Best Walking Trails near Cascade Locks, Oregon

First, I would not rate this as moderate. It is most definitely easy. It’s just about 2 miles in. It’s a steady incline so you don’t really feel it. The devastation from
the Eagle Creek fire is heartbreaking, but at least there is some green coming back by way of ground cover. There are some loose rocky spots but nothing difficult. The fall is beautiful just Ike all the PNW falls.

I've hiked to Punchbowl Falls several times and it's a great hike. The trail is currently closed due to a fire a year ago. When it opens, I want to continue up to Tunnel Falls which I think turns it into about 11 or 12 miles. Heavy traffic on the weekends.

Would be 5 stars but rocks on majority of hike so be careful for your ankles! Beautiful quick and fun hike. Good for kids. Lots of visible damage still but still worth it.

PCT up to Dry Creek Falls was pretty easy but there was lots of devastating fire damage from the Eagle Creek Fire. Sad to see the tree corpses, but many hardy trees survived and I’m glad the trail has reopened. Dry Creek Falls a great surpise. Clear, cold and beautiful!! Walked back via Dry Creek Road, but would not do it. again. Gravel road almost all the way.

Trail Is Still Closed At This Time. The Historic Columbia River Highway is Closed Until Further Notice. This Includes Trails Between Bridal Veil Falls and Multnomah, and Trails Between Multnomah and Ainsworth State Park. The Road Is Only Open To State Troopers, Game and WildLife Patrolmen, and Residents That Live On That Road. Anyone Caught Trying To Hike Said Trails Are Fined. This Is All Due To The Bad Fire They Had Last Year And Several Told Me They Aren't Sure When It Should Be Open. One Trooper Told Me It's Looking Like It Will Be June 2019. :( That Means Oneonta George, Oneonta Falls, Horsetail Falls, Ponytail Falls, Larch Mountain Overlook, Fairy Falls, & Wahkeena Falls Are All Closed Until Further Notice. If You Are Looking For Alternatives, You Can Look Into Multnomah Falls & Trails, Latourell Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and Vista House. You Can Also Take A Drive To Ramona Falls.

Beautiful hike staring at bridge of the gods. And joins with the PCT for a portion which is cool. But with the fire road and trail plus PCT trail all merging, some more signage would be useful. A portion of it is heavy gravel (road) but rest is soft dirt trail.

rRNAe

It was an INTENSE!! hike at 6:20am to 5:30pm. It was AMAZINGLY!! beautiful feeling when u get to the top

Hiked in 2016 before the fires. My favorite hike to date. Memories I'll cherish for a lifetime.

Hike to Tunnel Falls with my boyfriend in 2015 will always be a special memory to me. Beautiful hike.

One of my favourites. Continued on up to Tunnel Falls with my boyfriend back in 2015. Good memories on this hike. Sad to see it is closed?

A tough climb but worth it! An excellent challenge for body, mind, and spirit. I suggest taking as many breaks as you feel you need; your legs will thank you on the descent. Bring plenty of water, and more than you think you'll need on hot days. It took me about 4 hours to reach the summit, and 3.5 hours to hike back down. I did soak in the views of the gorge and mountains in Washington along the way, and spent about an hour on the summit gazing at Mt. Hood.

Really pretty hike with a gorgeous view of the falls at the end. The trail was a bit rocky, but otherwise not too bad, just have to be aware of your footing at times.

Herman Creek trail is indeed open. Hike it as an out and back only at this time. Do not attempt to make a loop of it using Casey Creek, Nick Eaton or Gorton Creek trails to complete the loop. Those 3 trails are heavily fire damaged at the top in the Green Point Ridge area. Trails are impossible to follow without GPS if at all. You can get up to Green Point Mtn. via Herman Creek and Herman Creek Cutoff trails, but I'm warning you, turn around after the splendid view at the Green Point Mtn. summit and come back the way you came in. Speaking from distressing personal experience.

I’d probably rate this as an easy trail. The falls are great and we only met a handful of others on the trail. It was pretty sad seeing all the damage from the wildfire throughout the hike.

Hiked July 11. Well marked trail (except near the rock falls) with 2 waterfalls, a lake and views all along the trail. Went up Defiance, down Starvation. Because of the closed Wash out trail at the end we had to take on another steep ridge and cross over a log on the creek- added about 2-3 miles onto the hike. Total hike time was 9 hours and 20 minutes with 2 hours of stopping time for pics and lunch. The summit is a huge ugly power station but u can sit on the rocks that has a view of Mt Hood (too cloudy for us to see it) with the power Station at your back.

A beautiful hike. the online maps say it is closed, but it is not closed. my wife and I had no problems hiking up to the waterfall. we then went a bit further down the pct till it met with the Herman Bridge TR. we took the Herman Bridge TR back down then walked back to are start for a nice 10.7 mile hike. (the Herman Bridge TR is also open and cleared for hiking in spite of the closed that it says on line)

Previous reviewer got confused. The Starvation ridge trail #414 is very much open, it's the short Starvation ridge cut-off trail that is closed. Starvation ridge trail #414 can be taken from the Mount Defiance trail #413 instead of from the cut-off trail until it reopens. Hope this helps.

Beautiful falls. Not too difficult hike (we even took 5 beginners). The trail wasn’t busy- even on a Saturday.

Consider yourself a champion after completing this hike! I've seen several folks say they used the Starvation Ridge Trail to either ascend or descend, but that trail is still closed, clearly marked as such. You need to do the full hike on the Mt. Defiance Trail, only. Excellent views of Mt. Adams, Hood & St. Helens. Bring lots of water, as portions are exposed in the burn area.

Brutal hike! I did to the top 12miles back and out w 5k elevation gain

Spectacular falls! Many wildflowers in early July. Blackberries and thimbleberries along the trail barely starting to ripen. Not too much poison oak.

The trail is open with lots of burned trees. Sad to see. There are also some nice green areas and a beautiful waterfall. Nice to see the forest understory coming back after the fire.

I’m pretty convinced this is closer to 14 miles, and absolutely convinced I don’t want to do it again. The route down was really tricky, and the total trip took me 10 hours with a stop for lunch. 3L of water, snacks, and a sandwich was plenty of fuel, but I wouldn’t have necessarily wanted to take less than that.

It’s a good training hike— really steep coming up (I came up Starvation), and glacially slow picking your way down the same grade (I came down Defiance, which was more poorly maintained, washed out in a few places, and offered a good look at recovering, post-burn forest). The views are best on Starvation, where you can see an osprey nest, pass Lake Warren, and get a really beautiful volcano view. The summit boasts a clear shot of Mt. Hood, and a good look at the hills beyond, but the experience is partially marred by the massive radio tower up there.

All in all: this is a hike for the journey, not the destination— and the journey is really physically demanding, particularly post-summit.

Definitely a really hard hike for beginners! Took me 9 hours to do the whole trail but that includes 40 minutes of rest and another 40 minutes because I went on a wrong trail in the beginning.

I took Mount Defiance going up and Starvation coming down. There’s a nice lake there too, perfect for camping and staying the night.

loved this trail. see the top and bottom of a beautiful waterfall. excellent Cliff perch sections on upper trail

Great hike, very beautiful but kicked my ass. Bring lots of food and water. Maybe one half a mile of flat stretch. The rest is either very steep up hill or down.

I only went 3.5 miles in. The first mile is the hardest with alot of steep switchbacks. 1st waterfall of the 3 I saw was the best. Great workout and I saw only 2 hikers. There is a lot of burn damage from the most recent fires but trail is open and being maintained.

Did this hike last week...and I’ll probably never sign myself up to do it again. Near the bottom, I thought to myself “I’m glad I did this, but I’m even more glad to be done.” We started with Starvation Ridge, and had plans go back down Mt. Defiance trail, but we made a wrong turn and ended up back on Starvation. The uphill is brutal, the downhill is brutal. I’d recommend anyone with bad knees to steer clear! We had amazing views of Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams (I think) on the way up and Mt. Hood at the summit. I was a little disappointed, anticipating an open peak with a 360 view of the the cascades, but that wasn’t the case. Either way, beautiful with tons of wild flowers! We had the trail mostly to ourselves and only saw two other people coming down as we were going up and one more going up as we were coming down. Brings lots of food and water! I would’ve surrendered myself to the trail had I not had my two sandwiches, an apple, an orange, a granola bar, nuts, and two liters of water. After all was said and done, difficult, but worth it!