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Tumalo Falls via Tumalo Creek Trail: Hike & Bike Trails in Deschutes National Park

4w ago   Real estate   Lincoln   60 views Reference: 875408

Location: Lincoln

Price: Contact us


Settled in the Pacific Northwest, Bend (Oregon) is a year-round outdoor playground with the Deschutes river in town. Its epic Cascade Range to the West, tons of hiking bend Oregon, and lakes make the city an excellent place for recreational activities.

Tumalo fall is one of the most iconic waterfalls in Central Oregon. At nearly 100 feet in Deschutes National Park, Tumalo Falls boasts several stunning viewpoints, accessible hiking trails, other cascading waterfalls, and beautiful forests to wander through. The first glimpse of this picture-perfect waterfall will take your breath away.

Before heading out for the trip, let’s look at everything you need to know about the trails. Let’s get started!

Tumalo Creek Falls: In-and-out & Loop Trails

A few miles away from the trailhead in Deschutes National Forest, Tumalo Creek runs from Skyliner snow park to Tumalo Fall. While we’re all for in-and-out hikes, there’s something special about a loop hike. It just feels a little more adventurous. You will return to where you started a different way, never retracing a step, every view of a fresh one.

The Tumalo Falls Loop hike is a very rewarding average-length day height that you can do in the high desert of Central Oregon. You’ll travel a total of seven miles and climb about 1300 feet. You’ll have to start at about 5000 feet elevation at the trailhead. So, this can be a good height to escape the valley’s heat for a bit on a hot summer day.

How to get to Tumalo Falls Trail

To get to the trailhead for this hike, head West out of the Old Town part of Bend on Skyliners Road. After about 9 miles, shortly after the historic Skyliners neighborhood, the road beers right and turns into Tumalo Falls Rd. Then it’s a gravel road for a couple of miles until you dead end at the trailhead.

Equipment to Consider Bringing:

Let’s go over just a few things you might want to consider bringing for this hike, in addition to whatever you usually gear up with.

  • trekking poles
  • water shoes
  • sun hat
  • Northwest Forest Pass (for parking). We recommend getting this ahead of time. If you don’t have a chance, bring a $5 bill.

Tumalo Creek Falls hiking trails

So you made it to the trailhead; now what? Well, you can jump right into the hike, but right at the trailhead, you’ll find an excellent viewpoint for the main Tumalo falls as well as a trail you can take down to Tumalo Creek and follow up to the bottom of Tumalo falls if you want to do a little exploring first.

All intersecting trails

As you follow this meandering path along Tumalo Creek, you’ll be greeted by a waterfall after a waterfall. The main Tumalo falls at the trailhead may be the biggest, but all of these smaller gems add up to something more. And they keep coming.

Swampy Lakes Trail

After a couple of miles, you’ll reach a log bridge going over a Creek. You’ll cross the bridge and meander slowly uphill for another mile, passing more waterfalls, which will now be on your left. After that mile, you’ll come to your first junction with the Swampy Lakes Trail, where we’ll be making a sharp left turn, ending section A of this loop.

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