Today was our last full day in the Columbia River Gorge. After work, we returned to Historic Highway 30 to shoot Elowah and Wahkeena Falls.
Elowah Falls
is at the opposite end of the gorge and is a little tricky to find. The only way to get to it is on a frontage road
that is only accessible from one entrance ramp to I-84. Elowah was probably our toughest hike in the gorge.
The waterfall is only 0.8 miles from the trailhead, but we had to climb over a 400-foot ridge to drop down the
other side to the falls. We had seen tiger lilies along the roads in the Columbia Gorge, but we could never find a place
to stop to photograph them. The trail to Elowah Falls included one small area of tiger lilies. The are a striking flower and one of my favorites.
Elowah Falls drops 213 feet in a single drop. Like most of the other falls in the gorge, it drops off a basaltic cliff. What is unique about Elowah Falls was the group of boulders at the bottom of the falls. By the time the stream reaches the bottom, it's more like a veil of water. Slowing the shutter speed and zooming in on the rocks made for some interesting images. I was much more interested in the close-ups of the water on the rocks than in capturing the entire waterfall.
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We were reminded of the wonders of technology as we hiked back over the ridge toward the car. Brian called my cell phone just as we were climbing the steepest section of the trail. Even though we were deep in the canyon, we still got a cell phone signal. Go Verizon!
Our final stop was Wahkeena Falls. I thought
the falls was right along the highway, but it was back up a canyon. Carol decided she had enough waterfall photos and
returned to the Explorer to read her book. I hiked up the trail to the falls. Wahkeena is a whole series of drops
from the very top of the cliff, under the trail bridge, and then all the way down to the highway. The trail takes you up to a bridge
that crosses right in front of the plunge pool for the main fall. The top-most section of Wahkeena Falls looks
like a water park slide as it curves through the narrow opening in the basalt. Then it drops 180 feet into the pool beside the trail.
From there, it's a series to cascades down the canyon toward the highway and eventually the Columbia River.
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By the time we finished at Wahkeena Falls, we decided we had enough waterfall photos for a long time. It's unfortunate that all the waterfalls are at the beginning of the trip instead of scattered through the six weeks. Tomorrow, we get a complete change of scenery as we move to the Mt. Hood area and Trillium Lake. Now,we have to hope the weather cooperates. It is supposed to rain almost the entire time we are at Trillium.
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