Elowah Falls is a 295-foot tiered plunge waterfall on McCord Creek in Multnomah County, Oregon, in the Columbia River Gorge near Warrendale. McCord Creek is squeezed into a narrow slot between sheer cliffs and shoots out into an amphitheater of layered basalt, and a short trail from the John B. Yeon trailhead reaches its base.
The falls
Most of the height is a single plunge of about 260 feet; above it, a 30- to 35-foot upper tier is largely hidden by trees when seen from the base. A lidar-based estimate puts the total at 295 feet; the 1916 USGS party measured 221 feet, and a later in-person survey came in at 213. The creek runs all year at an average of about 30 cubic feet per second. In the winter of 2021 the west wall of the amphitheater collapsed, filling the channel with basalt cobbles.
Getting there
The John B. Yeon trailhead is on the frontage road along Interstate 84: from Exit 35 (Ainsworth) drive 2.1 miles east, or from Exit 37 (Warrendale) go under the freeway and a quarter mile east. Gorge Trail 400 climbs gently for 0.3 mile to a fork; the left branch drops 0.5 mile to the base of Elowah Falls, about 1.6 miles round trip. The right branch switchbacks up a route carved into the cliff to Upper McCord Creek Falls and a viewpoint high above the canyon; both falls together make a 3.5-mile round trip with 620 feet of gain. The trailhead is open for day use year round.
When to go
Flow is strongest in late winter and spring. The footbridge below the falls was buried by the 2021 slide and later washed out, so the crossing at the base is a ford passable only when the creek is low.
On site
Mist keeps the rocks at the base slick. The upper trail runs along cliff edges, so keep children and dogs close; dogs must be leashed. In July 2026 a 17-year-old hiking with family fell about 100 feet off the main trail to McCord Creek and was carried out by rescuers and flown to a hospital. The area burned in the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire, and the canyon walls remain prone to slides.
History and name
The falls were earlier known as McCord Creek Falls and Pierce Falls; the Mazamas renamed them Elowah in 1915, and the meaning of the name is unknown. Sections of old cast iron and wooden pipe along the trail once carried pressurized water to the Crown Willamette Paper Company mill at Warrendale. The park honors John B. Yeon, a principal financier of the Historic Columbia River Highway.
Nearby
Upper McCord Creek Falls is about 0.1 mile upstream. Moffett Falls is about 1.2 miles away and Kwanesum Falls on Moffett Creek about 1.4 miles. The paved Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail starts at the same trailhead and runs east toward Cascade Locks.
Distances are straight-line.