Today I hiked the Multnomah – Wahkeena loop. I’ve hiked part of both sides before, but this was the first time that I’ve done the complete loop. At one point the trail was muddy. I looked to the side and saw the bank. Oh, that was the spot I heard about a couple of weeks ago. The person reporting said that the landslide was still moving at the time. Well they had it cleaned up with a level trail going through. That was one of the reasons why I decided to hike the loop in a clockwise direction. I certainly didn’t want to hike most of the way only to find that the trail was closed and have to turn around and go all of the way back. The other reason is that I felt that since Multnomah Falls is so heavily visited maybe my car would be safer. The Gorge has a very bad reputation for car prowls. Speaking of crowds, Multnomah was a madhouse by the time I returned.

Wahkeena Springs emerges about three feet below the trail. I was wondering how stable the ground above it is. I guess the water must not be eroding anything or the trail would have been long gone.

When I was near Lemmon’s Point a man asked where I had hiked. I later realized he must have been asking me because I must have looked like a more serious hiker, what with all of the gear I had. I remember back when we used to hike these trails with a whole lot less stuff. That gentleman told me he was headed to Devil’s Rest today. That would have added about another 1,200’ of elevation gain to the hike I did. No thanks. I already climbed 1,600’.

But I suppose that 1,600’ wasn’t enough since I headed right over to Horsetail Falls. I wanted to climb up to Ponytail Falls. I don’t even recall how much gain that is. The trail isn’t long, but there are switchbacks. I spoke with a photographer while I was there. I told him that I didn’t even bother to take any pictures of Horsetail Falls since I already had pictures with much better fall color. He commented that I was spoiled. I replied that he was spoiled since Mount Rainier is in his back yard. It was all good fun, and I’m pretty sure that we were both right.

My next stop was at Bridal Veil. I didn’t go there to shoot the falls, although I walked up to take a look since I was already there. My reason for stopping there was to shoot the creek below the falls.

At Shepperd’s Dell I was surprised to see a woman photographer with a tripod. It’s not as though there aren’t plenty of women photographers. It’s just that it’s so unusual for me to see one with a tripod. I don’t mean that as social commentary. It’s just a personal observation. Maybe y’all see women with tripods all of the time.

I finished my day at Latourell Falls, which is my favorite waterfall in the Gorge. I set up my tripod and took a shot. The results looked like my camera was crooked since the wind had blown the water sideways. I spent a lot of time watching the wind play with the water.

After stowing my camera, I made two view stops at Crown Point and Chanticleer Point. That’s about as much of a view as I need. I won’t be hiking to either Angel’s rest or Devil’s Rest. Oh and that hiker I had spoken to earlier – well he told me that he had hiked up to Sherrard Point last week. Oh man! That’s practically a four thousand foot gain. I’m so lazy that when we visited we got there in a car and I wasn’t even the driver!