Chris M. in the Columbia River Gorge:
“One late cancellation and one no-passport problem left us with only 3 people in the car. Which made relaxing in the back seat a prized position! It took Anna, Tu Loan and myself about 7 hours to get down there.
Saturday afternoon we did a 5 mile (8 km) hike that took us past 5 good waterfalls – Wahkeena, Fairy, Ecola, Wiesendanger & Multnomah. The weather was overcast with a little rain – perfect lighting for waterfall photography. We stayed both nights in a reasonable motel at Cascade Locks.
Sunday weather was brighter. So it was a sight-seeing day. We started off trying to walk through Oneonta Gorge but were stymied by one deeper pool just before the waterfall. Six miles of hiking (9.6 km) took us past Horsetail, Ponytail, Middle Oneonta, Elowah & Wahclella Falls. We enjoyed the latter two the most. We had enough time for a visit to Carson, where we had a very relaxing hot springs mineral bath and wrap. Followed by a nice Mexican dinner.
Early Monday morning we hiked 4 miles up Eagle Creek to Punch Bowl & Lower Bunch Bowl Falls. Then we crossed the unimpressive ‘Bridge of the Gods’ over to Washington so we could check out Panther Creek Falls. They were my favourite of my trip. Then it was back on the road and home to Vancouver. We all took turns driving. The conversation and good times never stopped. Border lineups were poor but it does pay to use the Duty Free option.”
