There’s a corridor of waterfalls west of us where creeks fall off Larch Mountain. The most famous is Multnomah Falls, 650 ft high. We got our “timed entry waterfall corridor permit” at recreation.gov and went there this Monday. We arrived at the corridor at 10am and stopped first at Horsetail Falls.
After that, we drove to Multnomah Falls. We had to circle the parking lot several times before a spot opened up — the permit does not guarantee parking! Once parked we walked up to the falls amid hundreds of tour bus tourists. There’s a bridge in front of the falls … Benson Bridge … where everyone tries to take selfies. Deb hiked up to the bridge and I shot a photo from down below. Then I walked up and waded across the bridge/ tourists to get to Debbi.
We then tried to hike to the overlook a mile up a skinny trail. Halfway up we heard someone had fallen on the trail and was injured, so we reversed course. When we got to the bottom we saw the rescue squad trundling up the path with an evacuation stretcher on a gas-powered, tracked base. Imagine a small tank with a stretcher instead of a turret.
Having spent a couple of hours at Multnomah, we cut the day short by deciding our last waterfall would be Bridal Veil. It’s back a short hike and quite beautiful.
With our calves and thighs aching from the hiking, we drove back to The Dalles for lunch at Clock Tower Ales. Deb had brisket sliders and I had their chicken sandwich. Deb lubricated her dry throat with Beak Breaker IPA, quite a taste of grapefruit. I washed down the sandwich with Tricerahops Double IPA.
So far my favorite beer is the Sunriver Vicious Mosquito IPA. Oregon truly is the home of craft beer. Just look at the number of taps!
