A 17-year-old hiker is still in the hospital after tumbling an estimated 100 feet down an embankment Monday evening on the Elowah Falls Trail in Multnomah County, a fall that set off a technical, multi-agency rescue lasting more than four hours in the steep Columbia River Gorge.
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said the teen was hiking with his family in the John Yeon State Scenic Corridor when he slipped off the main trail and landed on rough terrain near McCord Creek. Deputies received the call around 6 p.m. Monday, and the hiker sustained significant injuries in the fall.
Rescuers Carried The Teen Through McCord Creek
The Elowah Falls trailhead serves as an entry point to Elowah Falls and McCord Creek Falls, and it also marks the western end of the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail, according to Oregon State Parks. That mix of steep forested slopes, creek crossings and limited vehicle access turned the operation into a slow, methodical extraction rather than a straightforward ambulance response.
As reported by KOIN, rescuers relied on rope systems and a litter basket to haul the teen from the embankment, then more than a dozen volunteers and emergency workers carried him through the creek bed to reach the paved trail. Crews arrived at the command post around 10:30 p.m., where an ambulance transported him to Cascade Locks Airport, and a LifeFlight helicopter then flew him to a hospital.
The sheriff’s office said the teen remains hospitalized and that no further information about his condition was available. The rescue involved the agency’s Green Hornets, Multnomah County Search and Rescue, Cascade Locks Fire and Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue, with AMR also assisting.
