Umbrella Falls Loop

The Umbrella Falls Loop threads Hood River Meadows on the slopes below the Mt. Hood Meadows ski area, linking two popular waterfalls — Umbrella Falls and Sahale Falls — with a summer wildflower traverse. July and August bring the full display of lupine, golden pea, aster, subalpine daisy, paintbrush, groundsel, heliotrope, and false hellebore across the meadows. The loop stays outside the Mt. Hood Wilderness boundary, so mountain bikes share the trails; move aside for them politely.

From the Elk Meadows Trailhead, the route climbs 0.3 miles through silver fir and western white pine understory thick with huckleberry, crosses two Nordic ski corridors, and turns left onto the Umbrella Falls Trail. The trail wraps a rocky bluff past impressive mountain hemlocks, passes under a chairlift, and crosses small creeks where Cascade frogs, blooming orchids, and monkey flower line the wet sections. At 2.0 miles, Umbrella Falls drops into a slow, clear pool below a footbridge — a natural lunch stop. A side trip past the Sahale Falls junction adds less than a mile round trip to the base of Sahale Falls itself, where a scramble drops to the spray of the falls.

The loop descends through huckleberry and Douglas-fir canopy, passes a short spur with views into the East Fork canyon, and closes back at the Elk Meadows Trailhead. The trails are hikeable from about mid-July once snow clears the upper meadows. Carry a NW Forest Pass. Bring kids who can walk four miles; the waterfalls alone justify the day for most. Pack out any trash you find — ski debris washes down from the resort above after winter.