Columbia River Gorge and Multnomah Falls, Oregon

Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay

	Multnomah Falls is a 600-foot waterfall on the Columbia River gorge east of Portland.

	Numerous waterfalls drop off the edge of the canyon. The walls of the canyon are Columbia Plateau basalts. Four distinct flows are visible in this view.
	A rest stop on I-84 offers distant views of Multnomah Falls.


Above: views of the gorge from the rest area.	Below: an exit for the falls leads to a road parallel to the interstate.



	Above: a small fall on the way to Multnomah Falls Left and below: Multnomah Falls. Not only is the falls beautiful in its own right, but the bridge enhances the setting.










	Left and below: near the base of the upper falls is columnar basalt.

	Lower view area from the bridge
	Mouth of the gorge from the bridge
	Looking down the lower falls.
	Closeup views of the bridge are mostly blocked by trees.


	Left: Undercutting at the vase of the upper falls. Below: Nets catch falling rocks and trees

	Below: the gorge from Multnomah Falls.




	The road continues west and climbs the cliffs to Crown Point. There are some nice views and some small waterfalls, but no shoulders.

Wahkeenah Falls

	Wahkeenah Falls is a small fall about a kilometer west of Multnomah Falls.

	Crown Point offers a sweeping view of the Columbia River gorge. The pictures here start looking east and sweep around to the west. The gorge owes its dramatic topography partly to the scouring of the Missoula Floods.





	The Vista House is the trademark of Crown Point.

	The postcard view from Crown Point

Created 15 November 2005, Last Update 08 June 2020