Horsetail Falls

Located in the Multnomah Falls area of the Columbia Gorge. Drive 2.5 miles along the Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway, past Multnomah Falls, to the signed parking area at the impossible-to-miss falls.This is one of 3 favorite falls of mine along the Columbia River Gorge. After seeing this one once, it will stick in your mind forever. It is pretty much the epitome of the Horsetail form. There are views from 180 degrees around the falls, and some glimpses over the top from Horsetail Falls Trail #438 which leads to Ponytail Falls, it's upper counterpart. If you stick around long enough, you might also see one of the several freight trains that grace the area so often (the Union Pacific Railroad follows the highway all the way from Troutdale east past The Dalles). The falls are commonly said to stand 176 feet tall, but some sources placed its height at 208 feet. I measured it in 2009 to be 214 feet, so where the idea of 176 feet came from, I don't know.The falls have been named such, as a descriptive of the shape of the falls, since the Columbia Gorge was first explored and settled, but the exact date of origin is not known. The waterfall in this case inspired the name of the creek.