Moving Water

Moving to Oregon, I knew one of the things I would miss was easy ocean access. This is the farthest I’ve lived from the coast in 17 years, and even if I didn’t zip over the hill to Santa Cruz and the beach every single day (mmm, sailing lessons in Santa Cruz), it was there whenever the need grew sharp enough. I worried that its absence and distance would wear on me.

To compensate, the chickie babe and I have been going on hikes to see waterfalls. The Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge has some 77 waterfalls. Even on a weekday, we can get out of the house by 9:00 am, drive to a trailhead, hike about four miles, see one or more fabulous waterfalls, and still get back home in time for the afternoon shift at the salt mines. About every other week, we’ve been out on another fabulous hike. Here are some quick shots from the most recent hikes.

This is Wahclella Falls, about a 350-foot (or 107 meters for the metric mavens) two-tier waterfall.

Here’s Wahkeena Falls, about a 240-foot two-tier waterfall.

Here’s a small cascade on the same hike as Wahkeena Falls.

This is Fairy Falls, on the same trail as Wahkeena Falls.

This is Punch Bowl Falls. Only about a 15-foot drop, but a great basin for swimming (when the water is warmer!).

It’s not the ocean, but it scratches much of the same itch. Finding out that I have a resource like this in my backyard has been a delight.