Wahclella Falls is located in Oregon by the Columbia Gorge. It is about an hour away from Portland and just 15 minutes from Hood River. The Wahclella Falls trail head is right off highway I-84 exit 40. When you get off the highway, just make a right turn right away and you will find the trail head parking lot. The parking space at the Wahclella Falls trail head is very limited, but you can park along the side of road. Just make sure not to park under the signs that say "No Parking". This is a fairly popular hike and very family friendly. The trail is only about 2 miles round trip, thus it is very suitable for kids to hike this trail.
When we got to the trail head, it was about 9:30AM and the parking lot at the trail head is already full. Thus we had to park on the side of the road. As we headed to the trail, we immediately spotted the sign that says there is a tree that has fallen down and blocking the trail. It warns the hikers to hike cautiously and do not try to do anything risky. This did not stop us from hiking on the trail and we went on anyway.
The trail pretty much goes along the side of the stream and the head of the stream is the Wahclella Falls. For the first 0.25 mile of the trail, the trail is extremely wide for the cars to use. Then it starts to narrow down.
As we reached around the half way mark at 0.5 miles, we saw a huge tree fall down and blocked the entire trail. The trail is pretty much inaccessible. This did not stop us from going forward however. We decided to climb up and go around the fallen tree. It was quite muddy and slipper, thus we proceeded very slowly and with extra caution. Once we went pass the fallen tree, the trail went very smoothly and we reached Wahclella Falls.
I must say that Wahclella Falls is the best waterfalls I have seen. The water was flowing through that tiny little gap between the rocks and the sheer amount of water flowing through it is just amazing! The waterfalls really gave us this Zen feeling when we were just standing there and watching. It really felt like this is the kind of waterfalls that you would see in a fairytale. We spent a good 30 minutes there just to enjoy the view of this amazing waterfalls!
Overall, we highly recommend taking this hike to see Wahclella Falls. This is the best waterfalls we have ever seen. The trail is short and easy, thus there is no reason for not visiting this amazing place!
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