Stranahan Falls

Stranahan Falls is the major waterfall of the Eliot Branch of the Middle Fork Hood River. Based on one meter topographic data generated from LIDAR models, the falls drop 282 feet, with individual steps of 36, 20, and 226 feet, terminating within the heavily scoured canyon below Inspiration Point and Cloud Cap Inn. The USGS has incorrectly labeled this waterfall as Wallalute Falls for decades, whereas Wallalute Falls is actually located along Compass Creek one drainage to the west.Stranahan Falls was named for Oscar L. Stranahan, who was partly responsible for construction of the Cloud Cap Road which opened in 1885. It is not known when the falls were first discovered, but Stranahan, Henry Coe and David Cooper were responsible for much exploration on the north side of the mountain in surveying a possible route for their road, and all three men were known to have picked geographic features to bear their names. Whether Stranahan himself identified the falls to bear his name is not known but it is certainly a possibility.