Nineteen miles from its headwaters on Mt. Adams, the Lewis River launches itself from the first of three significant waterfalls. These falls comprise the river’s signature performance. The Upper, Middle, and Lower Falls are must-see features on the Lewis.
Lower Falls is the first of the three waterfalls that a visitor will encounter while traveling upstream. To get to Lower Falls, follow the US Forest Service 90 Road east from the Eagle Cliff bridge. The Eagle Cliff bridge is at the eastern end of the Swift Reservoir. Lower Falls Campground is fifteen miles east of Eagle Cliff on the 90 road. After turning right into the campground driveway, bear right again into the day use area. A Northwest Forest Pass is required to park here. A well maintained, easy trail leads from the day use parking area to several viewpoints above the Lower Falls. The falls themselves are created by a sharp, Niagara Falls-like, drop in the river bed. The falls look as if the Lewis River is flowing over the edge of a jagged countertop. The river’s flow divides in half immediately prior to the falls. One half forms a main, narrow channel on the north side of the falls while the other half of the flow spreads itself out over a number of rivulets and minor waterfalls that cover the southern three-quarters of the counter top.
Below Lower Falls, the Lewis forms a gentle pool. A shelf of lava rock extends out from the northern shore and sits very visible, just barely underneath the relatively calm water. The image of this jutting shelf of green-brown rock, combined with the green-blue pool of the Lewis perfectly replicates the image of a continental shelf often found on world-scale maps. There is no easy trail down to the pool below Lower Falls, enjoy the view from above. Resist the temptation to play in the safe-looking Lewis above the falls, unsuspecting swimmers have lost their lives here.
Upstream from Lower Falls, the Middle and Upper Falls lie twenty and nineteen river-miles from the Adams Glacier, respectively. You can access both of these falls from one trailhead, about a mile east, or upstream, from the Lower Falls Campground. The trailhead has a small, gravel parking area on the south side of the 90 road, marked with a small sign indicating the Middle Falls Trail. From the parking area, follow the trail a few hundred yards until it intersects with the Lewis River Trail. Stay left at that intersection. Shortly thereafter, the Lewis River Trail arrives at Middle Falls. The Middle Falls are gentle and subdued when compared with the multiple, cliff-edge, vertical drops of Lower Falls. At Middle Falls, the Lewis ripples down the textured rock slope of an old lava flow. While the southern third of the falls is a true, vertical waterfall, the bulk of Middle Falls is really a beautiful cascade of water flowing gently over lava.
At Middle Falls it is a very short, though somewhat technical, scramble down to the river from the Lewis River Trail. One can stand right on the old lava just below the cascade, a half-inch of the Lewis River flowing under your feet, with the shimmering, silver water flashes in the sunlight a score of yards in either direction. What Middle falls may lack in power and spectacle, it makes up for with peaceful beauty.
A brief one mile walk beyond Middle Falls on the Lewis River Trail, and you reach perhaps the best feature of the Lewis River, Upper Falls. It having been a few years since the first, and only, time I have visited Upper Falls, I had forgotten how picturesque they are. I came around a bend in the trail mid-morning in late August. The sun at this time of day, and this time of year, positioned itself so as to provide a perfect back light for the falls and their spray. The golden sun shown through the forest of the southern shore and illuminated the showery mists of the falls, transforming the flying water into a silvery translucence. Upper Falls, lit as such, appeared as a real-life image from a J.R. Tolkein novel. A capstone visual experience of the Gifford Pinchot. The falls are comprised, much like their Lower cousin, of a tabletop, lava plateau interspersed with variously sized sheets and streams of water falling over a jagged edge. The main river channel lies tucked away between the plateau wall and the northern bank. The Lewis’ main channel circumvents Upper Falls’ plateau and carries the bulk of the river’s flow downstream in a set of crashing double falls. A large, boulder-strewn, pool collects the river water after the falls, giving it a brief rest before continuing downstream. A small, unofficial campsite sits along the Lewis River Trail at Upper Falls.
The signature falls of the Lewis River are a must-see feature of our area. Though it may take a day to make the drive out and back, the time is worth the memory.
