Oooo - waterfalls!

September 29, 2010
Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

Today was a fantastic day. We had a leisurely morning and then headed out early in the afternoon, south on I-5 to I-205, then east on I-84. Not all the way to Hartford! Just a few miles to Historic US-30. Not all the way to New Jersey! This area, just about 30 miles east of downtown Portland, is home to several neat waterfalls along the southern bank of the Columbia River.

Historic US-30 follows the Sandy River and then climbs high above the Columbia River just east of the small town of Troutdale. Our first stops were at Gorge overlooks: "Portland Women's Forum" (originally called Chanticleer Point, they purchased the site and donated it to the State) and Vista House at Crown Point (built in 1916-1918 as a rest stop on the original Columbia Gorge Highway).

Next, we stopped at four different waterfalls: Latourell, Wahkeena, Horsetail, and Multnomah, capturing a few images at each one. Since there are 77 waterfalls on the Oregon side of the Gorge, we barely scratched the surface, I suppose. We enjoyed the afternoon, though, and it was fun to drag the cameras and tripod around without having to hurry.

We have a picture of Multnomah Falls, second highest year-round waterfall in the US (a disputed claim, of course) at 620 feet, in our living room in AZ that's one of the only pictures in the house that I didn't take myself. Maybe I captured a similar view; I'll know more when I actually sit down and work with the images in Photoshop to fine-tune color and contrast, and to erase all the people (it's a popular spot on a nice day).

Click here then use the navigation arrows for a few unprocessed pictures (between us, we made about 130 photos).

Back home after fighting some Portland rush hour traffic, we had a nice dinner (Geri's Awesome Butternut Squash Soup and Grilled Sandwiches) and called it an early night. Too much fresh air!