Nehalem Falls

From Highway 101 near Wheeler, follow Highway 53 towards Seaside. Turn right on Foss Road after 1 1/2 miles and follow Foss Road (also referred to as Nehalem River Road in some places) for 6 more miles to Nehalem Falls Park (may or may not be signed, watch for a gated road on the left). A short trail leads to a viewpoint.Nehalem Falls is one of about a dozen named waterfalls in the Northwest that should neither be named or considered a waterfall. The Nehalem River intersects a broad, shallow basalt bench and rushes into a trough, dropping about 8 vertical feet next to a fish ladder. The Nehalem River is known to regularly hit 10,000 cubic feet per second in discharge and it appears that at flows above about 5000 cfs, the falls become more or less submerged and become even more of a rapid than a waterfall. A fish ladder bypassing the falls (which seems completely unnecessary considering the diminutive size of the falls in the first place) detracts even further. Don't waste your time with this one.