Butte Creek Falls is a 78-foot horsetail waterfall on Butte Creek in Clackamas County, Oregon, in the Santiam State Forest managed by the Oregon Department of Forestry. It is the main fall in a short run of cascades on the creek, reached by a trail of about a third of a mile from a forest-road trailhead.
The falls
In-person surveys record a total height of 78 feet in two drops, the taller one measuring 73 feet. Butte Creek makes a wide 180-degree bend around a high rocky promontory as it falls, spreading into a broad horsetail before landing in a large, deep plunge pool. Campground guides from forestry staff, which call this drop Lower Butte Falls, list 70 feet and note that the cascade formed in ancient lava flows. Upper Butte Creek Falls lies just upstream, and the smaller Lower Butte Creek Falls is directly below the pool.
Getting there
Access is from the north, out of Scotts Mills; the old approach via Crooked Finger Road is no longer usable. The route follows Maple Grove Road 7.2 miles to Sawtell Road, then Sawtell a little over 5 miles to a fork, where the unsigned gravel South Family Camp Road bears left; signs lead another 5.8 miles to the trailhead. The main viewpoint is about a third of a mile away. Forestry records describe the trail system as 0.85 mile, moderate, with about 300 feet of elevation change.
The area was closed for almost four years after the 2020 wildfires and reopened in June 2024. As of September 2026 the trailhead and Family Camp Road are open, with post-fire road repair and hazard-tree work complete, though some other trails in the wider Butte Creek area remain closed. Check the Santiam State Forest page before driving up.
When to go
Flow is best in winter and spring, with flowering trees framing the basin in spring.
On site
The viewpoint sits on a rocky outcrop roughly 150 feet above the creek. The maintained trail ends there, and officials advise against going farther. A rougher path continues down a ledge toward the base, clinging to the cliff edge in places and slick when wet. In April 2015 a dog had to be rescued after falling from a cliff near the falls; keep pets leashed near the edge.
Nearby
Lower Butte Creek Falls is right below the pool and Upper Butte Creek Falls about 0.1 mile upstream. Trinity Falls is about 1.3 miles away, and Abiqua Falls about 2.7 miles.
Distances are straight-line.