Oneonta Falls

The falls at the head of Oneonta Gorge are one of the most famous, scenic and frequenly photographed waterfalls in Oregon. It's also one of the most aggrevating and potentially difficult waterfalls to access given the ever-changing conditions within the gorge itself. Oneonta Creek drops about 120 feet in a narrow plunging fall which pounds onto a jutting ledge just before reaching the floor of the canyon, which creates a nice shower-like effect as it veils into the pool below. The 200-foot tall walls of the canyon squeeze the falls in so tightly that one can't help but feel a bit claustrophobic. The big problem with Oneonta Gorge and it's falls is the penchant for logs to gather at choke points throughout its length over the years. Going back to the early to mid 1990s the gorge featured a flat, nearly uniform bed of small rocks and pebbles and was easy to casually stroll the length of - sometimes even without getting wet. But after a series of severe storms through the late 1990s a log jam formed near the mouth of the canyon which allowed the creek to start pooling and shifting the rock in the streambed around. The result is now that the gorge features several pools ranging from knee to chest deep that one must wade/swim through in order to get to the falls (this is why we have yet to properly survey the falls). When the creek is running high in the winter and spring months, it's simply too dangerous and impractical to do this now. In addition, the logjam has become fairly unstable and dangerous in recent years and people have drowned while trying climbing up and over it after slipping and falling through into the creek below. Please do not attempt to travel up Oneonta Gorge unless the creek is running low and the log jam is dry (and even then be careful and expect to get very wet).There has been long stemming confusion about the proper names of the waterfalls along Oneonta Creek. The USGS has long labeled the third waterfall (heading upstream) of Oneonta Creek as the true Oneonta Falls, while several books have misconstrued the small 24-foot tall fall immediately above the bridge along the Horsetail Falls trail to be Oneonta Falls. While it may be difficult to determine with 100% accuracy which one was first given the name, chances are it is this one simply due to the process of discovery. Oneonta Creek and Gorge were named for the town of Oneonta, New York by one of its residents, Carleton Emmons Watkins, who ventured west during the California gold rush some time during or shortly after 1849. According to the Greater Oneonta Historical Society, Watkins was perhaps the first person to photograph Oneonta Gorge, but whether he was actually credited with its discovery is not known. If Watkins was indeed the first to properly document the falls, he may very well have intended this waterfall be given the title of Oneonta Falls since the others would have been considerably more difficult to access without the current trail network in place.