Last Saturday posed a conundrum -- which areas would provide the best weather for picture-taking? The forecasts for everywhere in western Washington and Oregon veered wildly between sunny and rainy for the prior two days, generally with the predictions for each area being the worst conditions for good photography (sun where you needed shade and vice-versa). Finally, by Saturday morning, it was clear that the only good area would be the Washington/Oregon border, for either Columbia Gorge waterfalls or Woodland tulips. Well, when I got to Woodland, instead of the predicted dry overcast, it was raining, so I pushed on to the Oregon side of the Gorge.
Since I had left home so late, I really didn't have the time to do a long hike such as the Eagle Creek Trail, so my "game plan" was to get to as many waterfalls as possible that I had not yet visited (plus, by chance, a couple I had). Thus was born the "seven waterfalls in four hours" project...
Stop One was
Wahkeena Falls, which I had already photographed a couple of years ago. Nonetheless, the freeway exit to the Columbia Gorge Highway was right by here, the upper falls were running higher than usual, and you know what they say, "If you have a chance to photograph Wahkeena Falls...photograph Wahkeena Falls!"
Below the Falls on Wahkeena Creek.
Next up, on the western side of the Gorge, was
Shepperd's Dell Falls, dropping far below the highway...
...followed by
Bridal Veil Falls (where guidebooks rate the hike as everything from "easy" to "fairly hard" -- having done it myself now, I'll say that, going down to the viewing platform, it's "easy"...climbing back up to the parking lot, it's "fairly hard" ;-) ).
On the way eastward, I pulled over at
Horsetail Falls for a handheld shot out the car window. I have taken other, much nicer, shots of Horsetail before, some of which have been posted here. However, since I took all of those with a wide-angle, people looking at them might have concluded the falls were pretty but relatively short. This "grab shot," thanks to the human element, shows that "short" isn't a term that applies to Horsetail at all.
Then, to Starvation Creek State Park (site of a 1884 railroad incident where passengers were snowbound for three weeks -- although, contrary to the name, nobody starved) on the eastern side of the Gorge, site of three notable waterfalls in less than a mile of hiking.
First,
Starvation Creek Falls, high up on the hillside.
A detail of Starvation Creek.
Then,
Cabin Creek Falls...
...and, finally,
Hole-in-the-Wall Falls.
Oh, yes, I also did manage to stop by Woodland just as the sun was setting. Although the bulb farm and its gardens were closed, there was nothing to keep me from grabbing a few shots of the "show field"...
Hopefully, I'll get another trip to the Gorge in before the end of spring; in which case my goals will be the Eagle Creek Trail to Punchbowl Falls and/or a return trip up Tanner Creek Trail to Wahclella Falls...either of which should provide some great waterfall photography, if nowhere near seven waterfalls in four hours!
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