Leon Turnbull Photography

We arrived early in the morning at Punch Bowl Falls. It is such a gorgeous location and waterfall. Indeed, everyone seems to think so. Punch Bowl Falls may be the most photographed waterfall in Oregon, or right up there anyway. Last time I was here, two years ago, there was a big ugly log cutting across the middle of the waterfall. If you know this waterfall well, then you know what I am talking about. That log had been there for many years. Finally, a big storm passed through (about a year or year and a half ago, I think), and all of a sudden the log was gone! Now this waterfall is back to being its incredibly scenic self again.

Usually one needs to wade out into the middle of the stream about knee deep or so, in order to get a good viewpoint of the falls. On this day, the water level was a lot lower so you didn’t really even need to get wet to photograph the falls. But we put on our water shoes anyway, and waded out into the water. Even though we were there at sunrise, there was still some glare from the morning sun on the water.

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.

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.

I knew Elowah Falls would not have a lot of water flowing at this time of year. Last year it was very wispy, blowing around in the wind, and almost disappearing in mid-air. But it was also very lovely and graceful just the same.  Definitely a must stop in the Gorge at any time of year. I was certainly surprised to find that there was quite a bit of water flowing in the falls, much more than last year. Supposedly, the Portland area has had a drought this summer, but I sure had not seen it thus far. Although some waterfalls (like Munra Creek) were just barely flowing, others like Elowah were flowing quite strong for this time of year. As I already said, it was definitely quite strange. But who is complaining? Not me. Elowah Falls is and always will be a beauty.