Upper Horsetail Falls.

Friday was a tragic day in the Columbia River Gorge. Two separate incidents occurred within close proximity of each other. A rock slide along a trail near Horsetail Falls struck a family of five hiking, causing serious injuries to some of the hikers, but all survived. In a separate incident about the same time, a hiker reportedly died after plummeting 40 feet off a cliff near Triple Falls and Oneonta Trail #424.

I don’t know yet the full details of what caused these incidents. I am not going to speculate anything. These incidents, however, are a reminder that you should always be careful out in the Columbia River Gorge or anywhere else out in the wilderness. Always be prepared for anything to happen. Always stay alert to your surroundings.

Triple Falls.

Elowah Falls.

I needed to step away from the computer, so I loaded up my two Labradors and my camera, and headed off to the Columbia River Gorge for a small hike. The sun poked through the broken clouds as I pulled out of the driveway at my house in Milwaukie. As I drove east on Johnson Creek Boulevard, I could see this ominous dark cloud hovering over northeast Portland. The the rain dumped heavily.

My first destination was Latourell Falls, but it was dumping rain there too. I headed east on the old highway, passing Wahkeena, Multnomah and Horsetail Falls. The further east I went, the rain was lighter. By the time I reached John B. Yeon State Natural Area near Warrendale, the rain stopped. The dogs jumped out and we headed up the trail to Elowah Falls.

I packed light for this small two-mile hike. I really didn’t think it was necessary to pack 20 pounds of camera equipment to a shooting location that would soak every piece of camera equipment I had. I also don’t believe every photograph taken of the natural outdoors should be on a sunny, cloudless day either. I’ll just capture the weather, no matter what mood Mother Nature is in (that is, if my camera doesn’t drown in the rain).

The leaves are beginning to change. The trees are very much still green in the Columbia River Gorge. A few trees are starting to hint some gold, red and brown.