Travel Day
Our three-hour drive today took us from the ponderosa pine environment of Bend, through the sagebrush flats, across the incredible lava gorges near Warm Springs, over the pass near Mt. Hood, and down into the Columbia River Gorge. We packed a lot in to a three-hour drive, and most of it was gorgeous.
We're camping at Sandy Riverfront RV in Sandy, Utah, which is at the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge. We stay here every time we're in the area. This time, they assigned us a campsite that was too small for us. We tried every possible way to fit in and get all our slides out, but nothing worked. After four tries, they gave us a larger site. What a pain!
Columbia River Gorge
Since we weren't seeing Matt and Jackie until tomorrow, we decided to drive up the Columbia River Gorge and photograph waterfalls. Our first stop was Lattourel Falls. We hiked down to the base of the falls, and I needed every bit of my 10 mm wide angle lens to get the falls in. Then, I tried shooting from the bridge, but every time someone crossed it, the bridge vibrated. That played havoc with long exposures and videos, so it took quite a few extra attempts to get the shots.
Our second stop was Multnomah Falls, the best-known falls in the gorge. It was getting late, but there was plenty of parking and it was only a short walk up to the viewpoint. There was a huge contingent from India when we reached the viewpoint. After they left, there were only a few scattered people around, and we had our choice of places to shoot. We shot for about 30 minutes and were about ready to pack up when the sun broke through under the cloud layer and lit the top section of the falls. It was a game changer, and we started shooting all over again; especially when the rainbow appeared.
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As we were ready to leave, we talked to a woman from the Czech Republic who was traveling around the Western United States. She spoke good English, and we shared traveling stories and recommendations on what to see. When we reached the car, the lights flicked on in the lodge and the street lights added their soft glow to the scene. The shot turned out to be one of my favorite images of the trip. I like the serenity of the shot.
We got back to camp just as it got dark, and we had dinner a few minutes before 10:00. We're back to our normal shooting schedule.
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