Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Waterfalls Galore!


But first, a stop at Vista House. Almost 100 years old, it was built as a rest stop observatory for travelers on the old Columbia River Gorge Highway and as a fitting memorial honoring Oregon’s pioneers.


There's a great view of the Columbia River gorge -


Including Beacon Rock, which we climbed up a few days ago.


Since I was there pretty early, I had the whole place to myself -


Except for the volunteer guide, who showed me exactly where to stand to get the magical picture of the windows.

Okay, Sondra, I can see you're getting impatient... So here are the waterfalls -


There's a whole row of them along the Historic Columbia River Highway, on the south side of the river east of Portland. The first one is just past Vista House and is definitely one of my favorites - Latourell Falls. It's unique in that it drops straight down, instead of tumbling.


I love the lichen-covered columnar basalt formations around the falls.


A mile to the east is Shepperds Dell, just a short hike from the road.


And next comes Bridal Veil Falls, a nice double cascade.


Wahkeena Falls is another double, but I only got a photo of the lower portion.


And then we get to the granddaddy of them all - Multnomah Falls, the second tallest waterfall in the US, is another double waterfall. The upper falls are 542 feet high, while the lower falls are 69 feet.


I walked up to the bridge shown in the prior picture to get a better shot of the upper falls.


It was just perfect!


The last waterfall I went to was Horsetail Falls. You can probably see how it was named.


The flowers seemed to be growing right out of the lava rock.

I think I could stay in this area all summer and never run out of things to do, but time is up and we're moving on.

12 comments:

  1. Waterfalls are mesmerizing, aren't they?

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  2. Great waterfall pictures! When I visited that area a few years ago, I was so impressed by all the water there, especially after spending so many years in the desert.

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  3. I loved that river gorge. Those waterfalls were just incredible. And I love your pictures.

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  4. Beautiful place, it is hard to pass up a waterfall:)

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  5. I've passed by Multnomah Falls several times and didn't have the time to stop and visit them. Next time we will.

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  6. Stunning waterfalls and a fantastic building.

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  7. OH I'M having Waterfall envy over here! All gorgeous and worthy of any hike length to see! I love the Multnomah of course, and Horsetail is really pretty! All super and TALL! Boy I am getting antsy you know the PNW is one of my last frontiers I want to hitch up the team!!
    Bookmark this site its a great reference! I wonder where you will be next?
    http://www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com/continent-tallest-waterfalls/North-America/

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  8. We were at Vista House and Multnomah in July of '94, but didn't have time to go up to the bridge or see the other falls. All are very beautiful places!

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  9. Gorgeous pictures love the glass window and the fall and well everything.

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  10. You really had a gorgeous day for your waterfall recon. All gorgeous shots including a couple I never saw.

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  11. I would have broken a leg or two trying to get to those flowers and those basalt columns. You can't take me anywhere.

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  12. You bring back memories of when we followed the gorge in 1983 to move from Washington State to Utah.

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