Falls Creek
This is a beautiful 15.1 mile trail through old forest and past waterfalls. Most people ride this as a shuttle, but for a strenuous day, ride it as an out-and-back.
From Hood River, cross the Port of Hood River bridge ($.75 each way) and then head west on highway 14. Just after passing over the Wind River bridge and before you reach Stevenson, head north on forest road 30. Stay on road 30 through Carson to forest road 3062 which leads to the lower Falls Creek trailhead. Leave a car here and then head back to road 30 and continue north over Old Man Pass. Park at McClellan Meadows Sno-park on the right a couple of miles past Old Man Pass. Another way to do this is to hitchhike up the 30 Road to Old Man pass. Secret tip: turn your bike upside down next to the road and people will stop for you, thinking you have a flat tire.
Went alone Yesterday. Parked at FR-30 and FR-3062 thinking I was going to ride up to the trail head. I was lucky however and got a shuttle ride to the top by a nice lady waiting at te bottom for her husband and sons to finish the ride. Once I finished the trail I felt as if I should have ridden the road and done the entire loop because this trail isn’t much work if you shuttle. It gradually assends to the middle and is down hill the other half.
You can find great directions at (http://evergreenmtb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Trail:Falls_Creek).
When I got to the caves I found three girl riders sunning them selves. They had ridden the trail many times but didn’t know there were caves so we explored them together. Very cool feature of this ride. I ran into some other riders at the falls who didn’t know about the caves either LOL. The trail is great shape, not dusty, and from the caves on down is fast and fun. After the falls there were many hikers so be careful. I ran a couple off the trail because I couldn’t slow down fast enough and the exposure left me no where to turn out.
Jared reports Falls Creek is in epic condition. As always.
Probably one of the most fun downhills around. Great shuttle – trail is amazing right now. Beautiful scenery; lava tubes are cool. Don’t forget a headlamp to check out the ice caves and as Chris said there are a lot of mosquitos! I am paying for it today but it was well worth it. Repellent is probably a good idea.
Fall’s creek is completely clear of snow and debris from Old Man Pass. Trail is in epic shape! don’t stop though, LOTS of mosquitos!
Falls Creek is reported as open and snow-free from Old Man Pass as of Sunday, June 14th, 2009.