Top 10 Astonishing Facts about Oneonta Gorge

Oneonta Gorge Falls. Photo by formulanone. Wikimedia Commons.

Top 10 Astonishing Facts about Oneonta Gorge

Oneonta Gorge is a scenic gorge located in the Columbia River Gorge area of the American state of Oregon. The U.S. Forest Service has designated it as a botanical area because of the unique aquatic and woodland plants that grow there. It is one of the 7 wonders of Oregon.

While the majority of trails have reopened, Oneonta Gorge remains closed as land managers consider public safety and the ecological impact going forward. This is after the 2017 Eagle Creek Fires, which burned over 50,000 acres of forest. However, Oneonta Gorge remains a must visit spot. Here are the Top 10 Astonishing Facts about Oneonta Gorge.

1. It is a Forest Service declared botanical area

Oneonta Gorge Lower Falls at Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area in Oregon in The Pacific Northwest. Photo by Jeffhollett. Wikimedia Commons.

Oneonta Gorge is famous for its lush, green colors, dense nature, and mystical landscape. The gorge gets its character from ferns, mosses, and lichens which grow on the walls of the gorge. Designated a botanical area, many of these plants only grow in the Columbia River Gorge. You can use your mindfulness skills to hike slow and thoughtfully, noticing the variety of nature and appreciating how special the moment truly is.

The U.S. Forest Service has designated it as a botanical area because of the unique aquatic and woodland plants that grow there. Exposed walls of 25-million-year-old (Miocene epoch) basalt are home to a wide variety of ferns, mosses, hepatics, and lichens, many of which grow only in the Columbia River Gorge. Oneonta Gorge with its 50 species of wildflowers, flowering shrubs and trees has been described as “one of the true dramatic chasms in the state.”

2. There’s a beautiful hiking path to the gorge

Unlike many of the shorter hikes available off the Columbia, the path into the Oneonta Gorge isn’t paved. Hiking upstream, you will be challenged in your adventure skills.

One of the highlights of the hike is potentially getting waist deep in water to trudge over river rocks and wade through the creeks. In addition, there will be logs to climb, boulders to scramble, and a great variety of physical challenges. A change up from a normal walking tour, the Gorge is an adventure in itself.

3. Oneonta Gorge experienced a fire recently

A bridge across the Oneonta Gorge, Oregon below Middle Oneonta Falls. Photo by Fredlyfish4. Wikimedia Commons.

Oneonta Creek experienced some of the most intense burning during the fire, and almost none of the dense forest canopy survived, and still the forest has already begun to restore itself.

The Eagle Creek Fire was a destructive wildfire in the Columbia River Gorge, largely in the U.S. state of Oregon, with smaller spot-fires in Washington. The fire was started on September 2, 2017, by a 15-year-old boy igniting fireworks during a burn ban. The fire burned 50,000 acres, and burned for three months, before being declared completely contained.

4. It is the perfect place to practice your photography!

Oneonta Gorge is the ultimate location if you’re really into forest and water photography. The greens are so vivid they almost look fake. The water is crystal clear and the sheer walls of the canyon rise up like giant emerald slabs of rock that tower over you.

Situated in the Columbia River Gorge Historic Highway area and close to popular water falls like ‘Multnomah Falls‘ and ‘Bridal Veil Falls‘ it’s a veritable playground for photographers.

5. It’s easier to visit the Gorge when it’s warmer

Oneonta Gorge. Photo by formulanone. Wikimedia Commons.

August and September are perfect months to visit – water temperatures are a bit higher and the creek’s levels are a bit lower.  Before nature will allow you to pass into this special realm, however, you will have to cross over an enormous pile-up of fallen trees and debris simply known as the log jam. 

Venturing over the log jam is certainly not for everyone, and many have suffered serious injury and even drowned in their attempts to climb over this often extremely slippery hazard.  Take it slow and step carefully regardless of when you visit.

6. Oneonta Gorge was first photographed by Carleton Eugene Watkins

The Oneonta Gorge was first photographed by Carleton Eugene Watkins, a native of Oneonta, New York, who had traveled west in 1851 during the time of the California Gold Rush. Watkins named the Oneonta Falls after his hometown. Carleton Eugene Watkins was an American photographer of the 19th century.

7. The gorge has a scenic bridge

Built in 1914, the Oneonta Gorge Creek Bridge, one half mile downstream from the falls, is a “four-span 80-foot reinforced-concrete deck girder trestle” that “is 24 feet wide and has a roadway measuring 22 feet.”

It is a contributing structure in the Historic Columbia River Highway, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. It was designed by K.P. Billner of the Oregon State Highway Department.

8. The gorge has four waterfalls

There are four major waterfalls on Oneonta Creek as it runs through the gorge. Middle Oneonta Falls can be seen clearly from a footpath and is very often mistaken for the upper or lower falls.

The lower gorge (a slot canyon) has been preserved as a natural habitat, so there is no boardwalk or footpath through it as such. Thus, Lower Oneonta Falls can only be seen by walking upstream from the creek’s outlet at the Historic Columbia River Highway.

9. The trail on the gorge has many obstacles!

Oneonta Gorge. Photo by Jeffhollett. Wikimedia Commons.

The trail has issues due to natural as well as human impacts. In the late 1990s, the stream was partially occluded when three large boulders (the size of “pickup trucks”) tumbled into the stream. Subsequently, a log jam has formed in the midst of the slot canyon.

This has created a hazard for hikers, which led to a fatality in 2011 where a hiker died due to the nature of the trail. A log jam is a naturally occurring phenomenon characterized by a dense accumulation of tree trunks and pieces of large wood across a vast section of a river, stream, or lake.

10. It is one of the ‘beauty spots’

Oneonta Gorge was one of the “beauty spots” highlighted in the original design of the Columbia River Highway. The bridge and road, built here in 1914–1915, originally ran through the Oneonta Tunnel, just east of Oneonta Creek.