Gable Creek

A little-known creek close-in to Portland. The creek has two nice waterfalls (one of them being over 200ft high), but they're a fair distance apart. Expect to spend most of your time creek-walking and bushwhacking -- sometimes both at once for long stretches -- making this one a somewhat high pay-to-play. The big falls can be run by itself relatively easily, although hiking in for a single waterfall may not be worth your time.

Park at the end of the county road. Walk up past a gate into High Valley (former hippie commune in the 1980's; land is now owned by the DNR). Turn left immediately on a trail and follow it up onto the ridge. Keep going up. At about 900ft elevation, bear left on an old logging grade and drop down to the creek above the upper falls.

Gable Creek reduces to a trickle in the summer months, and, as a result, it's completely overgrown in some areas. Expect serious bushwhacking... sometimes bushwhacking while wading in the creek (aka "splash-whacking"). A machete might be useful. There used to be an old trail DCL above the creek, but there's not much left of it. As of 2022, it was faint and hard to follow. Thrash, bushwhack, scrabble, wade, and squelch your way downstream. There is one more 10ft drop immediately downstream, but it's not worth your time. Most parties will exit via the trail after R2.