A 70-year-old woman died Friday afternoon after falling an estimated 400 feet from a trail near Horsetail Falls in the Columbia River Gorge, officials say. Emergency responders were notified around 1:45 p.m. after a friend hiking with her called for help, and crews determined she had died from her injuries after falling roughly half a mile up the trail.
According to the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, Cascade Locks Fire alerted responders to the fall near the trailhead at 56600 E. Historic Columbia River Highway. Officials have not released the woman's name, as reported by OregonLive, which first reported the fall Saturday morning.
A Steep Climb Behind a Waterfall
The stretch of trail where the fall happened is known for its dramatic but unforgiving terrain. Horsetail Falls Trail #438 climbs steeply from the highway parking lot and passes behind the 88-foot Ponytail Falls inside a natural basalt cavern before connecting to the Oneonta Trail, according to trail documentation from Friends of the Columbia Gorge. Horsetail Falls itself drops 176 feet right alongside the Historic Columbia River Highway, and the connecting paths run narrow along steep cliff edges the whole way up.
This is not the first fatal fall on this stretch of trail network. Multnomah County Sheriff's Office records show 22-year-old hiker Elisha Angelic Macias died in May 2024 after separating from her group and falling 50 to 60 feet off-trail near the Oneonta Trail, just west of the Horsetail Falls trailhead. And in news coverage relayed on social media, KGW-TV reported that a woman in her 60s died in March 2024 after falling while hiking alone on trails near Horsetail Falls.
Third Waterfall Fatality of the Summer
Friday's death marks the third fatal accident tied to an Oregon waterfall hike this summer, according to That Oregon Life, which noted it followed an August 1 fatality at Punch Bowl Falls and a 177-foot fatal fall at Silver Falls State Park. In that earlier Punch Bowl Falls incident, a 19-year-old hiker from Kennewick, Washington, died after falling an estimated 50 to 80 feet off a cliff above Eagle Creek while attempting to scramble down toward the waterfall, as reported by The Daily Beast. Hood River County search teams had to execute a complex rope extraction to recover that victim.
The pattern extends beyond Horsetail Falls and Punch Bowl Falls. Hoodline previously reported on a teen's 100-foot fall on the nearby Elowah Falls Trail, which triggered a multi-agency rescue lasting more than four hours in late July. That case, along with an April rescue of a Troutdale hiker who survived a 150-foot fall near the Sandy River, underscores how frequently steep embankment falls in the Gorge require high-angle rope rescues rather than straightforward hikes out.
Millions of Visitors, Persistent Risk
The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area draws more than two million visitors annually, and going off-trail or falling from steep basalt cliffs remains the top cause of serious injuries and deaths, according to safety data from the U.S. Forest Service. Rescue operations in the Gorge's steep basalt canyons often rely on specialized units, including the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office's Green Hornets Search and Rescue team, working alongside local fire districts and volunteer mountain rescue groups when helicopter transport is not an option.
Communication during emergencies can also be a serious hurdle. The Forest Service warns that cellular reception is frequently unavailable just a few hundred yards up deep canyon trails in the Gorge, which is why authorities advise hikers to carry physical maps and leave trip itineraries with trusted contacts before heading out. As of Saturday, the identity of the woman who died Friday remained withheld pending family notification.
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