Punchbowl Falls Eagle Creek
— — a basin the river carved for itself.
Not only on a wall.
“A short, wide cascade drops about thirty-five feet into a circular basalt bowl on Eagle Creek, a tributary of the Columbia. The amphitheater is mossy and steep. The hike in is about two miles along a narrow ledge trail cut into the cliff above the creek. The 2017 Eagle Creek Fire ran through the canyon and the trail reopened in stages.
Punchbowl Falls Eagle Creek, on ceramic.
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The place, in three passes.
Punchbowl Falls is on Eagle Creek in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Oregon. The falls drop about 35 feet into a circular basin scoured into the basalt, ringed by a mossy amphitheater. The trailhead is at the Eagle Creek Recreation Area off Interstate 84, roughly forty miles east of Portland. The hike to the lower viewpoint is about two miles one way along a narrow ledge trail with steep dropoffs to the creek below. The upper trail continues to Tunnel Falls.
Eagle Creek drains a small basin on the north side of the watershed and meets the Columbia River near Bonneville. At the falls, the creek narrows through a notch in the basalt and drops into a round plunge pool, the punchbowl itself. The shape was cut by long-term swirling erosion in softer rock surrounded by harder columns. Below the pool the creek widens again over a gravel bar. Flow is heaviest in spring runoff and after winter rain, then thins through late summer.
Access changed after the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire, which burned much of the canyon. The Forest Service reopened the lower trail to Punchbowl in stages; sections of the upper trail past High Bridge stayed closed longer. Hikers should check current status with the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area office before going. The trail is narrow and exposed in places, with cable handholds where the ledge is steep. No swimming at the base; the basin is a protected resource area.