Hiking to Drift Creek Falls, Oregon
Spot the suspension bridge in the upper right?
Driving Time: Portland (2 hours, 10 minutes away), Seattle (5 hours away)
Distance: 3 miles out and back
Elevation Gain: 485 feet
Difficulty: easy
Traffic: crowded, no solitude
Dogs allowed: yes
Bathrooms: yes, at trailhead
Fees: NW Forest Pass or pay at trailhead
For starters, let me just apologize for these crappy pictures. Recently I’ve been forgetting my camera which results in grainy iPhone shots, but I try my best to clean them up before posting them here. Last weekend I was desperately in need of a rainy, mossy, wet waterfall hike so Paige and I drove out through the Willamette Valley towards Lincoln City to check out Drift Creek Falls. On a good day this trail is crowded with reports of lines waiting to go over the suspension bridge. We mostly had the trail to ourselves with a few other cars in the parking lot when we arrived. This hike was super easy with little elevation gain which made for the perfect rainy day jaunt. We took our time at the swollen waterfall taking pictures and enjoying the rainy day. After we had gotten our fill we retraced our muddy steps back to the car. If you love a rainy hike I highly recommend this waterfall! Not only will you get some rare solitude on this trail, the waterfall is gorgeous after a good dose of PNW rain and the forests are bright green against the foggy backdrop.
For more info: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/oregon/drift-creek-falls-trail
This hike is on the land of the Tillamook and Siletz. To learn more about Native Land please explore this resource: https://native-land.ca/