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Starvation Creek Falls is the best waterfalls accessible from the Starvation Creek State Park area. The powerful fall drops out of a narrow channel and into a natural bowl, where the creek spills out and down to a rocky mess before cascading past a picnic area and on to the Columbia River. When the creek is running high, the lower falls actually split around a large rock, forming a segmented lower tier (which isn't evident from the developed viewpoint). The facilities at Starvation Creek Falls have recently been redeveloped, and the falls are now totally accessible to the disabled. The falls are easily viewed from a concrete walkway, but like neighboring Cabin Creek Falls, a large boulder obscures the lower tier of the falls. With a bit of ingenuity and a lot of stamina, one can reach the base of the falls, and climb to the top of the aforementioned rock for the best views possible (though this is not recommend).
- Starvation Creek Falls is the Official name of this waterfall.
The creek (and subsequently the falls) was originally named "Starveout Creek" due to an incident in 1884, where two trains were marooned in a blizzard for two weeks near this site. Nobody actually starved, but there certainly weren't any John Muir-esque writings about the beauty of the area at the time.
The falls are accessed from Starvation Creek State Park, just off of Interstate 84, about halfway between Cascade Locks and Hood River. The parking area is only accessible to eastbound traffic (if you are driving west, exit and turn around at Exit 51 (Wyeth), then to return to your westbound direction, do the same at Viento State Park at Exit 56). From the parking lot, follow the paved walkway past the bathrooms, to a sign pointing the way to "Waterfall". The falls are seen no more than 300 feet away from the parking lot. If you'd like better views than what is provided along the paved path, cross the creek and follow a dirt path upstream for more revealing perspectives.
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