Waterfalls in Oregon means the Columbia River Gorge to most people. That in spite of the beautiful falls found in the Coast Range and other parts of the western slope of the Cascades – then there is Mt Hood, as well. The obvious second choice for the newcomer would be Silver Falls State Park.
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Tokeland is a small spit sticking into the northern entrance of Willapa Bay. The estuary is an amazing body of water. Some write the bay as the second largest estuary on the Pacific Coast. That depends upon one’s definition of an estuary. Some include the Puget Sound in the estuary category. While parts of the Sound are estuarine, the Sound is an inland sea.
Definition of an estuary reads a partially enclosed body of brackish water with one or more rivers flowing into and an open connection to the sea. The freshwater-saltwater intermix provides high levels of nutrients in both water columns and sediment making an estuary a wildly productive natural habitat. West Coast Estuary Explorer also includes the Columbia River as an estuary. They have split the river reaches into eight separate interconnected sections, from the river mouth to the furthest point of tidal influence, Bonneville Dam. The enormous amounts of freshwater flowing through make the Columbia a special case.
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A recent trip took us downriver to the one of the only remaining salmon canneries along the lower Columbia River. Pillar Rock is literally at the end of the road. To go further east, you have to get in your boat. The cannery dates to 1877 when it was built over the previous spot where Hudson’s Bay employees used to have an operation which salted salmon. The salmon were then transported to the Sandwich Islands – Hawaii – for sale there, with so-so success. Lewis & Clark also camped here both coming and going along the river. Local Native Americans had long used the site as a place of encampment for years before.
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Chester Moores was a member of the first party to complete a loop around Mount Hood in an automobile in one day. They did it as part of an expedition he wrote about in a wonderful article written in the 18 July 1915 edition of The Sunday Oregonian. They spent eleven hours out on the roads, starting with the Columbia River Gorge Highway only completed in parts the year before. Construction of that road in Hood River and Wasco Counties would not be completed for several years. They ended up on earlier roads, much steeper and narrower. He writes of encountering grades of 25 to 30%. The actual Mount Hood Loop would take longer.
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Oregon and Washington have used prison labor for various projects throughout their history. Convicts have been working on a variety of projects from laundry to license plates to agriculture. They also worked on convict road projects, though that only arose in the early 20th century. Penitentiaries hoped to relieve overcrowding in the prisons while at the same time providing employment not conflicting with free labor. They saw the employment also as a form of reward to their better behaving prisoners. Prisoners had marks of degradation such as stripes, chains and shaven heads done away with. Here, they gained a certain amount of freedom. The work, done in the public good, was also seen as reformative.
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Funds for The Dalles – Sandy Military Road gained appropriation from the Oregon legislature in 1872 – $50,000. The road finally finished in 1876 after another $50,000 infusion. The road suffers from memory – too windy and parts too steep (20 % grades!). Much of the road was said to have been destroyed by the 1880 building of the railway through the Gorge. Some areas remained to be incorporated into the subsequent Columbia River highway. Other areas were abandoned, though only one section of the old wagon road – Shellrock Mountain – remains known from its day.
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The area around Starvation Creek along I-84 has undergone some changes with the recent restoration of the Historic Columbia River Highway here in 2019. For a long time, the site has been a rest area with a short trail leading to the drama of Starvation Creek Falls. It is also the beginning of a couple of the hardest trails found in the Gorge, Starvation Ridge and Mount Defiance trails. These trails entail a gain of 5,000 feet, with the latter trail doing it in under five miles. But before going high there is a lot to discover down below.
In the short stretch between the rest area and Shellrock Mountain about two miles to the west, five waterfalls easily come into view; one other notable if it has rained hard recently and two or three others a bit harder to access – especially if you have to carry a 38-pound cogi.
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To date, the Twin Tunnels of Mosier make up the most spectacular section of the Historic Columbia River Highway formerly lost, now restored. That honor will probably fall in a couple years, superseded when the Mitchell Point section comes back. From the viewpoint near the tunnels, you look out to the magnificence of the tilted synclines on both sides of the mighty river. Come in springtime and the floral display will be on to add to the magic.
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In Scott Cook’s wonderful round-up gem of places lesser known in the Columbia River Gorge, Curious Gorge, Mist Falls is uncovered and revealed. This waterfall moods changes dramatically with the seasons, from a solid waterfall after a rain to one with mists dancing in the wind. Mists never seeming to be in any hurry to settle back on the ground as they enjoy their brief moment of freedom. It sits as a nearby neighbor to the king, Multnomah Falls. The waterfall is most visible to the motorists ripping along Interstate 84. Those motorists – the drivers, anyway – only get a fleeting glance. Their attentions quickly focus on cars using the left-hand exit for the nearby huge parking lot at Multnomah. Mist Falls is a true overlooked gem in the midst of Waterfall Alley.
Continue readingAs Portland grew during the 19th and 20th centuries, smaller towns were annexed along the way. Some of those towns were substantial, like East Portland. Others were much smaller, like the little town of Linnton across the Willamette River from St Johns. The last post touched on the Lower Columbia River Highway. This time we will come back closer to the beginning of that road.
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