Multnomah Falls and Friends

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

  

Happy 4th of July!  What a wonderful day to celebrate with the bright colors of our flag, family, friends and fireworks.

This morning we drove west toward Portland, once again crossing the Columbia River at Stevenson, WA to Cascade Locks, OR  to take the freeway toward Multnomah Falls.  While we had seen this Falls in 2006, we were anxious to once again experience this tall, majestic and breathtaking Falls.   To say this Falls is popular, is an understatement.  It was packed today but there were still many parking spots to choose from.  Numerous tourist buses were also parked in the area. 

Getting out of the car, we have a view of the upper part of the Falls with the freeway passing by.  

A short walk under the freeway and up a nicely paved walkway, leads you to the bottom of the falls where people are jockeying for space near the railing in front of the Falls to take selfies, family pictures and just pictures of the Falls.  There is an upper area bridge (Benson Bridge) in front of the Falls part way up but we opt to just enjoy the view from below.

Multnomah Falls is a natural recreation site and tallest waterfall in Oregon visited by over 2 million people each year.  It is fed by underground springs with the flow over the falls varying depending on the time of the year.   A 620 foot tall two step cascade of icy water drops into a pool far below. 

The upper falls drops 542 feet and the lower 69 feet with a gradual 9 foot drop in elevation between the two.  According to Native American lore, Multnomah Falls was created to win the heart of a young princess who wanted a hidden place to bathe.  In addition to the Falls, there is a lovely old stone Lodge here with visitor center, snack bar and restaurant. 

Leaving the Falls, we stop at the Bonneville Dam and Lock on the Oregon side.  Since we had seen the generators, etc. on the Washington side, we took the elevator to the theater where we watched a video about the building of the dam.  Taking the elevator to a lower floor, we viewed fish floating by in the fish ladder through a window 

then walked up the stairs to view it from the top.  These ladders are more of a maze system than the ones we saw a couple of days ago.  

Really fascinating to watch these fish swim upstream (Mother Nature certainly has some unique and interesting things which happen as part of life cycles.) on this ladder and maze system.  

The remainder of our day was spent at the lovely home of my old college roommate and her family.  Their home sits on 17 acres most of which is natural pine forest behind their home with a view to the Columbia River to the south.  What a gorgeous home and view.

Our afternoon was spent catching up and enjoying a wonderful smoked tri tip meal with smashed potatoes and salad and a wonderful dessert made by their daughter with whipping cream and pudding topped with fresh raspberries and blueberries.  It was hard to say goodbye not knowing when we will come this way again or they will be close to where we are.  Interestingly, my roommate went to high school in Casa Grande, AZ where Ron and I will again spend our winter this year.  Who would have ever thought that would happen?  Casa Grande in the 1960’s was a small farming town, but is now a huge snowbird winter location.