Urban Landscape, Native Landscape: Multnomah Falls

Friday, January 3, 2014

Multnomah Falls

Multnomah Falls December 2012

Multnomah Falls can be found along the Columbia River Gorge in Multnomah County, Oregon. It is not far from the City of Portland, on the Historic Columbia River Highway. The falls drops in two major steps, one much longer than the other. The total height of the waterfall is 620 feet. The whole thing is really quite stunning. This is the tallest waterfall in Oregon, fed by underground springs. In contrast, Niagara Falls is only 165 feet tall. Snoqualmie Falls is 268 feet. A foot trail from a large parking lot leads to Benson Footbridge 105 feet above the lower cascade. The trail continues to a platform at the top of the upper falls. The way to the bottom of the lower cascade is not far from the parking lot. There is also a trail to Wahkeena Falls from the lodge adjacent to the parking lot. Wahkeena Falls are definitely worth seeing. You can walk or drive. The falls are most abundant in winter & spring.

1 comment:

Patty said...: As much as I enjoy your city pictures I love seeing the nature photos of the area. The falls are superb.; January 19, 2014 at 6:50 AM

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About This Blog

This blog began in 2008 as Metropolitan Gardens to provide information on gardening in Seattle & places like it. Click on Gardening in Cascadia. The blog expanded to include Parks P-Patches Public Gardens in the US, Canada & Europe. Then Nature was added. (The difference between nature & gardens is intent. Nature happens. Gardens are planned.) Many recent posts are not about Seattle, or even Cascadia. They are Urban Landscape: streetscape & architecture. Cascadia is the region including the Cascade Mountains of Washington & Oregon. If you want to contact the blogger, leave a message in comments. Comments are moderated & private messages will not be posted.

Our Land & Climate

The city of Seattle rests between 2 bodies of water: Puget Sound & Lake Washington. Puget Sound is a substantial part of the Salish Sea & a very small part of the Pacific Ocean. The Salish Sea is set apart from the Pacific by the Olympic Peninsula in the state of Washington & Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia. The dense, wet clouds of the Pacific Ocean travel as far as the Cascade Mountains, near the Salish Sea & not very far from the ocean. East of the Cascades lies the desert of the Columbia Basin. The moist, temperate climate of Seattle extends south to northern California & north to southeastern Alaska. The Pacific Northwest Coast from San Francisco Bay to Cook Inlet shares a flora dominated by evergreen coniferous forest. The central portion, west of the Cascade Mountains, is called Cascadia. The climate is cool & wet from fall to spring, warm & dry in summer. The Olympic Mountains block Seattle from much of the Pacific rainfall. Seattle is drier than the Atlantic coast of North America & northern Europe, cooler in summer & warmer in winter. It lies near the latitude of Paris & Quebec City.