Horsetail Falls: Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area

Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T!

Sea to Summit Tour

The Columbia River Gorge NSA , including Horsetail Falls, falls under the administration of the US Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service. When in Oregon, we toured the gorge with Sea to Summit tours. We met our guide Shahn by Pioneer Square in Portland and loaded into a comfortable minibus for our full day tour.


Shahn drove us along the Historic Columbia River Highway, stopping at numerous waterfalls and other picturesque places. The tour culminated with a stop at the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood. Shahn kept us entertained during drive time and at each stop with the history and anecdotes about the places we saw. We never would have fit all of this into one day if we’d tried to do it on our own, and my husband would have been cranky from all the driving and trying to find parking. I highly recommend seeing the area with Sea to Summit.

Horsetail Falls

After Multnomah, we stopped briefly at Horsetail Falls. It’s right off the highway and is 176 feet tall. We still had a lot on the itinerary to get to, so we didn’t have time to hike any of the trail here. I hear there is another cascade a little further up.

This skinny waterfall, cascading over a rounded cliff, resembles a horse’s tail. We jumped out, snapped a few photos and moved on to the next stop.

Columbia River Gorge Posts


Location: 40700 Historic Columbia River Hwy, Corbett, OR 97019
Designation: National Register of Historic Places
Date designated/established: Built 1916, NRHP 1974
Date of my visit: August 27, 2016