Proxy Falls

Drop everything

Is it plungeworthy?

226feet tall

A segmented horsetails on Proxy Creek.

Scale57/60

Documentation20/20

Character14/20

The details

Type: Segmented Horsetails
Watercourse: Proxy Creek
Coordinates: 44.16161, -121.92744

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About Proxy Falls

Proxy Falls is a 226-foot segmented horsetails in Oregon, on Proxy Creek.

Fed largely by snowmelt, it runs hardest in late spring and early summer and can thin to a trickle by late season.

Plungeworthy rates Proxy Falls 9.1/10 — drop everything. The score weighs its scale, how confidently it's mapped, and its character.

What you'll find

A short loop through a 3,000-year-old lava flow reaches two falls on Separation Creek: Lower Proxy, a 226-foot bridal-veil fan that pours over a mossy wall and then simply vanishes into the porous lava with no visible outlet, and gentler Upper Proxy a little further on.

The walk itself earns the stop — lava rock, moss curtains, old-growth — even before the falls.

Getting there

Trailhead: Proxy Falls Trailhead, on the McKenzie Highway (OR-242)
Parking: Small pullout directly off 242; fills by mid-morning in July–August. No vehicles over 35 feet.
Road: Paved, but OR-242 is a narrow winding pass road, gated closed in winter
Hike: 1.6 mi round trip, 164 ft of climb (easy)
Heads up: Loop crosses uneven lava in places. No maintained access to the base of Lower Proxy.

When to go

A summer-and-fall-only falls: OR-242 is typically gated from the first November snow until mid-June (it reopened June 15 for the 2026 season). Snowmelt-fed springs keep the flow honest all season rather than fading like a normal creek.

Rules & fees

Fee / pass: $5/day or Northwest Forest Pass / interagency pass for parking, plus a free self-issue wilderness permit at the trailhead kiosk (June 15 – Oct 15). This trailhead does NOT need the limited-entry Central Cascades permit.
Dogs: Leashed, 6-foot max
Hours: Day use, 6am–10pm
Camping: Alder Springs Campground ~1.5 miles; Limberlost also close on 242
Warnings: High-fire-danger country in late summer — check Willamette NF alerts and smoke conditions before the pass drive.

Researched from USFS — Proxy Falls Trail #3532 · OPB — McKenzie Pass 2026 opening. Conditions change — verify before you drive. Been to Proxy Falls recently? Post a conditions report below.

Where it is

Before you go

The pin marks the feature, not a trailhead or a legal route in. Some sit on private land or need a real hike, and conditions change with season and rain. Check local access, don't trespass, and never enter water — hot or cold — where it isn't safe.