Upper Wenaha River

  • Moderate (to river ford)
  • 4.6 miles round trip
  • 850 feet elevation loss
  • Open mid-June to early November
  • Use: hikers, horses


  • Difficult (to Milk Creek ford)
  • 9 miles round trip
  • 1300 feet elevation loss


The 31.4-mile Wenaha River Trail traces a gigantic canyon through the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness along the Oregon-Washington border. Here at the trail’s upper end you can see the river begin at a high mountain spring in an old-growth larch forest. After just 2.3 miles the river has grown so large that hikers can’t cross it with dry feet. If you don’t mind fording you can continue 2.2 miles into an open rimrock canyon typical of the lower valley beyond.

To drive here from …

This chapter taken from the book 100 Hikes/Travel Guide: Eastern Oregon.