Words cannot express how sad I am about the fires burning through the West Coast (Best Coast!) states. So much beauty is being destroyed, animals killed and losing their homes, and people's lives and belongings are threatened as well.
In the case of the Columbia Gorge, it's somewhere I went when I was young, but I have not stopped on my way through to Washington for many, many years - even though I've wanted to and even planned to on several occasions.
Luckily I listened to my soul and to my sister the last time I was there and took the opportunity to go to the gorgeous and historic Multnomah Falls as well as a quick side trip down to the Columbia River near Troutdale, which is now threatened by this fire.
You can see the lush, green forest that surrounds the area. What you can't see is the problem trees - dead trees and vegetation that one great winter could not remedy after 5-7 very dry years.
Random people taking selfies on the bridge. lol I got there pretty early (around 8:30 a.m.) per Rose's advice, and there were already about 10 cars in the two parking lots (that I could see).
This is the first landing above the main landing (which is where I took most of the pictures above).
This is the first switchback on the trail up to the bridge. It's a fairly easy trail at this point, but I still had to stop and catch my breath.
The next few pictures are taken while on the bridge. You can see the water flowing out of the pool at the bottom of the falls and down a shallow rapids under the bridge.
Although there are signs asking people to not throw anything in the water as there are fish, etc., in the water, you can see scores of coins below the bridge.
This is the lower falls and pool at the bottom viewed looking over the side of the bridge.
Just beyond the bridge is another little landing where you can stand. Be careful though if you have a camera! It's a spray zone! Along the path I saw a few "locks of love". This is the first one I noticed, which is probably because I was changing my lens and trying to protect it from the spray.
And the top of the falls as seen from the little vista (with a bigger lens).
I saw my 2nd lock of love just a little further up the path. I like this one best. Not only for the pretty green color but because the inscription says "Until the wheels fall off".
Now that's a good view of love!
I had some grand idea that I might be able to make it to the top of the falls, but I found out differently by the time I reached the first of eleven (11!) switchbacks to get to the top. I was already quite winded and time was flying by.
So this was where I turned around and told myself I would lose some damn weight and come back here and conquer it all! The path takes a right turn here and you can see how steep the hill is getting by looking at the trees.
I headed back down and stopped on the bridge once again to check out the scene. Now there were a lot more people heading up!
On my way back down I noticed another lock that I hadn't seen previously.
And a bright spot of yellow flowers in the dense green.
I made it to the bottom and waded through the throngs of people that were now crowded onto the bottom vista. I'm not kidding! There was at least 50-75 people, most of them wearing purple shirts so I took that to mean they were a group.
I headed back to my car which was parked in the overflow lot between I-84.
35 miles back to Portland!
But first I wanted to stop and walk to the river to see if I could get some shots of the pilings in the water. I headed West on I-84 and stopped at a small park with a boat ramp. I took a trail through the dense trees and foliage until I reached the river.
My view was perfect!
It was so lovely and peaceful!
And the black sand beach was covered with little shells!
Speaking of shells, on the walk back to my car I had a bit of a scare. I saw what at first glance looked to be a large turtle/tortoise stuck in a tree!!
Upon closer inspection it turned out to be some kind of fungus/mushroom. Thank goodness! lol
So, the moral of this story is this:
Humans! Stop doing stupid ass shit such as throwing smoke bombs into canyons!!!
Fire is beautiful in the right setting but your errant idiocy just torched a bunch of beautiful land, not to mention history and animals!
xoxo
