Oneonta Gorge

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Lower Oneonta falls, photographed in late summer.

The Oneonta Gorge is a temperate rain forest in the Columbia River Gorge in the American state of Oregon. The U.S. Forest Service has designated it as a botanical area because of the unique aquatic and woodland plants that grow there. The basalt walls are home to a wide variety of ferns, mosses, hepatics and lichens, many of which grow only in the Columbia River Gorge.

Oneonta Creek runs through the gorge. There are two waterfalls on the creek. Upper Oneonta Falls can be seen clearly from a footpath. The lower gorge has been preserved as a natural habitat, so there is no boardwalk or footpath through it as such. Thus, Lower Oneonta Falls can only be seen by walking upstream from the creek's outlet at the Columbia River Highway. To get to a vantage point where the entire lower falls is visible requires wading through water that in some places can be chest-deep.