The Gorge

I just came back from a 4 day trip to the beautiful Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. The purpose of the trip was to lead my first private workshop. The workshop went really well. We saw 19 waterfalls in 2.5 days, all of them in good lighting. My client, John, was a happy customer when all was over. We saw most of the main, easy access waterfalls in the Gorge, as well as a few unusual (but beautiful) ones.

I actually went to a few more, just by myself. I arrived a bit early to check out the conditions beforehand and go see some difficult, out of the way waterfalls, that I was anxious to see.  I ended up seeing a total of 27 waterfalls. Not too shabby.

I left very early from Red Bluff to make the long drive up north, arriving in the early afternoon. I did not find too many Fall colors happening in the Gorge yet, and that was something I was definitely hoping for. I also found things to be rather hot and humid. This is supposed to be October. What ever happened to Fall? Crikey-ness! I was sweating profusely on my first hike already. And the next day would be even hotter!

The first waterfall on my list to see was Upper Munra Creek Falls. Most people familiar with the Gorge probably know about Munra Creek Falls, as it falls along the trail to fabulous Wahclella Falls. But Upper Munra Creek Falls is off the beaten path. Yet, it is not so difficult to get to, there is an established trail leading to it. But since there are no signs, you definitely need to know where you are going. Thank goodness for the GPS.

Upper Munra Creek consists of a series of three small waterfalls, 22, 15, and 25 ft. high. This is the uppermost cascade. Munra Creek was definitely not flowing too greatly. That is as expected since it is so late in the year, yet I found that some of the other waterfalls in the Gorge were flowing greater than when I was here in September last year. It was definitely weird. Some falls had more flow, and some had less.  Munra Creek was one that had less flow. Oh well, it was still rather pretty.

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