Upper Latourell
I have been to the Columbia River Gorge many times over the years, but I never made it up to Upper Latourell Falls. There are just SO many great waterfalls to see in the Gorge, and time is usually very limited. It is impossible to see them all in one trip, and decisions have to be made. Upper Latourell Falls was always the one that was cut out. Not this time.
But actually, Upper Latourell Falls was not on my list “again” this year. I was not planning to go here. Again, too little time and too many waterfalls to see. On my last morning here, I had plans to see some different waterfalls. But this time, circumstances changed and I updated my plan. Mostly it was because I was too tired, and the ones I had initially planned to see would be tough ones, so instead, I decided to go to a couple closer and somewhat easier waterfalls (namely, Triple Falls and Oneonta Falls, and then Upper Latourell Falls).
Upper Latourell was the last one I saw on this trip. It is a nice one, dropping 122 ft., but is not particularly easy to photograph the entire waterfall. This is the lower section, and it looks quite like Oneonta Falls, which I had just visited an hour earlier. You can also get up in behind this waterfall as well. I finished the hike about noon, and fortunately it was overcast so I had good lighting. Then after lunch, I made the long drive back to California. It so happened that it was a Saturday, and both the Beavers and Ducks had home games this day. I-5 was totally clogged up with traffic, by fans from these teams driving down from Portland to see their teams. All the cars on the freeway had their Beavers or Ducks flags waving from their cars. It was crazy. And it did not make me happy, trying to make decent time back to California. Well, it took awhile, but I finally got by them all and made it back to California. Geesh.
http://www.waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=1571