Abiqua Falls Trail

This is a great hike. As others said, we parked at the white fence. It seemed like a long drive to get there so if that’s where you’re trying to park just keep going, you’ll see it eventually. The driving trail to the fence is very narrow at times, be aware of other cars that might be coming the other direction. A small suv with 4 wheel drive is necessary. We are pretty average hikers and I thought the trail was totally doable. The hardest part right now (mid-April) is how muddy and slippery it is. We saw a few families with small children in rain boots at the top of the trail when we were leaving. I wouldn’t recommend hiking with small children or dogs at this time of the year because the mud is so slipper. There are two tricky parts. When you park at the fence you need to back track on the road to find the trail (don’t go toward the fence). From the fence, there are two trails on the right side as you back track. TAKE THE 2nd trail. You’ll know you’re on the correct trail because you’ll shortly see a white sign that says “Abbey Foundation’s of Oregon”. Keep going and stay to the left when you reach the fork. You’ll know you’ve done that correct if you see another sign like the first one. There’s a portion of the hike where you will go down a hill between two fallen logs. As you get to the bottom you’ll notice a trail to the left that requires you to climb over the log and go up (don’t take that trail if you’re looking for an easier hike). Instead continue past the 2 fallen Trunks until you see the river. Take a left and follow the river all the way to the falls! If the water is high, you’ll want completely water proof shoes to walk through the river and to the big rock in front of the falls. I ended up with so much water in my boots I had to hike out in soaked shoes. Go early it gets packed around noon!

So beautiful. If you drive to the trailhead, have a good 4X4 car. I parked on crooked finger and walked all the way down. It was a long ways down, but the falls was worth it!

Wow! What an amazing view! The waterfall comes out of nowhere! People are not joking about the drive down especially if you plan on going all the way down, very large pot holes, and some areas are only wide enough for 1 car. Besides all that, the hike down is difficult but do-able and the view is so worth it !

DRIVE THE GRAVEL ROAD UNTIL YOU HIT THE WHITE GATE. my friend and i took 2 wrong trails before finding the actual trail. all in all the trail was rated appropriatly, definitely wear hiking books, and all though you can bring your dog i would not recommend. the lookout to the fall is small quarters and heavily trafficed. will probably try the tail again in the summer time!

Holy hell, the falls are beautiful. I’m glad I had a good SUV. it definitely saved us a lot of time. The trail itself was difficult and very muddy. The ropes came in handy. It was so worth it. BEAUTIFUL!!!

Got lost here! Definitely catch a ride up and down the gravel road. AWD and lift kit may be your best bet.

Definitely read the reviews before attempting this one. At least all wheel drive if you’re going to drive down off crooked finger road to the fall. About a mile in is a huge pot hole that my CRV made it over but driving back up it was nerve racking. There are two ways down from the trailhead. We stumbled on the right path by another hiker. He told us to stay to the left. There are ropes provided to help you. Apparently here is another way to the right that is scary. With all that said: Whoo hoo absolutely gorgeous hike and fall. Definitely worth the trouble. It’s a half day adventure well worth it.

Fairly short hike if you drive all the way down. Pretty steep on the ropes course, I definitely had to hang on. Ends with an amazingly pretty waterfall!!

Great hike with one of my favorite falls. If you’re car can make it all the way down the road to the trail head it’s a pretty short hike, but you’re not missing much other than a long uphill (on the way out) road. Drive down as far as you can.

Great hike, don’t take a car here, get ready to use some ropes to get in and out.

I really loved this hike. Very beautiful, full of lush forest beds. Stunning waterfall.

Beautiful ravine and falls. Just a tip for other as I accidentally went down the dangerous path:

Make sure you do NOT take the trailhead nearest to the white gate (this one forks left past a makeshift campsite, then drops steeply off a cliff). Go back up the *road* from the white gate a couple hundred feet or so, and look for a dirt/muddy path down. This "easier" path is not easy and still fairly steep, but is not life/death dangerous like the other path (I went up the easier path after seeing other hikers coming down that way).

There's a map at oregonhikers.com that outlines the red path that you want to avoid (unless you're looking for a near-death thrill): http://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Abiqua_Falls_Hike

Do note, if you bring a small car and park at the big gravel lot, its a full 2 to 2.5 miles each way, just to get to the white gate.

Make sure you know what you're getting into, and take screenshots ahead of time (no data access out there), be safe, and enjoy - the falls are absolutely gorgeous.

If you're looking to get good photos, I went in mid March on a sunny day - you'd want to be there before noon or after 3ish to avoid the sun washing out your pics.

undeniably the most gorgeous waterfall I have seen in person. And I've seen a few...
there is also great 4 wheel drive/atv/motocross trails in the area (you'll drive right by these, so keep your eye open)

My absolute favorite hike, but I can’t stress enough to bring an SUV! The walk down to the trail head isn’t bad it’s having the 2.5 mile walk back up a rocky road after, luckily enough people are great and offered us to hitch a ride in their truck bed on the way back. That said, hope you’re prepared to get wet and muddy!

Knowing some tips about this trail will make your life a lot easier. Go with a friend who has been there before. And plan to get wet and dirty.

Amazing reward at the end!

March 3, 2018

Waterfall and the 360 degrees around it are a 6 out of 5.

Hike itself is kind of meh. The drive was fun and sketchy. You can get to a dirt parking area with most cars. But it would not be fun to walk the way down the road and back up. I was able to get 4/5 of the way down before the road gave way too much for my stock 4Runner and parked on turn around cove.

Another driver made it all the way down to gate with probably 22” tires on a pick up.

Hike was slippery and muddy and once you get to river edge have to hike on rocks the size of a human head for an eighth of a mile. It’s all about the payoff. Saw 2 other hikers and had the place to myself when I got there. Go now if looking for a good sight or wait until warmer weather to have a better time on the sloppy trail.

beautiful. shitty(ish) conditions in the dead of winter (go figure). kinda hard to find but fairness there was snow covering everything. absolutely worth it.

Beautiful waterfall! Just some notes on this trail:

If you start where AllTrails tells you to, you’re pretty much walking down an ATV/Offroading-type road the majority of the hike. I drove down this road not knowing this and pretty much made the hike towards the waterfall about a mile (one-way). I basically drove until I hit a white gate. When you get there, park off to the side and walk back up 50-100 feet and you can head down onto a trail to go to the waterfall. Do note, this is one of the two ways to get down to the waterfall, and it can be very, very sketch getting down and up. There are a few climbing ropes spread about to assist you, but it is pretty much a scramble down, and it was very muddy with snow yesterday when we did it. We encountered a hiker/photographer who had actually slide down much of this slope down and banged up his wrist (hope he’s okay!). If you hike it, you might find another well trafficked way down, but I didn’t spot it on the drive there.

In regards to driving down much of the trail, most people say to use an SUV or truck with 4x4/AWD. I did just fine in my little Subaru Impreza with winter tires (sorry to the stuck 4Runner that we couldn’t provide much help). Just choose your lines carefully, know your car well. It DOES get really icy, and the drive back up is pretty hilly. Turning off traction control helps, but be confident in driving in winter conditions if you attempt this.

Went here today (02-19-18) and had a blast! Unless you want to walk in 1+ miles in gravel to the trailhead, I suggest taking an AWD/4x4 vehicle due to the recent snow and high elevation. There's a white gate and majority of vehicles parked there since the head is pretty close. Don't forget to bring boots!

we went 1/28/18 and found a beautiful waterfall at the end! Getting there was a rugged muddy climb. I would recommend wearing shoes and pants that can get dirty. Totally worth it in the end.

Hike itself is not “hard” but it’s not for the faint of heart (or heights) pack some boots meant for mudslides if you go right now. (We were there 1/28)
If you find a drone floating in the water, that’s ours. Probably some pretty gorgeous footage on it too! Will go back when it’s replaced :)

Absolutely beautiful, look for the rope to guide you down and follow the rocks on the river to the falls. Someone was walking along the top ridge instead and it was suuuper unsafe with the mud and rocks.

Very muddy and slippery today. Well worth it though. It’s definitely moderate to difficult, but from where I parked I only clocked about 2 miles out and back. Back to parking; I’d advise if you have a capable suv or truck to drive all the way to the white gate, the trailhead is right there, otherwise you’re basically walking a gravel road forever. Lots of confusion today amongst new comers myself included as to where exactly to park, start hiking. Falls are amazing!

Hard to find but man was it worth it at the end!

Water level is super high today, the river was raging and no way to walk along the river directly up to the falls as appears to be possible normally. We made it by basically clinging to the side of the bank by roots and branches, skirting underneath the basalt cliff dripping with water, moss and fern. Totally worth it when we made it to the falls. The water was thunderous and the pool was a gushing whirl of water beneath, leaving us to enjoy from a precarious perch above. Needless to say, it was not a crowded day.

Ps don’t go straight past the gate, without the heavy traffic, a lot of people were going the wrong way. Also major thanks to the girl that gave us a lift from halfway back to the first lot!

This is the best waterfall I've been to in Oregon so far. It's like you're in a whole other world. It's so incredibly beautiful. We made a beautiful video showcasing the hike from the main trail head.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLgQzf64AMo&t=331s

this is an amazing short hike if you park right out the trail. I parked on the huge parking lot which I hope they'll fix it soon. I did 4.8 mile round trip from there. In my opinion I consider this an easy hike, but for beginners it's a moderate! But great waterfall at the end (:

Worth it

Was able to get my honda all the way down to the second trailhead, if just barely. Strongly not recommended if you do not have four wheel drive and it has just rained a lot. Fun little hike, pretty technical, but short, and the reward was huge! Had a great time.

Beautiful fall, so worth it! HIGHLY RECOMMEND 4-wheel drive vehicle, not completely necessary. With 4wd, does allows you to get a closer parking location near trailhead! Which is at the end of the gravel road! So keep going! You’ll see various parking locations along the way, but for easiest parking, I suggest the very end. The trail itself wasn’t too bad some steep areas down/inclines. There’re some ropes posted along trail for assistance. Will climb over and under fallen trees, nothing terrible! From the trailhead it’s about a 15 minute hike down then about 10 minutes along the riverbank.

The weather conditions: Clear skies/sunshine.
The day before had rained, caused for conditions to be muddy and slippery.

Driving directions: Once you get to the RockCreek Road once you get to the end of the paved road take that until you see a sign on your right. Then follow that and after sometime you’ll see a fork -take the ATV trail- which is pretty much a straight. Take that, and that road will lead to the trailhead at the end of it. There are multiple parking areas: a large gravel area(vehicles w/o 4wd- it is a long walk), pull offs on the side of the road(3-4), one right before trailhead, one right after trailhead (preferred parking).

Hope that helps! Happy adventuring!