Multnomah Falls - Oregon Waterfalls; Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Multnomah Falls-hike/trail/map/directions

Multnomah Falls is, of course, THE place to stop for tourists in the Columbia River Gorge area in Oregon. It is awesome how this waterfall seems to "tower" over everything, a sight to see. However, you will not have this wonderful waterfall to yourself. Try to get there early in the morning to avoid the rush. At around sunrise, there will probably be very few, if any, other people here, and it is a wonderful experience viewing this waterfall with no one else around. But at any other time of day, the hordes of people around the falls ruin the experience in my opinion. After you have had enough time basking in the presence of Multnomah, hike up to the top of the waterfall (2 miles RT). Theres not really a good view of the falls from the top, but there are other waterfalls up there, and also some good views of the Columbia River, and you can peer down at all the people looking up at the falls from the viewpoints below.

There are a couple interesting things that I wonder about Multnomah Falls. The first, is that it is commonly advertised as being the 2nd highest "year-round" waterfall in the United States, after Yosemite Falls (and the 4th highest in all the U.S.). It is nowhere near being the 2nd highest year-round falls in the U.S. Here are just a very few that are higher: Bridalveil Falls, Chilnualna Falls, Colonial Creek Falls, Hanakapiai Falls.

The second thing is its listed "official" height of 611 ft. I wonder if that is really the correct height. I measured it as being 599 ft. high. The upper section I measured to be 540 ft., which is very close to the official height of 542 ft. The lower section I measured to be 59 ft. high, compared to the official 69 ft. There is, however, a small drop at the top of Multnomah that is sometimes called "Little Multnomah Falls", and it is about 10 ft. high, so that could possibly make up the difference in the overall height of 611 ft. I'm not confident about that, though, because if this was the case, then the lower section official height would be 59 ft., not 69 ft. It is a bit of a mystery.

Multnomah Falls OR (Elev. 200 ft)

Tonight
Partly cloudy, with a low around 42. West northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday
Rain, mainly after 4pm. High near 58. Breezy, with a light and variable wind becoming west southwest 11 to 16 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Sunday Night
Rain. Snow level 3800 feet lowering to 1900 feet after midnight . Low around 38. Breezy, with a southwest wind 14 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Monday
A 50 percent chance of rain. Snow level 1900 feet rising to 2900 feet in the afternoon. Partly sunny, with a high near 51. West wind 7 to 10 mph.
Monday Night
A 40 percent chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 38. South wind around 7 mph.
Tuesday
Rain, mainly after 10am. High near 49. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
Tuesday Night
Rain before 10pm, then showers after 10pm. Low around 41. Chance of precipitation is 90%.
Wednesday
Showers. Cloudy, with a high near 48. Breezy.
Wednesday Night
Showers. Snow level 2800 feet lowering to 2200 feet after midnight . Mostly cloudy, with a low around 37. Breezy.
Thursday
Showers. Snow level 2000 feet. Cloudy, with a high near 46. Breezy.
Thursday Night
Rain, possibly mixed with snow. Snow level 1600 feet. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 35. Breezy.
Friday
Rain. Snow level 1400 feet rising to 2500 feet in the afternoon. Cloudy, with a high near 46. Breezy.
Friday Night
Rain. Cloudy, with a low around 39. Breezy.