sizes were massive, I was barely able to finish half of my skillet. I wish we could’ve taken our leftovers to go!
For the next few hours, we explored the Hood River Fruit Loop, which was also on Top Chef: Portland. It’s a 35-mile loop that has 29 orchards, wineries, and gardens. I had picked up a brochure at The Mesquitery (there was also several brochures at the hotel), and we were able to read about all of them and pick the ones we wanted to go to. Seeing as it was the first few days of June, we were a bit early for the fruit. The prime time to go to the Fruit Loop is July-August.
Our first stop was The Gorge White House. It has a restaurant and a little food stand, wine tasting, and u-pick areas. The only thing in season were strawberries, but we just quickly walked around. If it had been later in the day, we may have done the cider or wine tasting.
Next, went to Hood River Lavender Farms. Lavender doesn’t reach its peak bloom until July, so it wasn’t that purple. We went into the little gift shop which had all the lavender products you could think of, as well as clean bathrooms.
It started to rain, so we stopped at the Draper Girls Country Farm. I think there are u-pick apples in the summer, but we just went into the little warehouse shop full of jams and a little cider tasting area. We left with some jam and a few scoops of rainier cherries.
We drove to the Apple Valley Country Store and Bakery in search of the marionberry milkshake that was featured in the brochure. It did not disappoint!! Definitely the best marionberry milkshake I’ve ever had. They also had homemade pies and scones and a little gift shop.
The weather started to clear up a little bit, so we went toward Mount Hood and found a parking spot in the lot for Tamanawas Falls. We saw plenty of people, both going up and down. The hike wasn’t too steep until you get to a rock field where the path disappears, and you need to scramble up a bunch of boulders. This section is only about 300 feet, but I would not recommend this hike if it’s raining because those rocks would be slippery and treacherous. You reach the falls about 5 minutes after. It’s a very tall waterfall and a rewarding view after the rock scramble.
The hike took us about two hours, and we finished just in time before the rain started. I had planned to grab a pizza and do the 2-mile loop at Trillium Lake, but it was so overcast, that you wouldn’t be able to see that iconic view of Mount Hood. It was disappointing since I’ve wanted to photograph that view for years, but at least we got to do Tamanawas Falls.
We decided to just go to our hotel, and by the time we drove up there, the temperature had dropped to the 40s. I stepped out of our car to check into the Best Western Mt. Hood Inn in Government Camp, and it was the coldest I had been in a while. We hung out in the hotel room for a while, and I did some research and found that the road to Trillium Lake was closed anyway, so we would have walked two miles on the road just to get to the trail.
On Yelp, there are very few highly rated restaurants in the Mount Hood area. We ended up going to Charlie’s Mountain View, which had 3.5 stars. The inside had typical ski lodge vibes and served burgers, sandwiches, and salads. My mom and I shared the Hawaiian burger and Caesar salad, and both were tasty, and it was just the right amount of food for me. The fries were absolutely outstanding!! However, one of the reasons we chose Charlie’s was because they had a skillet cookie for dessert, but when we tried to order one after dinner, they told us they were out ☹.
We drove back to the hotel, but we still wanted dessert, so we decided to walk next door to Mount Hood Brewing Co because we saw that they had marionberry cobbler on the menu. My dad ordered the house cider which I liked. My mom asked if they had hot chocolate, and being a ski area, they had a whole hot chocolate machine! The mug came out with whipped cream and Heath bar toffee topping! Delicious. We expected the $9 marionberry cobbler to be a small dish, but it ended up being an entire skillet that could’ve fed 6 people, and yet we finished the whole thing!
We walked back to the hotel around 8pm very full, took showers, and watched more softball. Around 9pm, suddenly, the beds shook for a couple of seconds, and we realized it was an earthquake. I googled it and it was a 3.9 magnitude only 6km away from Government Camp. I don’t think Mount Hood is scheduled to erupt any time soon, but it was kind of freaky.
DAY 4
Sunday: Government Camp to Seattle
We planned on getting brunch on the way back home, but we looked at the breakfast options downstairs while we were checking out. It was basically yogurt and granola bars. We drove up to Timberline Lodge, which was the exterior of the Overlook Hotel in The Shining film. We saw snow along the side of the road. The lodge is above the clouds, right at the base of Mount Hood, and it was 29 degrees outside. We parked and went inside, in search of a coffee counter, which we didn’t find.
I had planned to do the 4-mile Mirror Lake hike in the morning, but the whole point of the hike was to see the mountain and the reflection in the lake, but it was still so cloudy that there was no view of Mount Hood, so we skipped the hike. We also tried to go to the Little Zigzag Falls trail, but when we drove there, we found that the road was closed, and it would’ve been a 2-mile hike in. I had planned to go to Zigzag Mountain Café to grab coffee on the road, but of course, that was also closed. Luckily, we found Coffee Brewsters, and my parents got coffee and I got an Oregon Chai.
For brunch, I had found an aesthetic Mexican restaurant in Camas, WA called Otra Vez. As Yelp reviews had said, there was a wait and then the service was a bit slow. However, I really enjoyed my chilaquiles. The portion sizes were very normal compared to the massive plates we had been eating all weekend. My mom got the Summer’s Waffle, and it was crispy and sweet with Nutella and fruit.
We hit a bunch of traffic on the way home around Joint Base Lewis McCord, so we didn’t get home until around 4pm.
Overall, the Columbia River Gorge is a great place for a road trip! I had a lot of fun, and I’m happy with the photos that I was able to take. The top hikes of the trip were: Wahclella Falls, Dry Creek Falls, and Panther Creek Falls. My favorite meals were the salmon bowl at Thunder Island Brewing Company, breakfast at Bridgeside, marionberry shake at Apple Valley Country Store and Bakery, and the cobbler at Mt Hood Brewing Co.
I will definitely need to go back to Mount Hood one day to get the full Fruit Loop and Trillium Lake experience, probably in the summertime when the weather is nicer. If I were to go again, I’d want to go to Latourell Falls and Oneonta Gorge Falls if it ever re-opens. The Dog Mountain hike is steep and 7 miles, which would’ve been too long for my parents, but it has great wildflowers in June and July. The Memaloose Hills hike has flowers in April and May. I’d also want to hit up Mike’s Ice Cream in Hood River!
Below is our exact 4-day Columbia River Gorge road trip schedule. We are slow hikers and did 36-minute miles, but if you’re a fast hiker, you should plan for 25-30 minute miles.
DAY 1
Leave the house at 8am
Lunch at Sammich PDX 11:20-12:00
Bridal Veil Falls 12:15-1:00pm
Multnomah Falls 1:20-1:45
Upper McCord Creek Falls 2:00-3:20pm
Wahclella Falls 3:30-5:15pm
Beacon Rock State Park 5:30-5:50pm
Thunder Island Brewing Company 6:15-8:50
Check-in at Best Western Plus Columbia River Inn 8:55
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246 miles // 4 hours, 28mins of driving
DAY 2
Breakfast at Bridgeside 8:50-9:30am
Dry Creek Falls 9:50-12:20pm
Thirsty Coffee 12:30pm
Brigham Fish Co 12:40-1:20pm
Panther Creek Falls 2:20-3:00pm
Columbia River Gorge Viewpoint 3:50-3:55pm
Maryhill Stonehenge 4:45-4:55pm
Maryhill State Park 5:05-5:10pm
Rowena Crest Viewpoint 5:40-5:55pm
Check-in at Holiday Inn Express Hood River 6:20pm
The Mesquitery 6:40-8:10pm
Port Marina Park 8:20-8:25pm
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147 miles // 3 hours, 28mins of driving
DAY 3
Egg River Cafe 9:30-11:00am
The Gorge White House 11:20-11:30am
Hood River Lavender Farms 11:40-11:50am
Draper Girls Country Farm 12:00-12:15pm
Apple Valley Country Store and Bakery 12:30-1:00pm
Tamanawas Falls 1:30-3:50
Check into Best Western Mt. Hood Inn 4:15pm
Charlie’s Mountain View 6:10-7:00pm
Mt. Hood Brewing Co. 7:15-8pm
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65 miles // 1 hour, 29mins of driving
DAY 4
Leave hotel at 8:50am
Timberline Lodge 9-9:15am
Coffee Brewsters 9:40-9:50am
Otra Vez 11:25-12:20pm
Home 4pm
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246 miles // 4 hours, 37mins
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