Metlako Falls Spur Trail (#440A)

This was once a spur trail leading from approximately milepoint 1.5 on Eagle Creek Trail (#440) to a small overlook that provided a partially obscured view of Metlako Falls. Metlako Waterfall is a 100-150 foot plunge waterfall, the tallest waterfall along Eagle Crek. It was named in 1915 after the Native American goddess of salmon.

Nature was not kind to this section of trail -- in late December 2016, the overlook completely calved off the side of the cliff during a winter storm. Geologists who visited the site found it was unstable and was an active slide, so the ground could collapse at any moment under anyone who approaches the former site of the overlook. Then, in 2017, the area was further damaged when Eagle Creek Fire burned the area's vegetation, which had been helping to hold the rocky slopes into place.

For your safety, please do not approach the cliff edge or attempt to recreate the trail. On the upside, the dynamic forces that are still at play in Eagle Creek are natural and help create salmon habitat (as collapsed material forms shoals), pollinator and wildflower havens (as wildfires open up canopies), and food for wildlife (as woody crevices create habitat and re-emerging vegetation creates ground-level food).