From gentle cascades in the summer months, to powerful plunges in the rainy season, the East Fork Lewis River’s three publicly accessible waterfalls promise unforgettable views for all nature lovers.
The three waterfalls along the East Fork Lewis River with public access may not be the tallest or most impressive, but their accessibility provides viewing opportunities of scenic cascades as close as 13 minutes from the heart of downtown Battle Ground. A fourth plunge, Horseshoe Falls, does not have public access, but lidar imagery shows it to be about 15 feet tall, between Moulton Falls Regional Park and the Sunset Falls Campground, according to the Pacific Northwest Waterfall Survey.
Starting downstream, Lucia Falls is the furthest west with a drop in the river. The waterfall drops 10 feet in a single drop, but the 50-foot width provides year-round viewers a chance to see how the water level varies each month as it changes from one channel to multiple between the rocks, depending on the flow.
Viewing the westernmost waterfall is accessible at the Lucia Falls Regional Park located at 21803 Northeast Lucia Falls Road. The 24-acre park follows the north shore of the East Fork Lewis River and offers picnicking and hiking areas. The park offers visitors a prime chance to view steelhead migration on the river as they leap to continue upriver.
A 2.5-mile trail, with additional parking at the Hantwick Trailhead site, connects the park to the next waterfall, Moulton Falls.
Moulton Falls Regional Park, south of Yacolt on the East Fork, has three classic Pacific Northwest features all in one from a river and larger creek, waterfalls and iconic bridges. Moulton Falls Regional Park offers two paved parking lots and a gravel, roadside parking option at Yacolt Falls.
The county-owned park boasts 387 acres with two swift waterways, two waterfalls and the arch bridge that stands over three stories high, according to Clark County Public Works.
The namesake waterfall, Moulton Falls, features strong rapids compared with the downstream cascade of Lucia Falls. Moulton Falls is a case of a river carving a path through a barricade of rock formations. It stands 11 feet high with a run of 75 feet and a width of 25 feet. The rocks next to the gradually sloping waterfall can be easily accessed with caution, as the rocks can be slippery.
The park also plays host to viewing Yacolt Falls, a waterfall that trumps the falls on the East Fork Lewis River as the cascade drops 28 feet with a vertical pitch of 77 degrees, according to the Pacific Northwest Waterfall Survey. The waterfall drops another 6 feet under a swinging footbridge that crosses the creek. In the winter, the footbridge is closed, making the best view of the falls accessible only from the main parking lot along Northeast Lucia Falls Road.
The park is a key public access feature to the East Fork Lewis River Watershed and has a few educational signs about the importance of watersheds and why they need to be natural, particularly for spawning steelhead and salmon.
After Horseshoe Falls on the East Fork, just inside Skamania County in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, lies Sunset Falls.
Sunset Falls is the uppermost cascade of the East Fork Lewis River, residing around 1,000 feet in elevation. The falls drop about 14 feet into a large pool — though the height can be reduced at lower flows — in anywhere from one to as many as four distinct channels when flows permit, according to the Pacific Northwest Waterfall Survey.
Public access for Sunset Falls occurs at a national forest campground and day-use area. Viewing the waterfall is easy with a short paved trail. For more information about the campground, visit https://tinyurl.com/56hrddnk.
