Ponytail Falls Hike

Overview

This is the easiest waterfall hike in the gorge. You get a stunning waterfall at the trailhead and a second one less than half a mile up the trail. Both Ponytail Falls and Horsetail Falls are part of the Oneonta Natural Area, designated for its "dramatic chasms" and unique flora. The trail begins at Horsetail Falls, one of the most scenic trailheads anywhere. Plan on a little time before or after you hike to view and photograph the falls. The Horsetail Falls Trail #438 begins climbing two easily graded switchbacks with beautiful rock walls. Some tall old-growth trees scorched by the Eagle Creek Fire were cut down in the area, so the slope is more open than it used to be. Burned maples are coming back from their lignotubers, and thimbleberry, snowberry, trailing blackberry, and phacelia exhibit rampant growth in the wake of the fire. Soon, you'll pass your first trail junction, where the Gorge Trail #400 heads east. Keep right at the junction and, after four more switchbacks, the trail levels out to traverse below basalt cliffs. You'll get views to the Oneonta Wetlands across the railroad. After 4/10 of a mile, the trail suddenly turns into the small ravine containing Ponytail Falls. In literally a few steps, you leave the modern freeway noise and enter a different world as you pass an unmaintained user trail that clambers up the roots of a Douglas-fir on your left. (This is the route, closed since the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire, that leads to the Rock of Ages Arch.) The main trail passes behind Ponytail Falls in a cavernous overhang eroded beneath a lava flow. Turning big-leaf maples and vine maples make this a beautiful hike in the autumn, specifically late October through early November.

Trail Stats

Photos

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400px-PonytailFallsMap1

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160px-Horsetail_Falls%2C_Columbia_Gorge

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250px-HorsetailFallsTrailhead3

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250px-Ponytail_Falls%2C_Oneonta_Natural_Area

250px-Six-spotted_sexton_beetle_%28Nicrophorus_defodiens%29_and_dead_shrew%2C_Horsetail_Trail

250px-Six-spotted_sexton_beetle_%28Nicrophorus_defodiens%29_and_dead_shrew%2C_Horsetail_Trail

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400px-PonytailFalls1

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TKO put tools to trail here.png

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