The last building remaining on the property is the Bridal Veil Post Office near the freeway exit and said to be the second smallest post office in the United States. After the petition was denied, the three remaining mill buildings - the resaw building, maintenance shop, and warehouse - were demolished in 2001. In 1991, the Trust for Public Lands purchased the acreage, but for years a petition to declare the area a historic site was pursued. The Box Company closed in 1960, and the town site was gradually abandoned. The operation shut down in 1937 after a destructive fire, and thereafter the remaining buildings were taken over by the Bridal Veil Lumber & Box Company, which manufactured wooden boxes for Kraft Cheese as well as ammunition boxes during World War II. At least one million board feet of timber was moved in this way. The sawmill there rough cut the lumber, and then sent it down the creek valley in a flume that ended at the resaw building. Higher up, in fact 1,500 feet higher up on Larch Mountain, was their Palmer Mill operation. Later, the the Bridal Veil Falls Lumbering Company's planing mill was built east of the creek. A paper mill was constructed here in the 1880s. According to a former resident of the company town, this was a covered cistern that contained water for fire emergencies. Circle around to your left, passing into the blackberries, and come to the last remaining structure from the mill days, a corrugated iron shed now decorated with graffiti. You'll come to a blackberry-infested area of old foundations and paved expanses, now sometimes a dumping ground for those not inclined to pay for regular garbage service. This may have supported a log conveyor that led to the old sawmill or mill yard. Pass around a gate above the pond, noting a decaying wood structure in the depression. A dike separates the creek from a man-made former pond.

When you return to the footbridge, keep on the east side of the creek, which is buttressed by a wall that once bordered a mill race. The viewing platform itself has become something of a romantic destination (Note all the hearts carved into the woodwork).

A massive basalt boulder, detached long ago from somewhere above, lies in the creek below, testament to the dynamic nature of this landscape. Now the mill is a memory, and Bridal Veil Falls has returned. The creek ran near-dry for decades because the lumber mill below diverted the water. Bridal Veil Falls plunges under the Old Columbia River Gorge Highway's 1914 bridge and through a mossy basalt defile in two tiers, a drop of about 120 feet altogether. Ascend along the maple-shaded creek to reach steps leading up to a viewing platform. Cross a segmental arch footbridge, and go right at the junction. A set of concrete steps leads down to creek level (In winter, you can see rusting pipes from the old mill operation in the undergrowth). Make two switchbacks, passing licorice fern-draped slopes to look down on Bridal Veil Creek. Drop down a gravel trail lined by a now deteriorating rock wall that has slipped away in places. Make a right at the junction east of the parking lot, and hike through a wood of tall Douglas-firs. Across the road from the parking area is the historic Bridal Veil Lodge, now a B & B, which was opened in 1927 as one of the official 'respites' along the Scenic Highway. The second trail is a paved universal access loop that passes along the rim of the basalt Bridal Veil Bluffs overlooking the Columbia River. You also have the option here to descend the creek and explore a little of the Bridal Veil Lumbering Company's mill site. One trail descends to Bridal Veil Creek and then rises to a viewpoint of two-tiered Bridal Veil Falls. The two trails here begin east of the parking area near the restrooms. The state park is a favorite of tourists and families on summer weekends, but is relatively quiet at other times. It takes you to a majestic waterfall and then to clifftop overlooks offering vistas up and down the Columbia River Gorge. This excursion begins from a trailhead right off the Columbia River Highway.

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