Back in July I went to meet an online friend for the first time up in Portland, where we hung out for the long Fourth of July weekend. We had a fabulous time cruising around the witchy city, taking in the sights, and having conversations about the universe; but the funniest thing that happened was while we were walking the streets of downtown, where there is SO MUCH art/graffiti, I started to notice that people had incorporated the famous Multnomah Falls into their work. I knew the Falls was in the Pacific NW but really had no idea the location. Then an ambulance went by—no lie—with a colorful depiction of the Falls right on its side. I slowly, slowly started to put two and two together and googled the location of the Falls.
Thirty minutes away.
So we immediately made plans to take the first morning shuttle up to see the spectacular sight. This is one of those places I thought, especially in my early photography days (read: broke), that I simply never thought I would get to. Me, in the Pacific NW? Being towered over by one of the tallest waterfalls in the US? Nah. Couldn’t be me. And yet. There we were.
Multnomah Falls, nearest to Troutdale, OR and riiight up against the border with Washington State, drops 620 feet into Multnomah Creek in the famed Columbia River Gorge. In the picture above you can see it’s kind of bisected—the top half is more of a bridalveil, while the lower is more cascades. There is a very easy (but uphill) and paved hike to the bridge you see, which is very popular, but really there are probably a dozen different places along the trail to view the falls that are breathtaking. You can even go all the way up to the top and look down. (My friend did; I did not. Not afraid of heights, just a heart attack)
The most fortuitous thing of all was that I actually had a DSLR camera with me. This was just a fun hang-out trip, not one of my nature jaunts, but I’d brought my D610 along to do portrait shots with my friend (I miss those days so much!). And, as luck would have it, I remembered to bring not only my 85mm, which is a fixed lens and great for people but not for landscapes, but also my 24-70mm for any wide shots, which is how I was able to fulfill a dream in the PNW that day. One thing I didn’t have was a tripod, but at this point, I’m getting pretty okay at standing as still as possible and not breathing for up to one second to get the waterfall effect. ;)
I’m definitely going back, this time with my new D850 (about which I shall post about soon) and a freaking tripod, and maybe I’ll rent a super-wide lens too just for fun. Friend and I are hoping to meet up again in June, and we’ll see what the water flow looks like then, and maybe there will even be some more tiny wildflowers for me to squee over? We shall see!
