America’s first scenic highway follows every cliff and waterfall in Oregon’s gorge

America’s first scenic highway still delivers

A 70-mile road runs through Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge from Troutdale to The Dalles, and it was built with one rule: follow every waterfall, every viewpoint, every curve of the cliffs.

The highway earned National Historic Landmark status in 2000, along with designations as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark and an All-American Road.

It took nine years to build, and the people behind it modeled the whole thing after scenic roads in Europe.

The drive starts with basalt walls and ends in high desert, and almost everything worth stopping for sits right off the pavement.

A lawyer and a lumberman built it by hand

Construction started in 1913 and wrapped up in 1922, with a completion ceremony near Rowena on June 27 of that year.

Lawyer Sam Hill and engineer Samuel C. Lancaster pushed the project forward, and Lancaster refused to cut a straight path. He routed the road past every waterfall and natural feature in the Gorge instead.

Multnomah County funded the early work with revenue bonds, and retired lumberman John B. Yeon ran the build as county roadmaster.

Simon Benson, another lumberman, bought scenic spots along the route and gave them to the state.

Stand 733 feet above the river at Crown Point

Crown Point is a basalt ledge that rises 733 feet straight up from the Columbia River, and Vista House sits right on top.

Portland architect Edgar M. Lazarus designed it in Art Nouveau style, and workers finished it in 1918. Inside, you walk on marble floors from Alaska, past stained glass windows and bronze details.

The building went up as a rest stop, observatory, and memorial to Oregon pioneers.

It landed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and a restoration between 2000 and 2005 brought it back to its original look.

Figure-eight loops carved by Italian stonemasons

Getting down from Crown Point to the river means dropping 600 feet, and Lancaster solved that with a series of figure-eight loops. He borrowed the idea from European roads, using gentle curves instead of steep grades.

Hand-cut stone guard walls and arches line every turn, all built by Italian craftsmen who also put up the retaining walls and bridges along the highway.

You wind down through the loops slowly, and by the time you reach the bottom, you’re at the start of the waterfall corridor heading east.

Latourell Falls drops 224 feet over yellow-green basalt

Latourell Falls is the first big waterfall you hit driving east.

The lower falls drop 224 feet in a single plunge over columnar basalt, and the rock face is covered in bright yellow-green lichen.

That color against the dark stone makes it one of the most photographed waterfalls in the Gorge. A 2.1-mile loop trail takes you past the lower falls and keeps going to Upper Latourell Falls.

The whole area sits within Guy W. Talbot State Park, and you can feel the mist from the parking lot.

Multnomah Falls pulls in two million visitors a year

Oregon’s tallest waterfall stands 620 feet and falls in two tiers, 542 feet on the upper drop and 69 feet on the lower.

The Benson Bridge crosses 105 feet above the lower cascade, built in 1914 and named after Simon Benson. Underground springs from Larch Mountain feed the falls year-round, so you never show up to a dry cliff.

More than two million people visit each year, making this the most popular natural site in the Pacific Northwest. Multnomah Falls Lodge went up in 1925 and sits on the National Register of Historic Places.

Five more waterfalls within eight miles of Crown Point

Within about eight miles east of Crown Point, the highway passes five major waterfalls. Bridal Veil Falls tumbles over a mossy cliff in a shape that earned its name.

Wahkeena Falls steps down through dense forest in a series of cascades. Horsetail Falls drops 176 feet in a single column you can see right from your car window.

Walk a short trail from Horsetail Falls and you end up behind Ponytail Falls, where water pours over the rock above your head. Viewing areas and bridges put you close enough to catch the spray on your face.

Watch fish climb the ladder at Bonneville Dam

Bonneville Lock and Dam sits at I-84 exit 40, the first major dam ever built on the Columbia River and a National Historic Landmark.

Inside the visitors center, an underwater window lets you watch fish working their way up the fish ladder. You can also stop by the sturgeon viewing area and see some of the biggest freshwater fish in North America.

Before the dams went in, the stretch around Cascade Locks was a seven-mile run of falls and rapids called the Great Chute.

The Mosier Twin Tunnels hid graffiti from 1921

Between Hood River and Mosier, two tunnels sat buried under rock for decades after crews closed and filled them in the 1960s.

Restoration started in the 1990s, and workers found historical graffiti from 1921, scratched into the walls by drivers stuck in snowstorms for days.

The 4.5-mile segment reopened as a paved, car-free trail for hikers and cyclists.

You walk through two climate zones on one stretch of path, starting in thick western forest and ending on the dry eastern plateau.

The rebuilt Mitchell Point Tunnel cost $31 million

The original Mitchell Point Tunnel went up in 1915 with five arched windows looking out over the Columbia River. It closed in 1953 and crews destroyed it in 1966 to widen Interstate 84.

A new 655-foot tunnel with five arched windows opened to the public on March 21, 2025, funded through the Federal Lands Access Program.

You reach it from a small lot at eastbound I-84 exit 58, and there are only 18 parking spaces with no westbound exit. The 1.5-mile trail segment still has gaps on both sides that are under development.

Wildflowers take over Rowena Crest every spring

At the eastern end of the highway, the mossy forest gives way to dry oak savanna and open grasslands.

Rowena Crest looks out over the Columbia River and the Rowena Loops, a set of horseshoe curves the highway takes to drop off the plateau.

Next door, the Tom McCall Preserve protects 231 acres of native habitat, including four plant species found only in the Columbia River Gorge.

Wildflowers peak in April and May, when yellow balsamroot and blue lupine cover the hillsides from the trail to the cliffs.

The Dalles went from trading post to desert gateway

The Dalles sits at the eastern end of the highway in full high desert, a sharp contrast to the mossy waterfall corridor where you started.

Native Americans used this spot as a major trading and gathering site for thousands of years. Lewis and Clark camped here during their 1805 expedition, and Oregon Trail pioneers staged their wagons in the area.

You can dig into all of it at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, which covers the natural and cultural history of the entire Gorge region.

Drive the Historic Columbia River Highway in Oregon

You can pick up the highway at exit 17 off Interstate 84 in Troutdale, about 20 minutes east of Portland.

The drivable western section runs from Troutdale through the waterfall corridor to Dodson, and the eastern section picks up at Mosier near exit 69, continuing through Rowena Crest to The Dalles.

Between those sections, the car-free Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail fills in the gaps with paved paths for walking and biking.

E-bikes are welcome on the State Trail, and dogs need a leash no longer than six feet.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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