1.9 hr
Overview
NOTICE: This is considered an off-trail excursion and the area remains closed until further notice because of damage from the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire. Please check the list of Columbia Gorge trail closures before you plan for a hike. This hike has a little bit of every kind of trail, from paved, well-graded tourist trap to a scramble up a talus slope. The main attraction of the hike is the Elevator Shaft (also known as the "Fire Escape"). Various hiking guides show it to be lost, found, or even "not as lost as it once was." Plan ahead, wear good boots for the rocks, long pants for the poison oak, and plan on working hard. The hike starts at the Multnomah Falls Trailhead. Hike up the Larch Mountain Trail #441 to the Benson Bridge, along with scores of day hikers and tourists. About 1/2 mile from the lodge, you'll come to a switchback where the unpaved Gorge Trail #400 connects. Continue east on the Gorge Trail, signed the "Ak-Wanee Trail." In about another half-mile of generally flat walking, you'll come to a large talus slope. This is the base of the Elevator Shaft, where the fun begins! The talus slope is not hard to find, but the trail is. Continue east on the Gorge Trail across the talus field. After passing a small section of scrub and saplings, you enter a second talus field. You should see an old, partially buried chain link fence above, paralleling the trail. Near the east end of the second talus field, you will see a faint trail heading diagonally up and to the right. This is the beginning of the Elevator Shaft. It's easy to suspect that the Elevator Shaft is limited to what you can see from the Gorge Trail, as the scree meets a solid bank of trees and low brush about 300 feet above. Were it just this, it would still be an impressive climb. However, once you work your way through a tangle of poison-oak and blackberry bushes, the forest scrub relents to another wide-open scree slope more than twice as high as the first — you have nearly 700 feet to go! This main section of the Elevator Shaft is se
Trail Stats
0.0 km
566 m
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Photos
400px-ElevatorShaftMapRev
400px-ElevatorShaftMapRev
188px-ElevatorShaftBase
188px-ElevatorShaftBase
250px-ElevatorShaftLookingDown
250px-ElevatorShaftLookingDown
250px-NeskiaOverlook
250px-NeskiaOverlook
300px-CougarRock1
300px-CougarRock1