Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area
Gorge · Hood River, Oregon
An eighty-mile canyon up to 4,000 feet deep where the Columbia River cuts clean through the Cascade Range, and the only sea-level route through the mountains for hundreds of miles. Congress made it the first National Scenic Area in the United States in 1986, a designation invented for it. The Oregon side carries the greatest concentration of waterfalls in North America - more than ninety of them in a few dozen miles - because the wind-scoured cliffs drop creeks straight off the rim into the river.
902 Wasco Street, Hood River, Oregon, 97031, United States
FREE and open 24 hours a day, year round, across eighty miles of canyon. Individual sites keep their own hours and seasons. ⚠ MULTNOMAH FALLS REQUIRES A TIMED-ENTRY PERMIT DURING THE PEAK SUMMER SEASON, booked online ahead - the requirement and its dates have changed more than once since introduction, so check the current rule the week you travel. Many Forest Service trailheads need a Northwest Forest Pass and some Oregon state parks charge day-use parking. The Historic Columbia River Highway closes for ice and storm damage in winter, and trails closed by the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire are still reopening in stages.
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