Next on our Oregon tour was the Timberline Lodge (stay tuned for the blog on that adventure!). The drive there was a few hours, so we made the most of the journey by first stopping at Multnomah Falls, the tallest waterfall in the State of Oregon, and the second tallest year round waterfall in the United States. It is located in the Columbia River Gorge right on the Columbia River Highway.
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| The Falls! Here is the parking lot as well, right off of I-84. |
Commonly cited as roughly 611 feet; the total height is debated because the fall splits in two areas; there is an upper falls of about 540 feet, a lower falls of almost 70 feet, and a gradual 9-10 foot drop in elevation between the two falls. Estimates of it’s height range from around 611 feet to about 620 feet tall; either way it is not debated that tit is the tallest waterfall in the State of Oregon.
Us Alaskans are incredibly spoiled when it comes to being able to appreciate and tour our beautiful state free of major crowds and bustling tourists. We have tourists, of course, but as Alaska has so much to offer and it is rather laborious to get there, we don’t find ourselves battling huge droves of over-eager people in the same places. Multnomah Falls was quite different. It was no surprise that it was different; the falls are gorgeous; in fact, this was my third time there (so much for complaining about all the tourists)! Still, the crowds were frustrating and it was hard to get pictures that didn’t feature someone’s head.
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| The waterfall. And someone’s head. |
Native American legends suggest that Multnomah Falls was designed to win the heart of a young princess who wanted a special and private place to bathe. The story makes sense when considering the divine design of the falls; in order to see both tiers of the waterfall, you have to walk up to the viewing area located in the rock face, you cannot see if from the bottom of the falls.
The first stop along your waterfall excursion is the bridge you can see in the above picture. Called Benson Bridge, you can get there via a short foot trail that winds a couple turns on its way up. The bridge is about 45 feet long and towers a little over 100 feet over the lower cascade of the falls. The footbridge is named after Simon Benson who financed the bridge’s construction in 1914. Read more about Mr. Benson and his Portland house here.
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| The Falls, looking at it from the bridge. |
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| We were worried Don would get blown away by the heavy mist, so Andy held on to him. |
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| Me: Hold Don up! Andy: Oh my god. |
We crossed over the Benson Bridge and decided to hike up the Multnomah Falls Overlook. Here is a pretty good map of the trails surrounding the falls. The hike was about a 1.2 mile climb to the overlook with gorgeous views of the falls (looking down), and the surrounding forested area. The hike up was a tad annoying – 1.2 miles felt like 10 miles, and the switchbacks were getting pretty old. However, it was worth it by the time we got to the top.
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| Andy heading up! |
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| It’s a paved trail for most of the way up |
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| View looking down the falls and Benson Bridge |
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| Columbia River |
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| Donkeys chillin by the Multnomah Creek |
We made our way down and stopped at the little coffee stand to get a snack before our drive to Timberline Lodge. Andy found a cookie the size of his head.
We stopped in Hood River for lunch on our way to the Timberline Lodge. It was a very cute town with the most maddening parking on the planet (everything was either 30 minutes, handicapped, metered, or hourly charge). It was pretty ridiculous. However, we had heard awesome things about Full Sail Brewing Company, so we sucked it up and paid the hourly charge to park.
Full Sail is an independent, employee-owned brewery that opened in 1987. It has numerous tasty beers, an extensive menu, and a really interesting history.