New Multnomah Falls Travel Guide – E-Bike Multnomah Falls

The Multnomah Falls permit requirements were put in place primarily to protect public safety. Two very dangerous situations were occuring as a result of congestion and traffic around Multnomah Falls. The first was that the historic highway backups in both directions were preventing emergency vehicles from reaching Multnomah Falls and responding to incidents there. The second is that cars get backed up on the freeway from the exit 31 parking lot as pictured below. This freeway exit is already quite dangerous, being a short ramp in the left lane on a curve of a 65 mph freeway. Adding cars backed up onto the freeway out of the lot or in this case backed up in front of the barriers makes this even more dangerous. We’re talking stationary cars with people in them standing still in the left lane of a freeway level dangerous. 

 The historic highway backups were fixed when a private operator, Sasquatch Shuttle and Parking, took over the lot across from Multnomah Falls by leasing it from the railroad that owns the property. They hired a crossing guard and flagger at their own expense to move traffic along and solved the issue. As thanks for this public service this company has received multiple cease and desists from Multnomah County.

 The ODOT managed freeway parking is a lot like a typical freeway rest stop but without any bathrooms, water, etc… By Oregon law they are not allowed to charge for parking. This is an important nuance and the main reason this permit system doesn’t work. Because they can’t charge for parking or prevent anyone from parking there, many people who do have a permit don’t get a parking spot. Let me explain: The permit allows you to access Multnomah Falls from the I84 parking lot exit 31. Anyone can park there without a permit. So what happens is that the lot gets full of people who don’t have permits and people with permits don’t get a place to park. This is pretty frustrating and I bet the people in the cars below stacked up in front of the closed gate on the freeway fall into this terribly frustrated category of people who have a permit but physically can’t get a parking spot due to the parking lot being closed/full. If they don’t close it when it gets full cars back up onto the freeway and a few years ago someone died as a result. Having learned that lesson they close the gate but people with reservations from rec.gov feel entitled to their parking spot so they still line up on the freeway behind the gates and wait for their spot. I hate to say it but this is incredibly dangerous and someone will cause a deadly accident again as a result.

Multnomah Falls is ALWAYS accessible using the historic columbia river highway 30 WITHOUT a permit. You only need a permit if you’re using the I-84 exit between Memorial Day and Labor Day between 9am and 6pm. My best advice is to slide in at 8:50 am or 6:10 pm if you’re going during the Summer permit period.

About the Author: My name is Taylor Marean and I’ve spent hundreds of days at Multnomah Falls as it’s been my full time job to be down there since 2020. We operate the Waterfall Shuttle and Ebike Multnomah Falls which are both fun ways to explore Multnomah Falls.