Shepperds Dell Falls

Shepperds Dell State Park is located 4 miles east of Crown Point or about 1 ¾ miles west of Bridal Veil along the Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway. Parking can be found on the east side of the bridge, with a short trail leading to a viewpoint adjacent to the lower portion of the falls.Shepperds Dell Falls is the second major waterfall encountered along the Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway. Youngs Creek cascades down a twisting alcove in a series of falls totaling about 220 feet in height, with the lower half of the visible portion of the falls (essentially everything upstream from the bridge) totaling 82 feet. The falls begin with a horsetail which feeds into a plunge (similar to that of Ponytail Falls), stuffed back in an inaccessible part of the recess. Below here, the creek turns 90 degrees and cascades 32 feet over a few small drops before funneling down a 45 foot veil with a concave hourglass shape. As the creek passes beneath the graceful arching bridge spanning the chasm, it drops over two final falls of about 20 feet each. Though looking straight down from the bridge will allow one to see the two final drops, only the 45 foot tier and a pair of the small cascades above it are clearly visible. The bottom portion of the uppermost tier is visible as well, but trees and the shape of the alcove block the majority of it from sight.Though the falls have never officially been named, the current name is a long used and widely recognized one. Shepperds Dell was named for the wife of George Shepperd, the original landowner, who donated the land to the public (now part of a State Park) in 1915. The falls have long been called after the Dell. The bridge spanning the gorge dates back to 1913, when the original Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway was constructed, and is registered as a National Historic Landmark.