9 min
Overview
NOTICE: As of July 2018, the Starvation Ridge Cutoff Trail #414B had been closed due to a dangerous slide. This hike is the easiest way to see four Columbia River Gorge waterfalls from the Starvation Creek Trailhead. The other, perhaps more scenic, option is the Lower Starvation Loop Hike, which offers high views and wildflowers, but also steep inclines and a lot of poison oak! On this hike, you will be sticking mostly to the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail, with a short spur off of it up to Lancaster Falls. All of the falls except Lancaster Falls are universal access. Your first waterfall will be Starvation Creek Falls. In the parking area, you’ll see a plaque commemorating the beginning of construction on the Columbia River Highway in 1912. As noted on a smaller plaque above, this information was once posted about two miles west at Shellrock Mountain, but was moved here because of new highway construction. The Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail heads east above the restrooms. Below the restrooms is a shady picnic area circled by a paved loop trail that uses a footbridge over Starvation Creek. At a junction for the Waterfall Picnic Area, you’ll see an interpretive sign telling about a train that got stranded in a snow bank here in December 1884. Passengers were trapped for three weeks, but Gorge residents helped out by skiing in with supplies. Although nobody died, this incident gave the creek and waterfall their current names. Hike up to the small picnic area and a view of 190-foot, two-tiered Starvation Creek Falls. The lower tier is partially obscured by a huge boulder that peeled off from the cliffs above. A user trail crosses the creek and heads up for a closer look, but you won’t really get a better sighting than the picnic area offers. Return to the Starvation Creek Trailhead, and begin hiking west next to the freeway on the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail. Get views to the the twin microdioritic intrusions of Shellrock Mountain and Wind Mountain as well as Dog Mou
Trail Stats
0.0 km
44 m
86 m
0 m
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Photos
600px-StarvationCreekWaterfallsMap
600px-StarvationCreekWaterfallsMap
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160px-HoleintheWallFalls1
250px-Arabis
250px-Arabis
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250px-Broad-leaf_stonecrop_%28Sedum_spathulifolium%29%2C_Mt
250px-Thimbleberry_%28Rubus_parviflorus%29%2C_HCRH%2C_Starvation_Creek
250px-Thimbleberry_%28Rubus_parviflorus%29%2C_HCRH%2C_Starvation_Creek
250px-Rest_circle%2C_HCRH%2C_Starvation_Creek
250px-Rest_circle%2C_HCRH%2C_Starvation_Creek
250px-Dog_Mountain_from_the_HCRH%2C_Starvation_Creek
250px-Dog_Mountain_from_the_HCRH%2C_Starvation_Creek
260px-LancasterFalls3
260px-LancasterFalls3
TKO put tools to trail here.png
TKO put tools to trail here.png