White River Falls State Park is a state park in north central

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. It is located by road south of

The Dalles The Dalles is the largest city of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The population was 16,010 at the 2020 census, and it is the largest city on the Oregon side of the Columbia River between the Portland Metropolitan Area, and Hermiston ...

and east of Tygh Valley. The focus of the park is the falls where

wild and scenic The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...

White River plunges from a basalt shelf. At the base of the falls are the ruins of a

hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a w ...

plant which supplied electricity to north central Oregon from 1910 to 1960. The falls are located at

river mile A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometers is the river kilometer. They are analogous to vehicle roa ...

(RM) 3 of the White River which flows into the Deschutes at RM 46.5. There are no fees to use the park and it is open mid-March through the end of October. Panoramic photo of White River Falls State Park

Panoramic photo of White River Falls State Park

See also