Twin Falls

We took the opportunity of the Labor Day holiday to do a family hike in the Cascades along I-90. We purposely selected this hike so as to avoid long drives each way such as would be necessary to go to Mt Rainier and back. This has its pros and cons.

Trail heads are pretty simple affairs – a parking lot at the end of a road with basic toilets and water. Since the hike is not too far from the Seattle/Bellevue urban area, a lot of people had the same idea that we did. The lot filled up quickly. In addition, we learned that part of the trail had washed out; so we chose the trail head at the other end instead. The hike climbs up out of the parking area fairly steeply.

It then joins, or uses, a rails-to-trails hiking/biking trail that formerly was the roadbed for a railroad headed for Snoqualmie Pass where I-90 also crosses the Cascades.

As a former railroad, the trail maintains very reasonable slopes over very long distances so that even in the ‘up’ direction the walking and cycling are pretty easy. As is true in many northwest hikes, the trail switches back and forth.

And as is also common, popular trails are secured, reinforced, and fitted with stairs when the climbing gets beyond a certain level of difficulty and the area is popular enough to draw crowds.

This makes it possible to take smaller children along and not be too worried about their falling down a slope or wandering away.

It’s the Northwest – there are large trees, though not as large as the Grove of the Patriarchs. One of the realities of living in this part of the world is that a lot of it was logged off by the original settlers, so that what we look at today is actually older second growth. Of course in some areas where the terrain was too challenging, a few older, larger trees were left; and these are now mixed in with the second growth. It’s all a bit of a mish-mash and not really the forest primeval.

Finally, through the undergrowth, we detected the bridge that crosses over the stream between the two falls.

It was, of course, a perfect place to stop and take in the view

Since this is a modest sized stream, the water gets ‘squeezed’ between the rocks, as in this view looking upstream at the first falls.

Beyond the bridge, we hiked a bit farther to a view point from which we could see the second, lower falls and its distinctive ‘bridal veil’ pattern.

Then we scouted out a clearing for a key part of the hike: lunch

And because we don’t get everyone together all that often, a family picture.

Great way to celebrate Labor Day !

1 Columbia River Gorge Overview

We just spent four days in the Columbia River Gorge, a canyon of the Columbia River that stretches for over 80 miles as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range forming the boundary between the State of Washington to the north and Oregon to the south. Extending roughly from the confluence of the Columbia with the Deschutes River down to eastern reaches of the Portland metropolitan area, the water gap furnishes the only navigable route through the Cascades and the only water connection between the Columbia River Plateau and the Pacific Ocean. We had both crossed and traversed the gorge before, but hadn’t taken the time to stop along the way to experience it and learn its history.

The gorge holds federally protected status as a National Scenic Area called the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area and is managed by the Columbia River Gorge Commission and the US Forest Service. The gorge is a popular recreational destination.

The wide range of elevation and precipitation makes the Columbia River Gorge an extremely diverse and dynamic place. Ranging from 4,000 feet to sea level, and transitioning from 100 inches of precipitation to only 10 inches in 80 miles the Gorge creates a diverse collection of ecosystems from the temperate rain forest on the western end—with an average annual precipitation of 75 to 100 inches to the eastern grasslands with average annual precipitation between 10 and 15 inches, to a transitional dry woodland between Hood River and The Dalles. Isolated micro-habitats have allowed for many species of endemic plants and animals to prosper, including at least 13 endemic wildflowers.

The Gorge transitions between temperate rainforest to dry grasslands in only 80 miles, hosting a dramatic change in scenery. In the western, temperate rainforest areas, forests are marked by bigleaf maples, Douglas Fir, and Western hemlock, all covered in epiphytes. In the transition zone (between Hood River and The Dalles), vegetation turns to Oregon white oak, Ponderosa pine, and cottonwood. At the eastern end, the forests make way for expansive grasslands, with occasional pockets of lodgepole pine and Ponderosa pine.

We drove initially to the town of Troutdale, on the Oregon side and at the west ‘end’ of the gorge where the Columbia slides out of the grasp of the Cascade Range. From there we drove east on the Oregon side, then crossed over and came back west on the Washington side. Here’s a map.

Along the way we stopped at a number of waterfalls, had a tour of the Bonneville Dam, stopped in Hood River (though too early to see any kiteboarding), drove historic Columbia River Highway (now route 30), visited the Maryhill Art Museum, treated ourselves to a night at Skamania Lodge, climbed Beacon Rock, and visited a couple of regional history museums. We’ll give you a look in the next series of posts.