Upper Chush Falls
Oregon · 223-foot drop · Whychus Creek Wild and Scenic River (Wild Area) · Last verified 2026-05-15
Flow at Upper Chush Falls is light today (8 cfs) — visit for the geology, not the volume.
Expect dry conditions today — don't drive out for this one. Flow is at 7.3 cfs (bottom 0% of the last 30 days, vs. 8.9 cfs average). The 7-day NOAA forecast shows no significant rain.
Right now
Streamflow
7.7 cfs
M F TUMALO CREEK · 36m ago
Overnight
51°F
Mostly Clear
Tuesday
71°F
Sunny
Today's daylight
Sunrise 5:49 AM · Sunset 8:36 PM · 14h 47m
Snapshot built 4m ago. Sources: USGS · NWS PDT.
No verified photo yet
Upper Chush Falls is a waterfall in Deschutes County, Oregon. It drops roughly 223 feet. Access details and conditions have not yet been verified in person by Fallspots — the data on this page comes from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.
Upper Chush Falls sits in Deschutes County, Oregon. It drops along Whychus Creek. The falls are inside Whychus Creek Wild and Scenic River (Wild Area). The base sits at roughly 5,645 feet of elevation. Drive time is about 17 minutes from Sisters. OpenStreetMap shows a trail within 150 meters of the marked location, though the name isn't recorded. No public parking is recorded within 2 km, so a longer approach is likely. This is one of the more frequently visited falls in the state by our popularity model. Source records come from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.
Upper Chush Falls is a 200-foot (61 m) waterfall on Whychus Creek, in the Cascade Range southwest of Sisters in the U.S. state of Oregon. Chush Falls, a 50-foot (15 m) waterfall, is further downstream on the same creek. Lying between Chush and Upper Chush is a third waterfall, The Cascade. These and several other falls on tributaries in the vicinity are within the Three Sisters Wilderness. The Northwest Waterfall Survey lists the fall's average flow at 40 cubic feet per second (1.1 m3/s). The highest flows occur between May and August.
Is the water flowing right now?
Most waterfall sites don't tell you this. The waterfall itself is almost never gauged, but a USGS streamgage in the same watershed can tell you whether snowmelt has started, peaked, or run dry.
USGS gage 14070624 · 7.7 mi away
M F TUMALO CREEK BLW PROWELL SPRINGS, NR BEND, OR
View live discharge data →
30-day streamflow
Below 30-day average↻ Same date last year: 18.2 cfs · 40% of last year — significantly drier
Compare to nearby falls
If this one isn't the right fit, here's how it stacks up against the closest documented falls. Every column is filterable on the site — not buried in 13,000 reviews.
| Waterfall | Distance | Height | Trail | Dogs | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Chush Falls (this page) | — | 223 ft | — | — | — |
| The Cascades | 0 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Howlaak Falls | 0 mi | 70 ft | — | — | — |
| Chush Falls | 0 mi | 67 ft | — | — | — |
| Columnar Canyon Falls | 1 mi | 125 ft | — | — | — |
| Phoenix Falls | 1 mi | 110 ft | — | — | — |
Related waterfalls
Similar height (~223 ft)
- Wildcat Falls223 ft
- Latourell Falls224 ft
- Cabin Creek Falls220 ft
- Proxy Falls226 ft
- Walupt Creek Falls220 ft
Questions visitors ask about Upper Chush Falls
Answers built from our structured data. If a question isn't here, the fact is unverified — we'd rather omit than guess.
How tall is Upper Chush Falls?
Upper Chush Falls is 223 feet (68 m) tall. Height is sourced from OSM.
Is Upper Chush Falls in a national or state park?
Yes — Upper Chush Falls is inside Whychus Creek Wild and Scenic River (Wild Area). We inferred this from OpenStreetMap protected-area polygons; if you find we got the boundary wrong, please report it. See the park page for fees, hours, and current conditions.
How far is Upper Chush Falls from a major city?
Upper Chush Falls is 12 miles from Sisters (about 17 minutes' drive).
More waterfalls in Oregon
Where it is
44.1429, -121.6847
Sources and live status
Where we got the data, and where to check current conditions before you drive.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Chush_Falls
Wikidata (Q7898564)
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7898564
GeoNames (5754152)
https://www.geonames.org/5754152/
Last verified by Fallspots: 2026-05-15
Been there?
Marina and Theo verify pages one road trip at a time. If you've been to Upper Chush Falls recently, your local knowledge improves the page for everyone. Pick the kind of contribution that fits — every email lands in our inbox and gets read (and credited when we publish).
Add a tip
Something we should know — best time, parking trick, that hidden viewpoint.
Share a photo
Have a CC-licensed image on Wikimedia or Flickr? Send the link.
Report a fix
Wrong height, closed trail, broken link — tell us what we got wrong.
We don't collect your email. Replies go directly to hello@fallspots.com.