Elakala Trail

Dogs Leashed

Features Fall Colors · River/Creek · Views · Waterfall

If hikers wish to deviate from the trail, once they pass the bridge over the falls, they can make their way down the gorge to the rocky shoreline to photograph the falls. However, the remaining three waterfalls of the series are progressively more difficult and dangerous to access and have no officially marked trails to them. The full falls can be seen from across the gorge at Pendleton Point.

The trailhead is at the southwest side of the Blackwater Lodge. Follow the red-blazed trail down until crossing the wooden bridge that passes over the 35-foot-tall Elakala Falls. This is first in a series of the four waterfalls of Shays Run as it descends into the Blackwater Canyon. Beyond the bridge, the trail then continues on to the canyon rim and the Canaan Loop Road. There are a few views of the canyon along the short trail, but nothing as spectacular as the falls.

Birch, maple, oak, sycamore, hemlock, red spruce, moss, rhododendron. Deer.