THURSDAY - The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area is managed mostly by the United States Forest Service.
It extends from the Sandy River (just outside of Portland, OR) and goes 86-miles east up the Columbia River to the confluence with the Deschutes River.
It also extends anywhere from 1 to 4-miles inland from both the Oregon and Washington shorelines. There are only 2 Forest Service campgounds in the entire National Scenic Area where we receive a 50% discount off camping with my Lifetime Senior Pass, the Wyeth Campground (where we are staying) and the Eagle Creek Campground, about 10-miles west of us. The Eagle Creek Campground has a 20' maximum RV length restriction so it made it easy for us to chose which one to stay in.
TRAVEL DAY PHOTOS
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Entering Oregon on the I-205 Interstate bridge allowed us to bypass downtown Portland...
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...but the I-205 bridge did put us very close to the Portland International Airport.
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Interstate 84 runs east/west on the Oregon side of the Columbia River.
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Wyeth Campground was opened in 1941 and is showing it's age, like the closed bathrooms.
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This campground has a 30' maximum length, fortunately THE POD is only 28'.
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We definitely have the largest site in the entire campground.
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It's big enough that we could easily have fit two Airstreams in this site.
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It's not the sites that creates the 30' limited size requirements, it's the tight roadways.
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We've got decent cell signal here, but very limited solar collection is going to happen.
FRIDAY - Just so that we don't have a repeat of what happened to us at Mount Rainier National Park, we're going to get the #1 activity out of the way first thing this morning, before the weekend crowds arrive.
I am talking about visiting Multnomah Falls of course. We've all seen the pictures of the 542' upper falls with a bridge suspended above the additional 69' lower falls and today it's our turn to see it.
MULTNOMAH FALLS
"Multnomah" is an Indigenous word meaning "from down river" or "those toward the water".
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If all you want to do is see the falls, you can do that from the main parking lot. It's in between the east and west bound lanes of Interstate 84 at Exit #31.
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You want to see more? You'll need a parking permit any time between 9am-5pm in the summer. The permit has to be shown before guards will let you pass under the Interstate.
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Just on the south side of the Interstate you'll find the 1925 Multnomah Falls Lodge. It's currently under heavy renovations after it 100th Anniversary last year.
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This lower level deck is as far as some people make it. They snap their selfies and move on to the next waterfall down the road?
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These stats can be found engraved into the back of the bench.
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Here's our photo offering, but we're not done just yet!
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A little Multnomah Falls bonus video from the same location.
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A zoomed in video, obviously still taken from the lower deck.
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It's an extra .4-mile hike to arrive on the bridge where this photo is from.
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Also still on the bridge.
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From the bridge this is what the lower deck looks like. This is where I turned back and Tricia continued another .75-mile to the top.
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Halfway up to the top there was a parting of the trees to view the river.
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From up there you could still see people arriving in the parking lot.
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There are 11-switchbacks on this portion of the trail, this is just one of them.
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Tricia's really getting up there now!
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Another switchback, some are heading up, some are done and heading back down.
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I'm surprised to see a water bird like a Great Blue Heron this high up in the trees.
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She must be getting close now!
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This switchback went downhill before the final push to the "Top of the Falls".
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This is what Multnomah Creek looks like in July before going over the falls.
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Who knew there was an Upper Upper Falls above what can be seen from below?
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I don't know that I would get close to the water knowing there is a 542' plunge nearby.
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Well it's all downhill and back to the parking lot from here.
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One last look from the parking lot. What a great experience it was!
THE REST OF FRIDAY'S SIGHTSEEING
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Possibly the 2nd most viewed waterfall in the park is Bridal Veil Falls.
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This time I hiked the 1.25-miles to the falls and back, with a few rest stops.
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This is the outflow from the falls. You can hear them from here, but can't see them yet.
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The falls are tucked behind some rocks over in the far corner.
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That's the underside of the roadway bridge we just drove over to reach the parking lot.
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There are 39 Bridal Veil Falls in the United States, spread out over 25 states. The most famous one is not this one, it's located in Yosemite Valley (we'll see later this year).
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This time the return trip is all going uphill. Just my luck!
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Next stop is the Shepperd's Dell Waterfall, seen from the side of the road.
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The upper fall is around 42', while the lower tier is about 50' tall.
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If you walk the short .2-mile trail you can get very close to the falls.
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You also get a nice view of the bridge where the previous video was shot from.
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The end of the trail places you right between the upper and lower falls.
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The cascading Upper Falls.
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Tricia's iconic top to bottom waterfall video.
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It looks a lot more than 50' to the bottom from here.
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Again, what goes down must go back up. That's not how it goes?
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Before we go, one more video from the center of the bridge.
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We've been seeing this building high up on the hill. Let's go check it out!
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The views of the Columbia River are just spectacular from the Vista House at Crown Point.
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Looking westward you can see just how close Washington and Oregon are.
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The Vista House is a historic stone observatory, pioneer memorial, and comfort station perched 733' above the Columbia River in Corbett, Oregon.
If you liked the outside, the inside is even better, made entirely from marble.
SATURDAY - Even though we left THE POD at 7:30AM to reach at the trailhead before 8:00AM, we arrived to find the parking lot completely full and others already parking along the roadside for a .25-mile in both directions.
We knew the weekend crowds would arrive, just not this early! So we quickly switched to Plan B and checked off some of tomorrow's sightseeing locations.
WATERFALLS, DAMS AND FISH, PLUS BRIDGES
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This is another "easy to see" waterfall, located right on the side of the road.
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The 176' waterfall takes the shape of a horse tail as it flows over the rockface.
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Looking out over the Columbia River it appeared to be on fire, but that can't be?
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No, it was just the mist coming off of the Bonneville Lock and Dam structure.
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They took great care to make sure the fish could use this ladder to cross the dam.
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The Army Corp of Engineers has a 5-story Visitor Center here, 3-stories are below ground.
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There is also a 1941 fire truck on site.
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The skies were looking kind of nasty, but we never got a single drop of rain.
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Looking over at Power Plant #2 from the top floor of the Visitor Center.
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Also nearby was the Bonneville Fish Hatchery.
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The hatchery is known for being home to a very large White Sturgeon.
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There is a viewing area underneath this little building.
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There are also several above ground viewing areas around the hatchery. For just 25¢ you to can feed the fish.
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They have many of these breeding tanks scattered around the property.
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Up ahead is Mitchell Point where we are stopping next.
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There is a wonderful view from up here, but it is also verrrrry windy today.
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Notice the whitecaps on the otherwise very smooth river?
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Also there is this tunnel along the hiking/biking trail.
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There are windows cut into the side of the tunnel to allow light in...
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...and also allows some very scenic views out of the tunnel.
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After lunch we found ourselves driving over the very narrow Hood River Bridge.
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Once across the bridge we were back in Washington on WA Route 14 along the river.
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There have been numerous landslides along the gorge over the ages...
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...and that's why there are so many tunnels along the north shore in Washington.
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Just like the Oregon side, the Washington side is very busy with cargo train traffic.
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The waterfall here at Dog Creek just might be the shortest waterfall we'll see this week.
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After a short walk in the woods you arrive in front of Dog Creek Falls.
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It's only 30' tall, but has a nice pool at the bottom for wading.
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Just follow the stream back to the parking lot.
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Next up is the famous "Bridge of the Gods" we'll use to get back into Oregon.
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On the Oregon side, the bridge pillars have beautiful detailed murals painted on them.
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View from Oregon on the west side of the bridge.
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View from Oregon on the east side of the bridge.
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Look! There's an osprey nest way up on top of the bridge.
SUNDAY - With it still being the weekend, we decided to splurge and spend some time and money away from the crowds by booking two tickets for the Sunday Brunch Cruise onboard the Columbia Gorge Sternwheeler.
For 2-hours we'll cruise up and down the Columbia River and enjoy an "All You Can Eat" buffet. I was ready to sign up at any price as soon as I saw they offered Biscuits and Gravy on the buffet.
Yesterday we drove "over" the Bridge of the Gods and today we'll cruise "under" the same bridge.
The "original" Bridge of the Gods occurred around 1450AD, when the Bonneville Landslide (an area covering more than 5.5 sq. miles) blocked the Columbia River with a natural dam approximately 200' high and 3-1/2 miles long.
Native Americans might have crossed the river on the dam or, as their oral histories say, a bridge. No one knows how long it took, but the Columbia River eventually broke through the dam and washed away most of the debris.
SUNDAY BRUNCH STERNWHEELER CRUISE
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Hey look Barry! This sasquatch appears to be a redhead.
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The boat can seat up to 232 for the brunch cruise, but we didn't have half that many today.
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That's the "Bridge of the Gods" to our west, but we'll be heading east first today.
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There's plenty of room to move about the boat once the meal is done.
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Before we've even left the dock there's plenty of traffic to dodge on the river today.
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This is the only means of propulsion on the boat.
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We couldn't figure out what these crazy kayakers were up to, then it all made sense.
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There's definitely a skill to timing it right to be picked up in the wake.
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After slowing to make our U-Turn the kayakers once again have to get "back in the saddle". Watch the guy in the orange kayak, with the orange shirt and small child, get left behind. He's now going to have to paddle 2-miles back to the start, at least it's with the current.
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There you go! We just cruised under the "Bridge of the Gods".
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We cruised up close to the Bonneville Lock and Dam but didn't go through.
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Back near the dock there was still plenty of activity out on the water.
MONDAY - For the fourth day in a row we're headed out to do some sightseeing, but we're both getting pretty tired.
To keep it simple today, we're going to take a short .2-mile hike (a walk really) to a waterfall and then revisit the tunnel at Mitchell Point.
WRAPPING UP OUR SIGHTSEEING
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Oregon State Parks were here long before the National Scenic Area was established in 1986, so the parking lots charge $10, but the pass is good all day anywhere there is a parking fee.
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Up this short paved path and around the corner is Starvation Creek Falls.
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This is as close as you'll get to the 227-foot, two-tiered waterfall.
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There was supposed to be a second waterfall here, but this is all we saw.
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We are back up at the Mitchell Point Trailhead now, looking out across the river.
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Some of these cargo trains are easily miles long.
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We're back inside the tunnel, this time I joined Tricia to explore.
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There are five of these windows cut into the side of the tunnel.
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It's not a long tunnel, but I was happy to see the other end.
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I must admit, it was just a little bit creepy in the tunnel.
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Just around that bend in the river is the town of Hood River.
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The floor inside the tunnel is nice and smooth for the cyclists, but I wouldn't want to accidentally brush my shoulder against the sidewalls.
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Check out this poor wind blown tree, all the branches are on one side.
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Time to head back to THE POD and start preparing this blogpost.
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There's another long train heading for the coast in Washington.
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From Interstate 84 you can see the exit of the tunnel up on the ridge.
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That's where I was just standing a few photos ago.
TUESDAY - Today we are taking our first day off from sightseeing since we arrived here back on Friday.
Tomorrow we'll be moving further south to just east of Salem, OR and we guarantee there will be more waterfalls for us to share, that is if the current wildfire and smoke restrictions don't involve us having to make any last minute changes to our plans.
Don't worry, Tricia is keeping a close eye on the warnings and won't let us place ourselves in the path of any danger.
Looking for our Visited States Map and Data? How about our State by State Bucket Lists or Visited Campgrounds List? If so, click on the sign below to be taken to our other website.
Entering Oregon on the I-205 Interstate bridge allowed us to bypass downtown Portland...
...but the I-205 bridge did put us very close to the Portland International Airport.
Interstate 84 runs east/west on the Oregon side of the Columbia River.
Wyeth Campground was opened in 1941 and is showing it's age, like the closed bathrooms.
This campground has a 30' maximum length, fortunately THE POD is only 28'.
We definitely have the largest site in the entire campground.
It's big enough that we could easily have fit two Airstreams in this site.
It's not the sites that creates the 30' limited size requirements, it's the tight roadways.
We've got decent cell signal here, but very limited solar collection is going to happen.
"Multnomah" is an Indigenous word meaning "from down river" or "those toward the water".
If all you want to do is see the falls, you can do that from the main parking lot.
You want to see more? You'll need a parking permit any time between 9am-5pm in the summer.
Just on the south side of the Interstate you'll find the 1925 Multnomah Falls Lodge.
This lower level deck is as far as some people make it.
These stats can be found engraved into the back of the bench.
Here's our photo offering, but we're not done just yet!
It's an extra .4-mile hike to arrive on the bridge where this photo is from.
From the bridge this is what the lower deck looks like.
Halfway up to the top there was a parting of the trees to view the river.
From up there you could still see people arriving in the parking lot.
There are 11-switchbacks on this portion of the trail, this is just one of them.
Tricia's really getting up there now!
Another switchback, some are heading up, some are done and heading back down.
I'm surprised to see a water bird like a Great Blue Heron this high up in the trees.
She must be getting close now!
This switchback went downhill before the final push to the "Top of the Falls".
This is what Multnomah Creek looks like in July before going over the falls.
Well it's all downhill and back to the parking lot from here.
One last look from the parking lot. What a great experience it was!
Possibly the 2nd most viewed waterfall in the park is Bridal Veil Falls.
This time I hiked the 1.25-miles to the falls and back, with a few rest stops.
This is the outflow from the falls. You can hear them from here, but can't see them yet.
The falls are tucked behind some rocks over in the far corner.
That's the underside of the roadway bridge we just drove over to reach the parking lot.
This time the return trip is all going uphill. Just my luck!
Next stop is the Shepperd's Dell Waterfall, seen from the side of the road.
If you walk the short .2-mile trail you can get very close to the falls.
You also get a nice view of the bridge where the previous video was shot from.
The end of the trail places you right between the upper and lower falls.
The cascading Upper Falls.
It looks a lot more than 50' to the bottom from here.
Again, what goes down must go back up. That's not how it goes?
We've been seeing this building high up on the hill. Let's go check it out!
The views of the Columbia River are just spectacular from the Vista House at Crown Point.
Looking westward you can see just how close Washington and Oregon are.
The Vista House is a historic stone observatory, pioneer memorial, and comfort station
Its Art Nouveau architecture includes a museum, a gift shop, and a café.
If you liked the outside, the inside is even better, made entirely from marble.
This is another "easy to see" waterfall, located right on the side of the road.
The 176' waterfall takes the shape of a horse tail as it flows over the rockface.
Looking out over the Columbia River it appeared to be on fire, but that can't be?
The Army Corp of Engineers has a 5-story Visitor Center here, 3-stories are below ground.
There is also a 1941 fire truck on site.
The skies were looking kind of nasty, but we never got a single drop of rain.
Looking over at Power Plant #2 from the top floor of the Visitor Center.
Also nearby was the Bonneville Fish Hatchery.
The hatchery is known for being home to a very large White Sturgeon.
There is a viewing area underneath this little building.
They have many of these breeding tanks scattered around the property.
Up ahead is Mitchell Point where we are stopping next.
There is a wonderful view from up here, but it is also verrrrry windy today.
Notice the whitecaps on the otherwise very smooth river?
Also there is this tunnel along the hiking/biking trail.
There are windows cut into the side of the tunnel to allow light in...
...and also allows some very scenic views out of the tunnel.
Once across the bridge we were back in Washington on WA Route 14 along the river.
There have been numerous landslides along the gorge over the ages...
...and that's why there are so many tunnels along the north shore in Washington.
Just like the Oregon side, the Washington side is very busy with cargo train traffic.
The waterfall here at Dog Creek just might be the shortest waterfall we'll see this week.
After a short walk in the woods you arrive in front of Dog Creek Falls.
On the Oregon side, the bridge pillars have beautiful detailed murals painted on them.
View from Oregon on the west side of the bridge.
View from Oregon on the east side of the bridge.
Look! There's an osprey nest way up on top of the bridge.
Hey look Barry! This sasquatch appears to be a redhead.
The boat can seat up to 232 for the brunch cruise, but we didn't have half that many today.
That's the "Bridge of the Gods" to our west, but we'll be heading east first today.
There's plenty of room to move about the boat once the meal is done.
We cruised up close to the Bonneville Lock and Dam but didn't go through.
Oregon State Parks were here long before the National Scenic Area was established in 1986,
Up this short paved path and around the corner is Starvation Creek Falls.
This is as close as you'll get to the 227-foot, two-tiered waterfall.
There was supposed to be a second waterfall here, but this is all we saw.
We are back up at the Mitchell Point Trailhead now, looking out across the river.
We're back inside the tunnel, this time I joined Tricia to explore.
There are five of these windows cut into the side of the tunnel.
It's not a long tunnel, but I was happy to see the other end.
I must admit, it was just a little bit creepy in the tunnel.
Just around that bend in the river is the town of Hood River.
The floor inside the tunnel is nice and smooth for the cyclists,
Check out this poor wind blown tree, all the branches are on one side.
Time to head back to THE POD and start preparing this blogpost.
There's another long train heading for the coast in Washington.
From Interstate 84 you can see the exit of the tunnel up on the ridge.
That's where I was just standing a few photos ago.
