Panther Creek Falls

Carson / Wind River Valley / Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Washington, USA

About Panther Creek Falls


Hiking Distance: about 1-mile round-trip (both viewpoints)
Suggested Time: 30-60 minutes

Date first visited: 2021-06-24
Date last visited: 2021-06-24

Waterfall Latitude: 45.86711
Waterfall Longitude: -121.82915

Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

Panther Creek Falls is an attractive convergence of waterfalls where Panther Creek and Big Creek converged.

When viewed from the official lookouts, they appeared to me like at least segments with smaller segments draping in between the larger columns of water (depending on waterflow, of course).

Panther_Creek_Falls_037_06242021 - Panther Creek Falls
Panther Creek Falls

That said, I noticed that there may be more to this 50-75ft waterfall than meets the eye.

For starters, I noticed that there was a lot of relatively new infrastructure (primarily to discourage scrambling), which really limited the ways to view the Panther Creek Falls.

In the past, there was evidence of past usage to suggest that people used to scramble and manage to see more of the entirety of this waterfall.

There was even a lower tier that the new official lookouts don’t let you see very well given the foliage obstructions and re-vegetation zones.

Panther_Creek_Falls_013_06242021 - Checking out the convergence of Big Creek and Panther Creek at the Panther Creek Falls' upper viewpoint
Checking out the convergence of Big Creek and Panther Creek at the Panther Creek Falls’ upper viewpoint

So even though this was one of the more impressive waterfalls to be found in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, the sanctioned way to experience it made it seem less impressive than it otherwise could be.

Nevertheless, I still found the experience satisfying and well worth the detour from the Wind River Road to reach.

Hiking to the Upper Viewpoint of Panther Creek Falls

From the spacious pullout or parking area (see directions below), I then hiked back about 200ft in the direction that I drove in from to look for the trail descending to the falls.

Eventually, I reached an easy-to-miss trail that descended into the thick vegetated area, where a spraypainted arrow on the pavement also helped to mark the way.

Panther_Creek_Falls_066_06242021 - Following the road towards the Panther Creek Falls Trail
Following the road towards the Panther Creek Falls Trail

Once on the descending dirt path, in about 350ft, I encountered a signed trail fork, where the right path went to the Upper Viewpoint, and the left path went to the Bottom of the Falls.

Keeping right to go to the upper viewpoint, the path went for another 400ft while partially going along one of the creeks as it descended to the well-fenced upper lookout.

From this vantage point, I was able to see the convergence of the creeks over the Panther Creek Falls, but the lookout was set far enough back from the dropoffs to conceal some of the waterfall’s view.

I’m sure they did this setback in the name of safety, especially with respect to cliff stability, so I had to be contented with the limited experience.

Panther_Creek_Falls_063_06242021 - Context of the path descending to the upper viewpoint of Panther Creek Falls
Context of the path descending to the upper viewpoint of Panther Creek Falls

After having my fill of this spot, I retraced my steps to the signed fork.

Hiking to the Lower Viewpoint of Panther Creek Falls

Now, keeping left at the signed fork, the path continued further downstream away from Panther Creek before making a switchback after maybe 0.2-mile.

Continuing the descent from the hairpin turn, the trail descended even more to some stepped switchbacks until eventually arriving at the lower lookout.

Along the way, I noticed that Panther Creek Falls had additional lower tiers, but I couldn’t get a clean look at it due to a lot of foliage obstructing my line of sight.

Panther_Creek_Falls_049_06242021 - Context of the final part of the descent to the lower lookout for Panther Creek Falls
Context of the final part of the descent to the lower lookout for Panther Creek Falls

Like with the Upper Viewpoint, the Lower Lookout was almost surrounded by fencing and signs prohibiting off-trail scrambling.

So from this vantage point, I was able to see the main face of Panther Creek Falls, but any further exploration (and possibly seeing more of the waterfall) was not possible from the sanctioned lookout.

Overall, I spent around 30 minutes to take in both lookouts, but it was an upside-down hike so the hike back up definitely made me sweaty, especially since we were dealing with the onset of an unprecedented heat wave during our late June 2021 visit.

Authorities

Panther Creek Falls resides in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest near Carson in Skamania County, Washington. It is administered by the USDA Forest Service. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website.

Panther_Creek_Falls_003_06242021 - This sign indicated to me that I was in the right place to find Panther Creek Falls
Panther_Creek_Falls_023_iPhone_06242021 - This spray-painted arrow on the Panther Creek Road pointed towards the actual trailhead for Panther Creek Falls
Panther_Creek_Falls_005_06242021 - Context of the start of the Panther Creek Falls Trail and the Panther Creek Road
Panther_Creek_Falls_007_06242021 - A trail sign nagging hikers to stay on the trail, which I came to appreciate when I started to get to each of the overlooks for Panther Creek Falls
Panther_Creek_Falls_008_06242021 - This was the signed trail fork telling me that the path on the right went to the upper lookout while the path on the left went to the bottom of Panther Creek Falls
Panther_Creek_Falls_011_06242021 - Following the fenced path leading to the upper lookout for Panther Creek Falls
Panther_Creek_Falls_012_06242021 - Descending towards the upper viewpoint for Panther Creek Falls
Panther_Creek_Falls_015_06242021 - Looking upstream along what I think is Panther Creek from the upper viewpoint for Panther Creek Falls
Panther_Creek_Falls_019_06242021 - Continuing back on the Panther Creek Falls Trail as I headed towards its bottom, I followed this ledge-hugging trail further downstream away from the falls
Panther_Creek_Falls_021_06242021 - Indeed, the trail to the bottom of Panther Creek Falls went quite a ways further downstream before making a switchback towards the falls
Panther_Creek_Falls_026_06242021 - This mossy cliff wall that the Panther Creek Falls Trail skirted by hinted at the geology responsible for the waterfall itself
Panther_Creek_Falls_027_06242021 - This was another mossy cliff wall that the Panther Creek Falls skirted by
Panther_Creek_Falls_028_06242021 - Making the final descent towards the base of Panther Creek Falls as I could see through the trees that it was near
Panther_Creek_Falls_029_06242021 - Partial view of Panther Creek Falls as I was partway down the final descent
Panther_Creek_Falls_032_06242021 - Approaching the lower lookout for Panther Creek Falls
Panther_Creek_Falls_033_06242021 - More nagging signs prohibiting any off-trail use to attempt to improve the views of Panther Creek Falls
Panther_Creek_Falls_041_06242021 - Another look at the Panther Creek Falls from the bottom lookout
Panther_Creek_Falls_054_06242021 - Looking back at the lower lookout for Panther Creek Falls as I started to make my way back up to the trailhead
Panther_Creek_Falls_058_06242021 - Skirting by the cliffs on the way back up from the Panther Creek Falls
Panther_Creek_Falls_059_06242021 - It was a bit of a sweaty climb back up to the Panther Creek Falls Trailhead despite the shade probably because we were about to get hit by an epic and unprecedented heat wave in the Pacific Northwest during our late June 2021 visit


I’ll describe the driving directions using Portland as the starting point to drive to Panther Creek Falls since that was how we’ve done it.

First, we had to drive 41 miles east along the I-84 towards the town of Cascade Locks.

Panther_Creek_Falls_001_06242021 - The spacious parking spaces for Panther Creek Falls
The spacious parking spaces for Panther Creek Falls

Then, we then crossed the Bridge of the Gods, which was a toll bridge crossing over the Columbia River.

Once we were on the north side of the Columbia River, we then drove 6 miles east on Hwy 14 towards the town of Carson, where we took the roundabout onto the Wind River Road.

Once on the Wind River Road, we continued about 5.5 miles towards Old State Road, where we turned right.

We then immediately turned left to get onto Panther Creek Road, where we drove the remaining 7.4 miles to the Panther Creek Trailhead parking on the right.

Panther_Creek_Falls_006_iPhone_06242021 - The Panther Creek Road was narrow enough to be considered 'single-lane road' at least as far as American standards are concerned.  We've seen roads this narrow support bi-directional traffic that even included trucks in countries like Norway
The Panther Creek Road was narrow enough to be considered ‘single-lane road’ at least as far as American standards are concerned. We’ve seen roads this narrow support bi-directional traffic that even included trucks in countries like Norway

Note that the Panther Creek Road was a narrow “single-lane” road (as far as American roads are concerned) with no opportunities to pass unless slower drivers stop at pullouts or wider spaces in the road.

Some of those spaces need to be used anyways to let cars going in the opposite direction to scoot by anyways.

Overall, this drive would take under 90 minutes.

For some geographical context, Carson is about 63 miles (75 minutes drive) northeast of Portland, Oregon, 52 miles (90 minutes drive) southeast of Cougar, and 34 miles (under an hour drive) northwest of Hood River.

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Checking out the Panther Creek Falls from the upper viewpoint


Checking out as much of the Panther Creek Falls as I could from the lower viewpoint at the bottom

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Tagged with: carson, wind river, gifford pinchot, skamania county



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Johnny Cheng

About Johnny Cheng

Johnny Cheng is the founder of the World of Waterfalls and author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls. Over the last 2 decades, he has visited thousands of waterfalls in over 40 countries around the world and nearly 40 states in the USA.
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