May 10, 2013 Part 2

Columbia River Gorge, Day 2B:

Once part of an old post called, Columbia River Gorge, Day 2, this is the second half of the second day I spent in the Columbia River Gorge back in the 2013 spring. Because of compatability issues with my new format, I had to rework this content, but I've enjoyed looking over it again. I encourage you to go back and read Day 2A (and Day 1) first.
For the second half of the day we explored the waterfalls of the temperate rainforest which plummet into the Columbia River. One of the first we stopped at was Horsetail Falls and, while it was difficult to get a good vantage point on the falls that would exclude humanity from the shot, I did get some beautiful shots of my family on the picturesque wall before the falls. The Upper Horsetail Falls, or Ponytail falls, are accessible by trail. We didn't hike to see that.

Horsetail Falls.

Multinomah Falls.

Top half of Multinomah
Falls.

Next was the famous Multinomah Falls with the classic bridge arching across the centre cascade. There were many people at the falls so it was inevitable that some pink shirts appear on the bridge in my shot. There is a trail that winds up the right side of the falls and permits one to stand on the bridge. This provided some great photo opportunities and made up for the crowded view down below. Multinomah is the tallest fall in Oregon at a total of about 620 feet.

Lataourell Falls.

Shepperd's Dell
Falls

Sheppard's Dell from a
different angle.

Honeysuckle. There are a variety of
wildflowers in the rainforest too.

Candy flower.

The Bridal Veil.

Closer to Bridal
Veil Falls.

W also stopped at the spectacular Latourell Falls. This was probably my favourite of the falls since it was the only one that truly dropped the whole distance (249 feet) without touching a stone. The curving rock walls behind the falls provide an epic backdrop to the volcanic natural history of the area. In some places, the basalt forms columns.

Some species of forget-me-not I
think.

Shepperd's Dell Falls was also difficult to photograph but I managed two good shots. One of these, higher up on the short trail to the falls, had a curious mossy curved branch which framed the falls splendidly, almost as if it had been put there on purpose. I wonder how many other hundreds of visitors have taken that exact shot.

Me at the Bridal Veil.

Roadkill pacific aquatic garter snake.

Our last stop today was Bridal Veil Falls. By then, it being late in the day, I had already suffered a pretty serious overdose of waterfall photography and not much was making me "wow" anymore. When I got to Bridal Veil, I started trying all kinds of crazy pictures and angles on the falls. I even had my brother take a picture of me at its base. Certainly it wasn't the most spectacular fall we'd seen, but it was probably the most photographed. On our way back to the car I came across another dead snake on the road. Once again, it was a species I'd never seen before in my life; the pacific coast aquatic garter snake. This was a major disappointment. Why are all the rare snakes roadkill? Maybe I'll have more blessing with snakes tomorrow.

An interesting angle on Bridal Veil Falls that illustrates the lush nature of the rainforest better than the nature of the falls themselves.