Leon Turnbull Photography

We arrived at Multnomah Falls at sunrise on our second day in the Columbia River Gorge. In my opinion, the only time to see Multnomah Falls is at sunrise. Any other time of day, and it is overly crowded with people. Way too many people. It is of course THE place to stop in the Columbia River Gorge, and for the majority of tourists, it is probably the only place they stop in the Gorge. It is a magnificent waterfall for sure, but I prefer my waterfalls with less people. And at sunrise, there are less people. Indeed, we were the ONLY ones there at Multnomah Falls. There were a couple other cars in the parking lot when we arrived, but I imagine they belonged to people working at one of the facilities here. No one was at the waterfall. It is extremely peaceful when you are viewing a towering waterfall with no one else around.

Well, we took our photos of Multnomah, then headed up to the top. There are three other waterfalls above Multnomah Falls, and they are worth seeing. It is about a mile and a thousand feet up to the top. It seems a lot worse than it is. All the switchbacks are numbered 1 of 11, 2 of 11, 3 of 11, etc. I thought that was funny.  But at least we knew how much further we had to go up.

The first one is small Dutchman Falls. Not really worth going down to, and John did not. But I went down to take a quick shot. Then we arrived at Weisendanger Falls. It is 50 ft. high, and it is a pretty one, tucked back in a little cove. To get up to it, though, we had to get our water shoes on and wade up the creek. I arrived first, and found that we were not the only ones up so early after all. A great blue heron had gotten there before me, and was enjoying the view. Actually, he was fishing at the base of the falls. I had not brought my big lens along with me, plus it was still on the dark side, so I could not take a photo of him. By the time John had gotten up to the falls, he decided he had enough of me, and flew off, right over John’s head.

After Weisendanger, we continued up the trail to Ecola Falls, which is a very difficult one to get down to. Then we hiked over to Fairy and Wahkeena Falls, and back along the road to Multnomah where we had parked. It was probably our longest hike of the tour, and we arrived back around lunchtime. We were fortunate in that we had good lighting for all the waterfalls. I was worried about that because it was a sunny day. But these waterfalls are so tucked into the gorges, that they get very little sunlight, except for a few hours in the afternoon.

Big Kimshew Falls has been on my list for quite a few years now. It is a 89 ft. beautiful triple decker falls, located out in the middle of nowhere. Literally.  It is actually very easy to get down to see, but the problem is that the drive takes forever. Literally. It is located out past Stirling City, which is quite a long drive in itself. But once at Stirling City, you need to drive an additional 15 miles on a very bumpy and slow going dirt road. It takes about an hour just to drive these 15 miles.

I figured it was about time, though, that I made the long trek out to see it. I needed to be in Chico for lunch, anyway, since we were celebrating my brother-in-law’s birthday at the Sierra Nevada Brewery restaurant (one of my favorite restaurants, and definitely my favorite American brand of beer). So I decided to just get up very early (4AM) and try to get out to Big Kimshew Falls first. It was a rainy day, but I did not encounter any rain while I was at the falls trying to photograph it (fortunately), but I did certainly encounter rain whilst driving. I was hoping the rain would have increased the flow in the creek a bit more, but it was still a very lovely flowing waterfall. The low flow allowed me to get right in the middle of the creek to take my shots. In the spring, this creek is raging, and there would be no possible way to stand where I was standing. The kayakers like to go over this triple falls at high flows, but with the two logs that are there now, I don’t think they would be doing that anymore. Bummer. The logs also make the waterfall appear not as aesthetically pleasing as it would be otherwise (though it still looks pretty darn nice).

So is it worth the very long drive out to see Big Kimshew Falls? Yes, most certainly. It would be better in the spring when the creek is much higher, but the window in the spring to see this falls is very short because you have to wait until the road is open and completely free of snow. Still, I am sure that I will be returning here sometime in the spring.

We spent the last few days in the small town of Arnold CA . My mother and my sister and her family were down visiting us from Canada, and they were staying in Arnold for a few days (for some reason or other), and so our family went down to visit them there. It was nice to see them as we don’t usually get to see them more than once a year.The four cousins had a very fun time playing with each other, and of course, Jadon and Nekoda were very happy to see their grandma as well.

It was cold in Arnold. Darn cold. Yet, it was sunny. The Fall colors were a non show, sadly. In this area, they are extremely late changing this year. The Aspens (shockingly) were still mostly green. The dogwoods were just starting to change color, but were still mostly green as well. I was hoping to get some nice shots of the dogwoods with Giant Sequoia trees but I did not even bother. I took my mom and brother-in-law on a couple hikes to a couple different waterfalls. At least those were flowing.

On our last day there (Thursday), I decided to go up to the summit of Ebbetts Pass to catch the sunrise. It was pretty cloudy as I headed up and I was thinking there would not be any sunrise to speak of either. But as I drove up to the summit, the clouds broke, and I could tell a good sunrise was a brewing. I had never been up there before, so I had no idea where to shoot from or if there would even be a spot to shoot from. I got lucky, as I came across this vista point just before reaching  the summit. The timing was about perfect, as the color was already happening as I arrived. I did not waste any time getting my camera out and setting up for the shot. It was a very good morning.

Coopey Falls is one of the lesser visited waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge. But it is one of the prettier ones, zigging and zagging 131 ft. down a steep cliff. It is easy to get to, so why is it not visited so much? It is because it is on private property, owned by the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist convent, and is not signed or marked in any way.

Rumour had it, though, that the nuns are happy to allow visitors in to see their own private waterfall. All you need to do is ask them. So John and I drove into the convent and I went up to their door and knocked. It was around dinner time, and I think they were all getting ready to sit down and eat. But I was greeted by a very friendly old lady, and she was very kind and gracious, and said to me to “Enjoy!”. Well, that is exactly what John and I did, it is a very pretty waterfall, even though the flow was a bit low in October. I truly applaud the sisters, allowing people to come in to see and “enjoy” their waterfall. It would be very easy for them to say “no trespassing”. That is what everyone else does, it seems. But it would be a mighty shame if they did that. So go see Coopey Falls. But ask first, and be respectful. Everyone should be able to “enjoy” this one.

I’m still working through all my Columbia River Gorge photos. There are so many. Here’s another view of stunning Upper Bridal Veil Falls in the remote Gorge.

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that Oregon waterfalls are all just perfect. Perfectly shaped. Perfectly formed. Perfectly named. Think about it: Horsetail, Ponytail, Punchbowl, Fairy, Bridal Veil. They are the epitome of their names. Even Upper Bridal Veil. Bridal Veil Creek was named after the lower falls, which looks like a perfect bridal veil. The upper falls has no business looking like a bridal veil as well. And yet it does. Hmmm.