Benham Falls is a 25-foot cascade on the Deschutes River in Deschutes County, Oregon, about 3.5 miles north of Sunriver in the Deschutes National Forest and Newberry National Volcanic Monument. Wikipedia calls it the largest falls on the upper Deschutes.
The falls
The river stairsteps over a series of small ledges as it flumes through a gorge about 40 feet wide. The World Waterfall Database, which surveyed the site in person, counts 25 feet as the true waterfall within a much longer run of rapids; including half a mile of rapids, the descent is reported at about 95 feet. The Deschutes here is fed by springs, so the falls run all year, and the drop rates Class 5 for boaters.
Getting there
There are two sites here. Benham Falls West, reached from Bend by the Cascade Lakes Highway, Forest Road 41 and Forest Road 400 (about 2.5 miles on the last), has a path of about 50 yards to a fenced viewing platform; it's an easy, unpaved walk that wheelchairs can manage. Benham Falls East, reached from US 97 and Forest Road 9702, starts with a footbridge over the river, and the fairly flat walk to the falls is 0.7 mile one way. Parking at the East site costs $5 per day from May 1 to September 30; the Northwest Forest Pass and interagency passes are accepted.
The same riverside trail continues downstream past Dillon Falls and Lava Island Falls toward Bend, for hikers and mountain bikers.
When to go
April through November is the recommended season, with the strongest flow from March to May. Summer weekends bring parking pressure at the East lot, and mosquitoes are out from May to early July.
On site
Dogs must be leashed at the trailheads year-round and on the Deschutes River Trail from May 15 to September 15. The gorge edges are dangerous: in August 2014 a 62-year-old man, apparently scouting the rapids for a kayak run, fell 40 to 50 feet into shallow water and died.
History and name
The falls exist because of Lava Butte. When it erupted about 6,000 years ago, lava dammed the Deschutes and backed up a lake; the river eventually spilled over the dam, drained the lake and cut the falls. They are named for J. R. Benham, who tried and failed to file a land claim near the falls around 1885.
Nearby
Dillon Falls, downstream on the same trail, is about 1.3 miles away, and Upper Deschutes River Falls about 2.8 miles. Tumalo Falls, on Tumalo Creek west of Bend, is about 10.1 miles away.
Distances are straight-line.