For what felt like the first time since we moved to Oregon, we got out of the house yesterday. Our destination was Multnomah Falls, the tallest waterfall in the state. At 620 feet, it pales in comparison to some other nearby waterfalls, but apparently it's the second tallest perennial waterfall in the US.
Besides being quite pretty, the cool thing about the falls is how accessible they are. The base is just off the interstate. You could pull of the road, snap a shot or two of it, and be back on the interstate in 5 minutes flat. However, if you hike a path of just 0.2 miles, you reach the footbridge over the first tier. That's where we snapped this family shot.
Even better, if you're willing to hike 1.25 miles at a 10% average grade, you can stand on a platform at the top of the whole 620 foot drop. If you look closely in the above pic, you can see the footbridge, base, and parking lot. I get vertigo just thinking about it. One guy dropped his camera into the river right before I took this shot. It stopped along the bank just shy of going off the waterfall (you can see it in the pic if you look hard enough) and he was debating whether to go down and get it out or not. I didn't get to see what his final decision was in the five minutes I was there.
It was the first time we've attempted a major hike with our boys and it went pretty well. I had to carry Carter on my shoulders for about a mile of the 2.5 mile trek and my muscles are screaming at me today for it. Jordan forgot his sweatshirt and had to carry a blanket. But they both said they had lots of fun (that didn't cost a dime), so it must have been worth it.
