Multnomah Falls

The major tourist attraction of the Columbia River Gorge seems to be Multnomah Falls. It's the second highest year-round waterfall in the US, but they don't advertise what the first highest is.

This picture gives you a sense of how tall the falls is. And how silly David is.

We decided to do a short walk -- maybe up to the bridge or a little farther. It was only .2 miles to the bridge, and a short 1.0 mile to the top of the falls. What we didn't realize was that it was also a mile straight up! At least, that's what it felt like to me. I took lots of pictures because it gave me a good excuse to stop and rest every few minutes. Next time, I'm bringing water* and wearing a tank top and shorts!

Me after 20 minutes of hiking.

A view from partway up.

The top of the waterfall!

After 50 minutes of hiking, my face was the same color as my shirt.

David laughing about how now we need to walk back down to get water.

Walking back down. I think it's funny how people coming up get to the bridge and instantly stop, so the downhill end of the bridge is packed, and the uphill end is empty.

See that patch of sky up there, where the waterfall comes over the edge? We hiked up there! Yeah!

We were very tired that evening....

*When I first visited Portland a few years ago, I went on a portion of this hike -- just to the bridge. Afterwards, we had soft serve ice cream at the snack bar near the parking lot. I told David about this, but apparently wasn't clear. He was under the impression that I had hiked to the top and had ice cream up there. So he encouraged me during the hike by telling me that we could get ice cream and water at the top. Meanwhile, I assumed he had read up about the falls and learned about the existence of a waterfall top snack bar. We were both surprised.