Behind my kids is Multnomah falls, a place that has become my new favorite destination. It’s actually about an hour from my house near Cascade Locks, Oregon. The falls actually contains a few huge falls and hundreds of mini ones. When we first found this place we had stopped at Horsetail falls on our way into Oregon. I had mentioned it in a previous blog where I asked you guys to get out and explore. Well, I’m hoping that this post encourages you to get out and find places you have not yet adventured to.
This is much higer up on the bridge you see in the first picture. It’s about an 8th of a mile through a congrete path to get up here.
After you pass the bridge, there is a concrete path that takes up up 11 switchbacks a mile up the mountain. This is about a half mile up, looking back at the Columbian River that is right behind you this whole part of the hike. Take note, there are no rails. So if you have small kids or animals that tend to not watch where they’re going, hold on tight or don’t go at all. I don’t think a drop from this side would kill them because the next switchback down would catch them, but they go high enough to hurt them and make it hard to get to them.
A little past a mile up, right before you see the sign for 11 out of 11 switchbacks, the pavement ends. The path starts to go down towards a river with a bridge over it. Of course the first thing my kids saw was the other kids playing in the freezing cold water… Ok, freezing cold to me.
They apparently loved it enough to sit down in the water. Behind me is a fallen tree that the kids were using as a bridge over the water. I had taken a video of it and a few more paths that took off from this area but the video wouldn’t upload. Unfortunately my kids are just as clumbsy as I am and would have fallen off the tree, so they didn’t get to go across.
If you keep following this path, it goes an extra 5 miles over rocky dirt, leads to a different large fall, and then you hike .3 miles back to Multnomah. With an untrained dog and two 9 year olds who are drenched in cold water, we weren’t going to go the whole hike around. At this point we were 2 miles in. If you look behind the boys, there is a mini fall. This literally goes for over a mile of watching river, drop, river, drop, river drop. The path is extremely uneven and only wide enough for 2 people, but very worth it.
Another half mile in is a path carved into the rock. Above you is all rock, so it’s like half of a cave. I was told by another hiker that people will wait under there on rainy days and the rain comes off like a waterfall in front of you. I thought it was amazing even without the waterfall over us. It had started raining (not hard enough to make the waterfall over the cave) so I couldn’t take pictures past this. A little past us was the large waterfall that makes this whole part of the river. Around it was a beautiful swimming pool (not the kind in a backyard but calm even water around where the fall hits down). At a little past 3 miles in, I told my kids it was time to head back. It was 5 in the afternoon, we didn’t know the path, and I had promised them fudge in the little villiage around Multnomah, so we weren’t going to be able to get around the whole path. And that path is only one of dozens for people to take. You could spend a week in this area and still not cover all the paths. I loved it. The webpage on it says crowded, but honestly, that’s just around the main falls that you can get to by car. We passed tons of families or groups going up and down the path in the concrete part but it wasn’t a steady incoming of them. It was like maybe one or two groups per switchback. When you head into the dirt and rock path, it’s rare to cross anyone.
If you can see in the middle, there is a border collie with a pink collar. That’s Sasha, our dog. She was actually the first to pass out in the car. We hadn’t even made it a mile down the highway. The boys passed out right after her. This hike is exhausting, but so worth it.
So your challenge, again, is to find something that nature has put out there for you to enjoy. It could be a lake, it could be a path around cactus. My dad loves the hikes in the hottest parts of Arizona. We did a 10 mile last summer through Southmountain that I will never forget. I don’t care about the heat or the rain. Get out there and explore. Nature is too beautiful to ignore. If it’s an hour or more away, plan to do it on your off day and spend half the day there. Make a mini vacation out of it.
GET OUT AND ENJOY YOUR LIFE!
Today starts now 