Oneonta Trail #424

Oneonta Trail #424 is an 8.2-mile point-to-point hike one way, from Oneonta Trailhead above the Columbia River Gorge to Larch Mountain Road. It climbs about 3,800 feet into mountain forest; Triple Falls, 1.7 miles in, is the early payoff, not the end of this route. Among the three direct routes toward Larch Mountain, this is the steepest and most demanding. Allow seven to eight hours one way at a steady hiking pace. Arrange a pickup at the road end or plan for about 16.4 miles if you walk back.

The first stretch rises above the old highway through the Oneonta drainage. A short half-circle side path near half a mile reaches viewpoints; around 0.8 mile in, a junction lets you detour to Middle and Lower Oneonta Falls, then return to Trail 424. The main trail climbs on rocky tread beside the creek, with open edges and steep drop-offs; keep children close and dogs leashed here. Triple Falls appears before its bridge, and the marked lookout is the best place to frame all three streams against the basalt gorge. Beyond the falls, the trail grows brushier, runs closer to Oneonta Creek, and reaches a shaded boulder field near a creek bridge, a good stop before the climb resumes.

Past the Horsetail Creek junction, Trail 424 climbs steeply toward Franklin Ridge, then continues to Larch Mountain Road. Waterfalls thin out; the long uphill and uneven footing take over. The upper section lies in Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness between the Horsetail Falls and Multnomah Creek Way junctions, where bicycles are prohibited. Snow can linger on the upper trail through winter and into spring. If you want the falls without this mountain climb, a separate roughly four-mile Horsetail Falls loop reaches Triple Falls and returns to its starting trailhead.

Start at the small pullout on the south side of Historic Columbia River Highway; there are no restrooms. Trail 424 ends on Larch Mountain Road about 0.3 mile south of the picnic area, not at the picnic area's parking lot, so arrange a pickup. Dogs are allowed on leash. Avoid the informal path down toward Upper Oneonta Falls: it leaves the signed trail and crosses unstable slopes.