When work got canceled this morning Joie and I decided to head out east to the gorge to see a few waterfalls. Multnomah Falls was the star of the show(or so we thought) producing a thunderous roar that seemed to swallow up any other sound:
I'm on the bridge in this one:
Before Multnomah Falls we stopped at Wahkeena where we could tell it was going to be an interesting morning!
On the drive eastward along the old highway there were tons of small slides surging out over the road. We stopped a few times to clear several volleyball sized rocks out of the way:
Horsetail Falls was amazing, with the spray/mist from the splash pool reaching more than half the height of the falls(214 ft, NW Waterfall Survey)
A closer look at the base:
Ainsworth was getting hit pretty hard too:
We headed a little further east and got off at Bonneville Dam to see if we could make it out to Wahclella Falls. Just a quarter mile in at Munra Falls the water was slamming rocks onto and over the bridge where I shuffled across quickly(stupidly!) before deciding to turn around:
The falls was pretty impressive this morning:
Tanner Creek was just scary:
The little road grade past the gate at the TH had a good coating of mud and debris over it in a few places:
We got back to the car and continued our way eastward until we reached Starvation Creek. Jo and I were curious to see if Warren Falls was flowing after the heavy rain and indeed it was! But first
We headed west along the eastbound shoulder of I-84 until we reached Cabin Creek Falls:
After we passed Cabin Creek Falls Joie spotted an old piece of rail line next to the trail:
And the obligatory ant mound shot:
We continued on up towards the site of Warren Falls and then there it was, giving off a pretty good roar itself:
The creek was diverted in the late 30's bringing the birth of the nearby Hole in the Wall Falls and leaving the old site of Warren Falls without any water for most of the year. But today it was very much alive
Hole in the Wall Falls was something else too, just blasting down the cliff side:
Warren Creek before it meets back up with Warren Creek:
And a closer look at Hole in the Wall, full of rocks and mud. The sound was sort of terrifying!
Back at Cabin Creek Falls and the water had made it's way out over the old highway
This had all happened in the 20 or 30 minutes we'd been gone at Warren Falls, a strong reminder of the power of mother nature. We hiked back along the freeway shoulder to the car where Joie climbed in to get warm and I headed off for Starvation Creek Falls:
All in all I hope everyone is safe after what was(is) one heck of a storm earlier(and apparently more to come!) It was just a wild day out there.
