Cascade Locks, Oregon

Just steps from the Columbia River, Cascade Locks, Oregon, is great for an overnight stay.  After visiting Multnomah Falls, we spent the night at the Best Western there on SW WaNaPa Street, preceded by a dinner of hand-thrown pizza and a dark ale at the Cascade Locks Ale House half a block down on the same street.  The pizza was delicious, the ale refreshing, and the hotel a pleasure with its impeccable staff, meticulous maintenance and thoughtful amenities.

The city took its name from a set of locks built there in the late 1800s.  Completed in 1896, the locks improved navigation on the river past the Cascades Rapids, operating until 1938 when they were submerged by the Bonneville Lock and Dam four miles downstream.  Today a park exists on the site with a campground, restaurant and marina with a fabulous bronze statue of Sacagawea and Seaman, a native woman and dog accompanying the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Ninety years earlier, for two days beginning October 30, 1805, Lewis and Clark camped near this town and explored the route they would attempt through the "Great Shute" (Cascades Rapids) in the Columbia River.  Today, inundated by the lake formed behind the Bonneville Dam, the rapids no longer exist nor pose a threat for travelers or ships maneuvering through this portion of the Columbia River.

After a complimentary breakfast of huge proportions, like Lewis and Clark, we were on our way.  But we traveled in the opposite direction, up river, toward another adventure-Washington's Stonehenge...
  

Multnomah Falls, Oregon

Multnomah Falls is a spectacular two tier waterfall east of Portland, Oregon, and the most visited natural recreation site in the Pacific Northwest.  Over two million visitors a year travel to the site located in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, and we were one of those explorers this spring.


Created by floods occurring during the Ice Age, the falls, the Columbia River, and the gorge are spectacular examples of the power of water.  The gorge was carved out by repeated, massive floods occurring from breaks in melting ice dams upstream whenever conditions warmed sufficiently during the Ice Age.  It is easy to wonder what the surroundings must have been like on the days when a wall of water came crashing down through this area creating the riverbed and cliffs that make up the gorge of today.  The sound of it must have been horrific, like the ending of the world.

Driving easterly, we sight smaller waterfalls cascading over the edges of cliffs rising sharply to the south of Interstate-84, as the highway follows the curves of the adjacent Columbia River to its north. At Exit #31 on the highway, the off ramp leads directly into the parking lot for the visitor's center at Multnomah Falls, with room for parking vehicles of just about any size.

The spectacular flow of water over the cliff rising sharply above the visitor's center drew us quickly up a small climb along a paved path to the visitor's viewing area for the falls.  Gazing upward at the power and beauty of the falls created by this spring's abundant runoff, the cascading water was mesmerizing as wisps of mist swirled around us.

Then the adventurer in our genes took over.  We climbed the two-tenths of a mile walk up to the bridge overlooking the pool of water at the base of the upper tier of the falls.  An easy climb through the woods, this vantage point revealed a superb bird's eye view of the visitor's deck below at the base of the second tier of the falls, as well as a close-up view of the upper falls.

Braver souls than us continued on past this bridge for the mile hike along a serpentine trail up to the summit of the falls.  We were satisfied to return to the visitor's center to peruse through the multitude of interesting publications and displays describing the falls and their history, before indulging in an ice cream cone!