We — all 18 of us — were there yesterday for our annual James & Noreen Roth family outing.
Horsetail Falls is upriver two-and-half miles or so from the more-famous Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge.
We didn’t go directly there, of course. We took Exit 22 off I-84 East to the old Columbia River Highway (Hwy 30) and stopped first at the Crown Point Vista House. What a structure! And what a view!
From there we went to Multnomah Falls to see it (of course) and to hike up to the bridge. Two of us (namely, Russell and Andrew) hastily chugged up to the top of the falls. Before they got back, most of the rest of us backtracked a quarter mile of so to Wahkeena Falls to set up our picnic lunch. Then we drove on — roughly 2.5 miles to Oneonta Gorge where we walked through the old tunnel as well as down by a creek a bit.
Another half mile or so of driving got us to Horsetail Falls.
Those of you who follow me on Twitter have already seen two cellphone photos I posted “live” yesterday. What follows are some taken on “real” cameras — and remember clicking the images should show you a larger version.
I stood across the old Columbia River Highway to shoot some family members at the lower falls.
The tallest of the boys shown here — that’s our youngest-at-fifteen son Andrew at the base of the lower falls, with our grandson Trey directly below him.
This is the pool at the base of the lower falls.
This is Dad (James C. Roth) spying out the land from a good vantage point part way up to the upper falls.
Here’s what Dad saw: the mighty Columbia River.
Finally — the upper falls!
There — through some greenery — the pool at the base of the upper falls.
Nine of our family members enjoy the sounds and sights and feelings behind the upper falls.
Here I — though you can’t see me — am looking north (?) from behind the upper falls toward the top of the lower falls.
The green plants seem to be watered year-round by the mist from the upper falls, seen here cascading into their pool.
Water from the upper falls pool rushes off to become the lower falls!
After we were done at Horsetail Falls, we went on about another mile to the Ainsworth State Park Rest Area, which isn’t much more than a parking spot by the side of the road with a men’s and a women’s bathroom. We set up our post-lunch, post-hikes dessert and chowed. Then we went out separate ways home.
I hope to post more outing photos later (although it does seem like a waste of time).