Having just returned from a trip to the American Pacific Northwest, I have a ton of photos I just can’t wait to share with you. In this post, I’ll share photos I took in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge area of northern Oregon.
These floating homes are pretty common in the Pacific Northwest. I spotted these outside of Portland, but you’ll find plenty of them in Seattle as well.
This view of the Crown Point Vista House and the Columbia River Gorge was taken from the Portland Women’s Forum Viewpoint. You can see the view from the Crown Point Vista House at the top of this page.
The Crown Point Vista House is worth a photo in and of itself.
There are many, many waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge. I only visited a few. Bridal Veil Falls, above, has two tiers and is a pretty easy hike to get to.
Multnomah Falls, above, is certainly the most famous of all the falls in the Columbia River Gorge, with its iconic footbridge above the lower tier. There’s no hike to see the falls, which is certainly convenient, but also makes it much more crowded.
The Hood River area is known as the Fruit Loop for its abundance of wineries and orchards. Driving down the road here makes for a scenic view of Mount Hood.
Just south of the Columbia River Gorge lie miles of country roads and rural towns, some of them ghost towns. Above, the town of Dufur can be seen in the middle ground of the photo.
The historic Balch Hotel in Dufur has been around since 1907.
I just can’t get enough of those dirt roads and rolling hills!
The town of Boyd, you will see this old barn, above, and grain elevator, below.
Please note, that as with many of these old buildings, while they appear to be abandoned, they are in fact privately owned. Please don’t trespass in order to take photos. These photos were taken from the road.
Paved roads are always nice to find in an area like this!
The Dalles is an eclectic mix of urban and rural. This historic city was once host to Lewis and Clark during their expedition and was considered the end of the Oregon Trail.
Relics of the town’s past remain on the sides of buildings such as the one in the photo above (although I suspect that Coca-Cola sign has recently been repainted).
Just outside the Dalles, you’ll find the Fairfield Homestead (on Emerson Loop Road). I’d like to know more about this homestead, but I couldn’t find any information about it online. Any area experts have anything to share about it?
This old homestead is located in Friend.
One of my favorite photos is the one above of the Eight Mile Schoolhouse in Japanese Hollow, near Boyd and Dufur. Isn’t it fun to imagine what life was like for students attending school in this one room schoolhouse? I’m sure it was a lot different than the large middle school building I teach in!
Rowena Crest Overlook offers this view of a hairpin turn.
Even better though, is this view it offers of the Columbia River Gorge. In the foreground is Oregon, and across the river is Washington.
Some of the best views are right after the plane takes off, like the one I caught above (I believe that’s Vancouver, WA – not to be confused with the better known Vancouver, BC).
I love when the plane tilts a little and you can see straight down. A beautiful day on the Columbia River!
There are so many mountains in the Pacific Northwest. Above, I captured Mt. St. Helens with farmland down below, and then the same thing with Mt. Hood below.
There’s so much to see in the Columbia River Gorge that I could go back ten more times and not see it all, but I enjoyed photographing what I did get to see. In my next post, I’ll share photos from the famous Timberline Lodge, used in the filming of “The Shining.”
