Greenleaf Creek
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| | Raps:3-5, max ↨75ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:None Vehicle:Passenger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 19 Oct 2025
"No other anchors were found, so this may have been a possible first descent. Rock quality in Lower Greenleaf is pretty terrible, especially near the t |
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| Best season: | Aug-Sept
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45.6668, -121.9574
45.6560, -121.9590
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Introduction[edit]
A short canyon on Greenleaf Creek on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge. It drains the south side of Table Mountain and the Greenleaf Basin area. It's also known as Lower Greenleaf Falls, although this is a bit of a misnomer as the creek goes through 4-5 distinct drops. The creek has a somewhat high pay-to-play and is probably best for Portland-area canyon obsessives. Parking is at the Bonneville Hot Springs Resort.
- Be aware: the rock quality in Lower Greenleaf is largely terrible even by the already low standards of the Columbia Gorge. The canyon is still undergoing rapid erosion, and it's likely that it gets re-arranged every year during spring floods. Any teams venturing in should be prepared to rebuild every anchor. As of Oct 2025, there were signs of recent landslides, and rockfall may be a constant concern. Rappelling directly in the watercourse may be the safest place as any loose debris will have been swept out by winter floods.
- Watershed: 4.3mi^2. The highest point in the watershed is Birkenfeldt Mtn at 3763ft elevation.
Approach[edit]
Follow the trail behind the Hot Springs Resort up to Carpenter's Lake (now swamp). Turn right at the old track, then right again immediately on an overgrown connector trail to a 4-way junction at the PCT. Bear right on the PCT and follow until you reach the bridge across Greenleaf Creek. Suit up and head downstream perhaps 100 yards to the top of the canyon.
- Unexplored: It also might be possible to follow the trail toward Lower Greenleaf, then thrash directly up to the PCT (+500ft) to cut off several miles.
Descent[edit]
All beta here should be taken with a grain of salt. Floods and landslides may re-arrange the entire canyon. The rock quality improves marginally as one descends through the canyon.
- 20ft drop - plunge-step/downclimb DCR (or rappel from a convenient tree DCL in two stages).
Downclimb the next tier, and dck through small boulder cave at the bottom to the top of R1.
- R1: 15ft nuisance rappel from log DCR.
- R2: 60ft from bottom of the same log creek center. (May need about 75ft of rope from the anchor.)
- Just ahead is another 30ft drop. It's possible to carefully downclimb a chute DCL on surprisingly grippy rock. (Alternatively, a bolt anchor on a giant boulder creek center would allow you to rappel the cascade.)
- R3: 40ft from single bolt on the down-canyon side of a large boulder DCR. It's possible to rappel in or out of the water.
Exit[edit]
From the bottom of the last falls, make your way downstream through the creek until it's easy to climb out DCR. Look for an obvious trail climbing up the DCR bank. Follow this trail all the way back to the hot springs resort. It emerges through a monster thicket of blackberry onto the lawn behind the main building.
- Extra bonus points: Bring a bathing suit for a soak at the resort post-canyon.
Red tape[edit]
There is a $10 charge to park at the Bonneville Hot Springs Resort. Check in and out at the front desk.
Beta sites[edit]
Trip reports and media[edit]
Background[edit]
First descended by in Oct 2025 by Kevin Clark, Trey Schutrumpf, Caitlin Shrigley, and David Konkol.