Upper Mccord Creek Falls

Located near Warrendale in the Columbia River Gorge. Driving east from Portland along I-84, exit the freeway at the Dodson exit (also signed for the Scenic Highway). Just after exiting the freeway, turn left onto a frontage road that runs parallel to the Interstate, and follow it for 2 miles to John B. Yeon State Park. If you are heading west on I-84, simply exit I-84 at Exit 37, turn left and drive a short distance to the parking lot. The trail starts climbing rather gradually from the parking lot for about 1/3 mile to a signed fork. Head left toward the upper falls in another 3/4 of a mile.Upper McCord Creek Falls may be more appropriately considered the upper tier of Elowah Falls because the two are so close together (and can actually be seen in tandem from one or two locations), but regardless of its questionable independence is a very scenic waterfall accessed by a very unique trail. Kudos must be given to the designers of the trail accessing the falls, because not only did they circumvent the huge 400 foot walls of the Elowah Falls amphitheater, they did it by blasting out an undercut ledge from solid rock. This vertigo inducing traverse is not for the uneasy - especially since the railing is falling apart in a few places, making the short stretch quite precarious - but it is more than memorable. The 64 foot, twinned falls at one point actually had a third segment just to the left of the current fall which was likely clogged shut by debris floating down from upstream. Perhaps one day a flood will reactivate it.I have a theory that the commonly cited height of Elowah Falls (289 feet) may have been a measurement of Head used to register with a Mill or some other diversion of water from McCord Creek. The path blasted out of the cliff leading to the falls has a level enough profile to support this thought, and there are relics of large metal pipes visible on the climb to the falls.