Abiqua Falls Winter Day Hike

Trail Name: Abiqua Falls

Enter/Exit: Abiqua Falls Trail Head

Trip type: In and Out

Difficulty: Very Difficult due to step climbs and wet/narrow trail

Distance: .7 Miles

Elevation: 249 feet

Guide:  https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/oregon/abiqua-falls-trail

Review: Abiqua Falls is a very popular waterfall if you happen to have Instagram and live anywhere near Northern Oregon. Years ago I had a good friend hike it with his wife and he mentioned how beautiful it was but how steep and difficult it was to reach the falls. I knew ropes were involved and after researching the hike a bit, that a 4 wheel drive was recommended.

I picked up a friend from Molalla and we headed to the trail head which was a few miles down a dirt road that despite being very wet was probably passible with a 2 wheel drive if it had enough ground clearance. I was very happy that we decided to take my Ford Explorer and not a car. The trailhead is very non descript with room for a handful of cars. We found a lot of trash and spent 10 minutes after our hiking filling plastic bags with things we picked up so please remember to always leave it better than you found it.

The trail we started on was adjacent to the parking area at the end of a road near the gate. We quickly took a right and headed toward a very very steep downhill with multiple ropes. Assuming this was the way down we took our time butt scooting and hanging onto the rope until we eventually made our way down to the waters edge. From there it was a bit difficult to find the trail that took us up the creek and toward the falls. The trail was very narrow and in spots disappeared likely due to being covered by the very high water as it had been raining the entire week leading up to our trip. After a lot of scrambling, we came upon another set of ropes that led up the hillside. It was at this point I decided to take out my phone to check the map. Apparently, we were not supposed to take the first set of ropes and instead should have hike along the trail a bit further where there were ropes that would help us up and down a much less steep and sketchy section of trail. From this point we continued on a short distance and eventually came around a corner and were immediately struck but the powerful waterfall right in front of us. We stuck around long enough to shoot a video or two before returning along the Creekside trail until the correct set of ropes which were much easier to climb up than the spot we started on. The trail continually climbs back to the parking area where we cleaned up a as best we could before heading back down the dirt road we came in on.

This is not a hike I would care to do again in the winter but I am curious how much easier it may be when the conditions are better. Cheers!

Rating:  Gram it. Too sketchy in the winter months.

Rating Guide:

-Gram it: Check out the pictures on Instagram because this one is not worth seeing in person.

-Hike it: It’s short and sweet. Might as well knock it out in a day.

-Bag it: Pack a bag and spend the night.

-Bring a friend: Easy enough to bring a friend. Maybe this is where you can introduce someone to backpacking.

-Come Back: I will keep doing this trip it is so good!