Visit to the beautiful Columbia River Gorge

Inspired by an article in the New York Times and glorious sunny weather on Saturday we decided to drive down to the Washington-Oregon border for a visit to the Columbia River Gorge. The brilliant foliage and views of the gorge made the three hour drive absolutely worth it!

We started on the Washington side, winding our way east along the river and drove along Highway 14 through cottonwoods, gold-colored bigleaf and fiery-red vine maples, groves of lichen-covered red alders, and a smattering of ash, wild cherry and white oak. We stopped at Cape Horn viewpoint, a a massive basalt cliff where the above photo was taken, for a breath-taking view of the Columbia River Gorge and again further down at the towering Beacon Rock, before heading over the Bridge of the Gods, appropriately named, given its stunning panoramic views of the gorge. On the Oregon side, we made our way west toward Portland on the Historic Columbia River Highway (Highway 30) winding its narrow, twisting way through deciduous canopies so dense that it feels like perpetual dusk, the road, lined with old, moss-covered stone railings, passes by no fewer than seven waterfalls (we stopped at Horsetail falls, Multnomah falls, Wahkeena falls and Latourell falls).

Afterwards we made a detour and drove to the top of Larch Mountain, stopping on the way at Crown Point for another breath-taking view of the Columbia River Gorge (this time from the Oregon side), then proceeding to the to the summit for a short hike to Sherrard Point and an amazing 360-degree view, which since we were lucky to be there on a clear autumn day included the peaks of Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson. As the sun moved lower toward the western horizon, Mt. St. Helens faded into dusk followed by Mt. Rainier while Mt. Hood's snow covered sides towering in front of us were set ablaze by the setting sun. A treat indeed!

We had clear skies into the night and a full moon followed us all the way home. Later in the evening we noticed that it had a surreal halo and as the temperature dropped nearly to a freezing point we stood in the backyard for just a few minutes longer, mesmerized by its silvery glow.