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Hiking the falls on the north border of Oregon

All > "Art" > Photography > Narratives > Hiking the falls on the north border of Oregon by natetrue

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On a crisp Sunday I went out with my family for a pleasant hike along the falls of northern Oregon. It was cold but fortunately my camera is easy to operate with gloves on.

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My car was covered with frost that morning, beautiful, delicate frost crystals. This little caterpillar thing is one of my windshield washer nozzles.

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The crystal field looks so good in macro.

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The sunrise, too, was plenty beautiful. Flocks of geese fly in and out over the course of the day.

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We were in our warmest cold-weather gear because it was cold and windy.

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Old fish had come to die in the stream just below the waterfall. It was kind of sad. Not them dying, that's natural, but the fact that they would not let us eat them was just heart wrenching.

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Originally we were headed to Multnomah falls but they closed it because it was icy. So we had to find a different trail to start on.

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But not before taking some photos of the falls, though.

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This photo, for example, is very tall.

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This one, however, is of something very small.

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So instead we went to Horsetail falls which is like a mile to the west.

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We figured we'd hike up to Upper Horsetail Falls and then maybe continue on, depending on whether we felt like it.

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On the way up there were some sweet mossy cliffs. This is a wall-eyed 3d photo (as are the rest of them here), so the technique at 3d stereo photography won't help you. Sorry!

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The tangled branches of the barren trees stood ominously below us as we quickly climbed above the din of the road below.

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The slopes were steep and already my nipples were chafing but we had to keep going.

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This 3d photo of a fern turned out amazingly well. Taking 3d photos of small things like plants is much harder because they're more sensitive to how you move the camera.

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Hikers don't respect the trails like they used to. People are always leaving babies and other detritus on the trails.

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There were also a lot of frozen areas on the cliffs.

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We brought the baby along because she seemed pretty agreeable.

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Here's another fern photo that worked out pretty well.

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This photo did not turn out well, and it will hurt your eyes if you try to look at it.

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The view was picturesque at best.

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Finally we reached the Upper Horsetail Falls and were delighted to see that the trail proceeded behind the falls.

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Here be dog butt.

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We were interested in how the trail here came to be, since it showed some evidence of blasting (drilled holes) but it would seem that blasting would just make the whole thing collapse instead. Also there were lots of spiders up there.

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Mystery though it was, its beauty notwithstood.

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This is basalt, right?

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Water doesn't take good 3d pictures when you only have one camera.

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The plants below the falls were completely glazed over with ice.

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Fern genitalia

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Phillip took this opportunity to make the ultimate sign of respect for the beautiful landscape. Which is, of course, to stick your hands in your coat pockets because it's so cold, while looking at the landscape. What did you think it was?

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We then stumbled upon a watershed falling over the mossy cliff. This is supposed to be the cleanest water you can find out here, though I thought it tasted a lot like moss.

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As we continued, this gnarly mossy tree greeted us.

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And here we have Oneonta falls with Phillip on a precarious perch over the rushing waters.

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Here's a bit of video to exemplify the falls experience.

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This log had fallen all the way down to the falls. Where did its branches go? It is a mystery.

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Here's a bit of the Onoeonta creek as it proceeds down its inevitable path to the Columbia river.

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I tried to take a photo of the falls as it tumbled down with limited results. I think this motion blur looks kinda good.

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And so ends the hike.

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