The Eagle Creek Trail runs through diverse forests highlighted by scenic bridges, steep drops and several iconic waterfalls including Punchbowl Falls and Tunnel Falls. It continues past 7.2 miles past Tunnel Falls to Wahtum Lake with multiple connections for loops and longer trips in the Hatfield Wilderness.

Though best known for its waterfalls and hiking, Eagle Creek also provides essential habitat for 350,000 coho and winter steelhead released by the Eagle Creek National Fish Hatchery each year

Punchbowl Falls plunges 36' into a namesake-shaped bowl along Eagle Creek; though far from the tallest waterfall in the gorge, it can be among the most voluminous

Tunnel Falls drops 165' along a narrow canyon of columnar basalt along East Fork Eagle Creek just before its confluence with the main stem

The eponymous tunnel of Tunnel Falls was created in favor of a more expensive and complex bridge across the canyon

A 'Punchbowl' waterfall is essentially the same as a 'Plunge' waterfall (a vertical drop where water doesn't touch the rock face); the distinction lies in the plunge pool, which has a pronounced circular shape

Bigleaf maple favor gravelly, moist soils along creeks, rivers and lakes; mature trees may produce 3-6 gallons of sap per year, with about 35 gallons of sap required to make 1 gallon of syrup

The Eagle Creek Trail gains only 1129' (net) in 5.9 miles to Tunnel Falls

The Columbia River Basalt Group is the principal rock unit in the gorge, comprising a series of basalt flows that erupted 17-6M years ago

Several sections of the Eagle Creek Trail run high across high, narrow ledges with cables for added assurance

A spur just past High Bridge located within a group of campsites leads to good views across the top of Skoonichuk Falls, a two-tiered plunge totalling 48' (height source: waterfallsnorthwest.com)

The Eagle Creek Trail slips behind Tunnel Falls and continues along narrow, cable-aided cliff ledges to Twister Falls

Twister Falls (never officially named) earns its most widely accepted name from braided channels that twist and overlap as they fall 130' along Eagle Creek, just up the trail from Tunnel Falls

The Washington side of the gorge is comprised of dense basalt over softer, unconsolidated rock beds which tilt south along the buried slope of an extinct volcano

The Tish Creek Bridge was destroyed in a December 2015 storm; despite official closures, a reliable up-stream social trail has formed and is passable to experienced hikers

A precarious social trail leads to the base of Tunnel Falls, but as with all off-trail descents in the gorge, getting back can be much, much tougher!

The trail runs right by the top of Twister Falls, but it's difficult (and potentially unsafe) to lean out or scramble down to see more of the drop

Narrow ledges with drop-offs along the Eagle Creek Trail