A 90 foot plunge over a basalt shelf in the dry country east of Mount Hood, with the ruins of a 1910 powerhouse at its base and the biggest water in the melt months.
April through June
Big water window
in a typical year
Snowmelt
What drives it
White River
Live USGS
Data on this page
gauge 14101500
Oregon State Parks
Managed by
their rules govern
Trail status, closures and safety rules belong to each falls' managing agency, named and linked on every page.
The season
What fills White River Falls, and when
The White River heads on Mount Hood's glaciers and snowfields, then crosses dry wheat country to this basalt shelf, so the falls peaks with the melt from April through June and runs milky with glacial flour in summer. The old hydro plant below powered two counties from 1910 to 1963 and now just watches.
Typical best flow: April through June
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What the agency itself says
Central Oregon's White River Falls plunges 90' over a basalt shelf, testament to the violent geological forces that carved the region millions of years ago.
White River Falls State Park (Oregon Parks and Recreation Department)Multnomah Falls in autumn: a Columbia Gorge falls that keeps respectable flow year round, and the standard against which most falls seasons get measured. “Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Multnomah Falls, fall color - 3” — Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region — Public domain
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Right now
What White River is doing today
Flow at the gauge now
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USGS median for Oct 15
Not published
Gauge: USGS 14101500 White River below Tygh Valley OR, effectively at the falls, a few hundred feet downstream of the drop. The gauge reads the river, not the brink of the falls, so treat it as the trend line rather than a turnstile.
Source: USGS Water Services (National Water Information System). Instantaneous values and daily statistics services. U.S. Geological Survey data are works of the United States Government and are in the public domain. Gauge verified 2026-08-27.
The other half of the story: the same Palouse Falls in late August. Nothing is wrong; this is what a snowmelt river does every year once the melt is spent. “Palouse Falls 20100829” by Mark Wagner, CC BY-SA 2.5
Getting there
Access, in the agency's words and ours
The park is open year round, per Oregon State Parks, though the main lot and restroom close in winter, when entry is walk-in from the gate. The state park rates the rough 0.7 mile trail to the canyon floor for advanced hikers.
Basalt-country snowmelt (Palouse Falls, Washington). White River Falls pours over the same flood-carved rock two states west, on Mount Hood's meltwater. “04-15-14-palouse” — Dsdugan — CC0
Common questions
White River Falls flow season FAQ
The reliable big-water window is April through June. The White River heads on Mount Hood's glaciers and snowfields, then crosses dry wheat country to this basalt shelf, so the falls peaks with the melt from April through June and runs milky with glacial flour in summer. The old hydro plant below powered two counties from 1910 to 1963 and now just watches.
This page reads the USGS gauge on White River (White River below Tygh Valley OR, effectively at the falls, a few hundred feet downstream of the drop) live in your browser, and shows the latest flow next to the median USGS publishes for today's date, so you can see where today sits in the year. The gauge reads the river, not the brink, so treat it as the trend rather than a turnstile.
No, the glacial headwaters keep it alive all year, but late summer is a fraction of the spring show. The gauge below Tygh Valley sits within sight of the drop, so the number on this page is about as close to the brink as USGS gets anywhere.
White River Falls State Park (Oregon Parks and Recreation Department). The park is open year round, per Oregon State Parks, though the main lot and restroom close in winter, when entry is walk-in from the gate. The state park rates the rough 0.7 mile trail to the canyon floor for advanced hikers. Trail status, closures and safety rules are theirs, and their page is linked on this one; nothing here overrides what they publish.
In their own words: "The hike to the bottom of the falls is for advanced hikers." That sentence is White River Falls State Park (Oregon Parks and Recreation Department)'s, quoted verbatim, and their page is the place to check before you go.
Yosemite Falls in May, running on snowmelt that will be gone by late summer. The National Park Service tells visitors the falls can be dry by August, which is why every falls page here starts from its watershed. “Tourists below Yosemite Falls (39832011431)” by Mike McBey, CC BY 2.0
A 224 foot single plunge over lichen-splashed columnar basalt in the western Columbia Gorge, minutes from the historic highway and at its best in the wet half of the year.
The 177 foot curtain you can walk behind, headliner of Silver Falls State Park's Trail of Ten Falls and the centerpiece of Oregon's largest state park.
A two-tier plunge over a wall of columnar basalt on the North Umpqua, with flow smoothed year round by the hydroelectric diversion whose wooden pipe lines the access road.
Flow windows are typical-year climatology drawn from the driver and the agency language quoted above, not forecasts. Live readings and per-date percentiles are U.S. Geological Survey data, public domain; the above-or-below-typical line is our comparison and is labelled as such. Access, trail and safety information belongs to White River Falls State Park (Oregon Parks and Recreation Department). National picture: waterfall season across the US → Hero image: “04-15-14-palouse” — Dsdugan — CC0
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