Panther Creek Fall is one of those places we wish was harder to get to, but alas, the hike, which is actually more of a fairly steep scramble, is a super duper short one.
Our decision to explore the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge was pretty serendipitous. While we were relaxing at Panther Creek Falls, the horrible Eagle Creek Fire had started on the other side of the gorge. Earlier that afternoon, after hiking the Multnomah-Wahkeena Loop and eating lunch at the lodge, we contemplated what to do for the rest of the day. It was between driving across the Bridge of the Gods to Washington, or staying on the Oregon side and hiking either Oneonta Gorge or Wahclella Falls… as we write this, these two trails are currently still engulfed in flames. It’s an understatement to say that we were happy to have gone to Panther Creek Falls.
There are two ways to see Panther Creek Falls: you can easily do both, but were impatient to get up close to it and just did the scramble to the base instead of hiking to the overlook. These two options have two different starting points and Oregon Hikers recommends NOT scrambling from the view point as someone sadly died doing this.
If you’re walking down the road from the dirt parking area across the street, you’ll see a small wooden trailhead sign on a tree (as well as a not-so-subtle sign spray-painted on the road) that is the start point for the view point. The scramble trail to the bottom is a few more yards down the road and marked by blue ribbons tied on some bushes (at least when we were there).
The scramble is fairly steep and there’s a pretty sketchy section that thankfully has some rope to help you down. The whole “hike” is only a few hundred yards until the falls!
It was probably around 90 degrees up by the road, but at the base of Panther Creek Falls it felt at least 10 degrees cooler. So refreshing on a hot day!
We spent quite a while hanging out at the falls. And while there was a fairly large group there when we arrived, after they left only a few other people came by and there were times when we were the only ones there.
Panther Creek Falls is an absolute paradise and is one of the most unique and complex waterfalls we’ve ever seen. It’s a little out of the way of the more popular gorge spots, but well worth a side trip!
