Ramona Falls

I almost turned back.  What a shame that would have been!  I generally don’t sweat enough to properly regulate my body temperature (TMI?) and consequently tend to get heat exhaustion easily.  It was a hot, dry day but ultimately I pushed through to complete the 7.1 mile trail.  Aside from that issue, the trail really isn’t that difficult.  The trail to Ramona Falls is a loop with the first roughly 3.6 miles to the falls gently climbing 1000′ in elevation.

The trail head begins in unison with another trail in the area then branches off into it’s the Ramona Falls loop trail.  We chose to start to the right of the fork which hardly has any shade at all and isn’t much to look at.  It follows the river and also is the portion of the trail that horses are allowed on so watch out for all the biting flies.

Ramona Falls is your reward at the end of the elevation climb.  Nestled in a cool grove of old giant pine trees in the Mt. Hood wilderness is the massive waterfall cascading over moss covered basalt lava formations.

The other side of the loop which we chose as our return route is almost entirely shaded.  It meanders through the forest and follows a pretty stream.  The scenery on this half of the trail was spectacular.

I’m happy to say I completed the full loop but next time I’ll stick to the pretty side up AND back.  🙂

**There is a $5 recreation fee for this trail.  Passes need to be hung from your rear view mirror once in the parking lot of the trail head and can be obtained at the Ranger Station in Zigzag (yes, there really is a town called Zigzag) on the Mt. Hood Highway.