Cascade Range
The Cascade Range is a stunning mountain range that stretches from British Columbia, Canada, to Northern California, USA. It is home to some of the most breathtaking landscapes in North America, including towering peaks, cascading waterfalls, and pristine alpine lakes. For photographers, the Cascade Range offers endless opportunities to capture the beauty of nature. Some of the most popular photography locations in the Cascade Range include Mount Rainier National Park, Crater Lake National Park, and Mount Hood National Forest.
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Lower part of the famous Multnomah Falls of Columbia river gorge, Oregon. Took this shot last summer when we visited the falls. This has to be arguably the most famous of all Oregon’s waterfalls as it took us two visits to get a lean photograph. The crowd here during the day time is unbelievable, we had to park a mile away and walk up to it. The second time we returned early in the morning just after sunrise and had the place all to ourselves and even managed to see some storks at the bottom pool.
On another note, due to my wife’s incredible networking skills, I will be having my images showcased in a gallery from the 7th of this month. The name of the Galley is A-Frame Hollywood and it’s located on Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood. If you are in the locality please do drop in and say hi. Thanks again for visiting, have a great Wednesday..
This picture has been stitched together from 8 individual pictures. The Crater Lake was formed ~ 7700 years ago in the caldera after the eruption and collapse of Mount Mazama. It has the cleanest water in the USA, almost free of suspended particles, it is also very deep, that´s why the color appears as dark blue. The volcanic cone shaped island on the left is Wizard Island (4400 years old), the small islet on the right is named as Phantom Ship island.
Apple trees starting to bloom and snow covered Mt. Hood in the background.
Hood River Valley is the river basin of Hood River in northern Oregon . It is bounded by the Columbia River to the north, Mount Hood to the south, the Cascade Range crest to the west and an apparently unnamed ridge system to the east which contains Hood River Mountain and Snyder Canyon. Mount Hood National Forest surrounds the Hood River Valley west, south, and east. It is entirely contained in Hood River County.
The only city in the valley is Hood River. The major unincorporated communities are Odell, Parkdale, Mount Hood, and Dee.
The valley is known for its tree fruit agriculture—including one of the world's largest pear growing areas—farm tourism, and recreation related to its evergreen forested mountains providing opportunities such as hiking, mountain biking, whitewater sports, camping, and 31 fishing lakes. On the Columbia River is one of the top rated water sports areas in the world, particularly for kite boarding and wind surfing. On Mount Hood, snow sports draw thousands daily primarily at Mount Hood Meadows, but also Cooper Spur ski area on the east side of Mount Hood. Alpine hiking and mountain climbing are popular as well.
- Arthur Young.
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Here is another shot of the Upper Butte falls from our Oregon trip. This shot was taker directly from in front of the falls as I wanted to show the beautiful curtain form of the fall. This is one of the most memorable locations on our Oregon road trip and riding through a bone jarring stretch of forest road was totally worth it.
Hope everyone likes it..
- John Locke.
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Upper Latourell falls trail is a pretty easy 2 miles hike in the Columbia River Gorge which take you to two of the most stunning waterfalls I have ever seen. I spend a quite a bit of time to get a clear shot of the waterfall from this angle as there were many people enjoying this stunning waterfall. When I started out in landscape photography, I would grow completely impatient when people walked into the shot. But now I have learned to enjoy spending my time there witnessing the moment and do a bit of people watching.
Lighting for this was particularly challenging as sun was directly above use and there were super bright spots created by the sunlight filtering through tree foliage. I got away from it by shooting multiple images and creating a mini composite image as time was a bit limited.
- Mike May.
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Elowah Falls, also called McCord Creek Falls, is a 213-foot waterfall on the Columbia River Gorge, Multnomah County, Oregon. The waterfall is formed as McCord Creek is forced into a narrow channel by sheer cliffs and shoots at high velocity into a natural amphitheater of layered basalt. Lichens and mosses are very common, covering up to eighty percent of the ground surface under and around the vascular plants (source: Wikipedia).
This was another waterfall which I had on my list when we visited Oregon the first time. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we were not able to make the trip but this time we marked it as a must have and it was totally worth it. Plus we also got the falls all to ourselves as this is not as popular a hike as the waterfalls closer to Portland.
Also known as Ponytail Falls, in the Columbia river gorge, Oregon.
Many thanks to Gary Randall for taking me there.
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Taken on a misty day, the water is low at this time of the year, but come Spring it will be very full and lovely.
Henline Falls is a broad curtain type fall, dropping 126 feet over the side of a narrow alcove. During periods of lower water levels Henline Creek will split into two or three more distinct channels of water and spray into the cove in multiple distinct sheets of droplets.
Henline Falls was named after the creek, which was in turn named for a settler of the area who had come in search of the rich prospecting in the area. Immediately to the right of the base of the falls is the Silver King Mine. Remnants of a tramway leading from the mine are visible as the trail near the falls. The adit itself is dry, so exploration is possible, but do not enter the mine alone.
- Theodore Dreiser.
Another image of the beautiful Christine falls from Mt Rainier National Park. In my earlier posts about our visit to the park, I have talked about how our trip to the park coincided with a storm. The storm pretty much covered the entire park in clouds, and the whole time we were there, we couldn’t even seethe main attraction of the park, Mt Rainier itself. We were not discouraged, though and the reason for our bright outlook was the sheer number of beautiful waterfalls around the park.
The stormy overcast conditions were perfect for waterfall photography. Christine Falls, located on the eastern side of the park, and with such a beautiful setting, we could not afford not to visit the waterfall. While the scene at Christine falls is gorgeous, it’s the only composition you can make here as I am not sure getting to the fall's base is even possible. After taking the standard composition, I tried some variations in attempting to frame the waterfall with a tree near the viewing platform. I intended to give a certain depth to the scene. The technical details are pretty straight forward. I used a polarizing filter and a three-stop ND filter to slow the shutter speed and cut down the foliage glare.
I took over 80 shots of this waterfall today. I narrowed it down to two I like. If you viewers would let me know your opinion as to the strongest I would be grateful.
Downing Creek Falls is the second of at least three significant waterfalls known to occur along the stout length of spring-fueled Downing Creek. The falls drop 32 feet over a distinctly cube-shaped outcrop of basalt, pouring in three to four side-by-side channels (depending on how much extra snow melt water is present), with as many as a dozen small streams of water dribbling out of the adjacent cliff and falling parallel to the falls in tandem. Though the falls aren't terribly tall, the creek is large enough to produced a consistent cloud of mist at the base of the falls, which helps ensure the forest and cliffs all around the falls are liberally covered head to toe in a thick blanket of moss.
Downing Creek is a remarkably consistent stream with a deceivingly small drainage basin. The majority of the creek emerges from springs about one quarter mile upstream from the falls, and flows all year long with very little fluctuation as a result. Further upstream along the drainage is another waterfall which only flows during periods of prolonged snow melt in the spring months, but the upper section of the creek otherwise sinks into the porous ground and the upper falls dries out as a result.
The Office Bridge (also called Westfir Covered Bridge) is a covered bridge in Westfir, Lane County, Oregon, U.S. crossing the North Fork Middle Fork Willamette River at the south end of the Aufderheide National Scenic Byway and edge of the Willamette National Forest. It is Oregon's longest covered bridge at 180 ft (55 m), and is one of only two in the state using triple Howe truss construction. It is the only covered bridge west of the Mississippi River which has a separate pedestrian walkway. Each Christmas season, the town decorates the bridge with lights. A firetruck driven by Santa turns the lights on the first week after Thanksgiving.
I took over 80 shots of this waterfall today. I narrowed it down to two I like. If you viewers would let me know your opinion as to the strongest I would be grateful.
Downing Creek Falls is the second of at least three significant waterfalls known to occur along the stout length of spring-fueled Downing Creek. The falls drop 32 feet over a distinctly cube-shaped outcrop of basalt, pouring in three to four side-by-side channels (depending on how much extra snow melt water is present), with as many as a dozen small streams of water dribbling out of the adjacent cliff and falling parallel to the falls in tandem. Though the falls aren't terribly tall, the creek is large enough to produced a consistent cloud of mist at the base of the falls, which helps ensure the forest and cliffs all around the falls are liberally covered head to toe in a thick blanket of moss.
Downing Creek is a remarkably consistent stream with a deceivingly small drainage basin. The majority of the creek emerges from springs about one quarter mile upstream from the falls, and flows all year long with very little fluctuation as a result. Further upstream along the drainage is another waterfall which only flows during periods of prolonged snow melt in the spring months, but the upper section of the creek otherwise sinks into the porous ground and the upper falls dries out as a result.
View of the lower part of falls.
Lost Lake is a lake in Mount Hood National Forest. We have to identify it as the one in Hood River County because we have more than one Lost Lake here in Oregon.
The lake is bounded on the east by 4,468-foot (1,362 m) Lost Lake Butte and on the southwest by 4,556-foot (1,389 m) Preachers Peak. The lake is fed by three unnamed intermittent creeks from Lost Lake Butte, and Inlet Creek from Preachers Peak. The lake maintains a very consistent level via an outlet at the north tip, the source of Lake Branch Hood River, a tributary of West Fork Hood River. It is the second-deepest lake in Mount Hood National Forest after Wahtum Lake at 167 feet (51 m).
I added the blue to the fence because it was lost otherwise with white on white.
The Willamette Valley (will-AM-et) is a 150-mile (240 km) long valley in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley, and it is surrounded by mountains on three sides – the Cascade Range to the east, the Oregon Coast Range to the west, and the Calapooya Mountains to the south. It forms the cultural and political heart of Oregon, and is home to approximately 70 percent of its population.
The valley's numerous waterways, particularly the Willamette River, are vital to the economy of Oregon, as they continuously deposit highly fertile alluvial soils across its broad, flat plain. A massively productive agricultural area, the valley was widely publicized in the 1820s as a "promised land of flowing milk and honey". Throughout the 19th century it was the destination of choice for the oxen-drawn wagon trains of emigrants who made the perilous journey along the Oregon Trail.
Today the valley is often considered synonymous with "Oregon Wine Country", as it contains more than 19,000 acres (7,700 ha) of vineyards and 500+ wineries.
- Samuel Johnson | facebook | 500px | ferpectshotz | One more shot of the beautiful and massive Lower Proxy falls. For this shot I had this plan to get as close to some of the foreground cascades and to use them as foreground interest for framing the big waterfall. Unfortunately the water flow was simply too high and I was constantly getting sprayed by the mist. I am truly glad my gear is water resistant but trust me constantly having to wipe off your filter while taking a long exposure shot is not fun. This was not the composition I had in mind but this was the closest I got to what I initially planned. Hope you all enjoy the image.
- Thomas Browne.
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Another old shot from our trip toe the wonderful state of Oregon. This spot from the women’s forum park provides an iconic view of the beautiful Columbia River Gorge. Its almost impossible not to go for a wide-angle lens here. And that’s exactly what I did, but I noticed that there were a lot of finer details in the scene even on a day when we had pretty flat light at sunset without much drama in the sky.
So, I attempted a pano stitch as it was getting darker by the minute. Unfortunately, couple of pics from the pano turned out to have some vibration in them teaching me the valuable lesson to always check for sharpness and focus. But this one was pretty decent with the vista house bathed in absolutely gorgeous golden light along with the cliffside.
- Gilbert K. Chesterton.
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Multnomah Falls, at about 627 ft in elevation this is one of the premier attraction of the Columbia River Gorge and attracts quite a number of visitors. It’s considered by many as the second tallest year round waterfall in the US. We passed alongside the falls on our fourth day but the parking area was packed with cars, so we decided to get back here on the fifth day after shooting sunrise at the Trillium Lake.
We reached here around 6:30 am and there was nobody around, so we took our time taking pics and enjoying a stroll to small bridge across the falls. It’s not the most photogenic of the falls in Columbia River Gorge but its stunning just to see the sheer size of this stunning waterfall.
- Elizabeth Bowen.
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Punch bowl falls, located at Columbia River gorge, Oregon. This was the second shot I made at the location after our extensive hike. Compared to the drought ridden California, Oregon’s rivers had good water flow so I had to settle for a shot from far away. A bunch of kids actually swam across to the closer vantage point but one of the unfortunately could not swing back due to hypothermia and had to be evacuated that day. So I am quite glad that I didn’t try to get deep into the water.
Thanks for visiting and have a great day..
Tamanawas Falls is a popular waterfall on the east slope of Mount Hood, along Cold Spring Creek. The falls plunge a sheer 109 feet over a columnar basalt in a broad display that can stretch to 45 feet across at times. Tamanawas Falls was originally known as Giffords Falls, after photographer Benjamin A. Gifford, whose photos documented the falls in 1909 - whether he should be properly credited with discovery or first documentation of the falls is not known. The current name, derived from a Chinook word which means "friendly or guardian spirit" was officially adopted in 1971.
McDowell Creek Park
Now that the Spring snow has started to melt, if you can get to these falls, the cascades are impressive. These are one of the falls located in the Opal Creek Wilderness area. This image was one of several, I had to clean off my lens after each shot, so much spray!
Henline Falls is a broad curtain type fall, dropping 126 feet over the side of a narrow alcove. During periods of lower water levels Henline Creek will split into two or three more distinct channels of water and spray into the cove in multiple distinct sheets of droplets. This disconnect between the powerful falls seen during the wet season and the lacy, delicate falls encountered in the dry season will determine whether the entire falls can be viewed by visitors - at high water so much spray blasts out from the falls that attempting to cross the creek to where all-encompassing views are possible is treacherous (and photography is pretty much impossible).
Seen from Tolmie Peak in Mount Rainier National Park. It is 6 miles 1010 feet round trip hike.
Lavender Valley, which is the name of this farm, is a beautiful 6 acre hidden gem just 30 minutes south of Hood River, Oregon. The farm is located in the beautiful Hood River Valley within view of the picturesque Mt. Hood, standing tall at over 11,000 feet. The farm has a 360 degree view of the surrounding landscape and farms. The farm is free to anyone who wants to walk through the beautiful lavender field or take some amazing photos. If you want to make an amazing bouquet of lavender to take home, it is only 4 dollars to pick your own.
On my own photo preview program this didn't seem as saturated with color. Not the first time my images' colors looked different after posting on this site.
- Francis Bacon.
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This is an old shot from our trip to Northern California earlier this year. We were there at the same time a massive winter storm was hitting the area. So photo taking opportunities were very limited due to the cloud cover blocking the entire mountain. We had just finished a sunrise shot at Lake Siskiyou with mixed results and were driving back to get a well-earned breakfast when I noticed the sun breaking through the clouds just as we were driving over the box canyon dam.
So I grabbed my gear and took a couple of shots before escaping back into the warmth comfort of the car. This is one of the good shots looking straight at the Sacramento River taken from top of the Box Canyon Dam.
The Molalla Indians used the trail in the early 1800's. It is now called the Table Rock Historic Trail. During the 1920's this same trail was utilized by Native Americans from the Warm Springs Reservation to reach traditional huckleberry picking areas near the Molalla River and Table Rock. Table Rock Fork of the Molalla River located near Molalla, Oregon. It is a 5 mile whitewater kayaking & canoeing trail. The Table Rock Fork is a great class three run, very continuous and entertaining. It is something of a mystery to me why this run hasn't gained popularity with local paddlers, but I think this will change as more people start venturing up there and word gets around. Let me say that this is all the information I could find on-line about this part of the river. The above are quotes taken from three different online sources.
- Agnes Repplier.
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One more shot of the beautiful fairy falls. For this shot I got in real close and used a longer focal length. I am a big admirer of this particular type of falls as they come our really pretty in photographs and this one is one of my favorites. I wanted a shot emphasizing the details of the moss on the ricks and the flowing water.
Hope everyone likes it, Happy Tuesday!!
- Helen Keller.
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Another shot from the Silver Falls State Park located near Salem Oregon. This is one of those falls which is so huge you can walk underneath the falls completely dry if the wind is not messing with you. We did this short hike and left completely in awe of this stunning waterfall.
The trailhead said the whole trail contains more than 10 different waterfalls and I can’t wait to return to explore them all, hopefully one a less crowded day. Thanks for visiting and have a nice day.
If this be not love, it is madness, and then it is pardonable… -William Congreve
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I first visited Oregon couple of years ago on a summer road trip along with my wife. We both enjoyed the state's natural beauty so much that we decided to head back up again this year when we had a chance. Last time we were there we spend a whole day searching for the illusive Abiqua falls but were unlucky in finding it. This time I was better prepared and had an idea about the approximate location of the trailhead. Plus we were lucky that we met some locals who directed us to the exact start point of the trail.
The trail is completely located within private property but the owners had allowed nature lovers to explore the area, which was totally awesome and I hope everyone to venture to this trail respect the instructions posted. You basically can drive up until you see a white metal fence blocking the road and the trail to the falls start to the left of the road. Once you start the hike, the trail immediately divides into three different paths and the left most one seems to be the shortest and the easiest. So that’s basically my tips for this hike, also make sure good hiking boots and some food as this hike is a bit hard without those.
- Saul Bellow.
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One of the most interesting things about nature photography is seeing nature’s wonders at its best possible lighting. This is one of those images I made of Mt Hood from Lost Lake, framing wise id did nothing just basically pointed the camera at the mountain at shot the image.
The interestingness in this image is the light and I had nothing to do with it other than capture it with a camera and my wife who shot the same image with an iPhone managed to get an exceptionally great picture too, so it’s not about the camera or post processing. It’s all about finding a good view and sticking with it until nature begins the show.
Hope you all like it have a nice day..
Mount Rainier National Park
Like North Falls further upstream, Middle North Falls has certain characteristics which one could argue give it an edge when comparing it to the park's main attraction, South Falls. Despite being considerably shorter, Middle North Falls is a markedly amorphous waterfall which changes physical shape in a very dramatic way as the volume of water in North Silver Creek changes. The 106 foot tall falls take the form of a narrow column of water during the summer months, funneled to perhaps 5 feet wide at most by a narrow runnel in the bedrock. With greater stream flow in the winter and spring months however, North Silver Creek sheets out across the 60-foot wide creek bed and turns the falls into a broad curtain of water, with part of the falls impacting on a twisting chute of basalt which then slides to join the more volumnous half of the creek in the plunge pool.
Middle North Falls is one of four waterfalls in Silver Falls State Park which features a trail which traverses behind the falling water. Unlike the other three, the trail leading behind Middle North Falls is a dead-end, constructed purely to allow access to additional views of the falls.
Picturesque Falls with Rainier backdrop.
- Voltaire.
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While we were onour annual summer road trip driving through the state of Washington an unexpected storm hit the southern cascades regin and closed some o the roads we were supposed to take and rendered our campground inaccessible. Due to this unforeseen weather phenomenon we had to scrap our plans to get to Mt Adams and had to reevaluvate our travel itinerary.
Since this is one of our favorite areas to explore we had some familiarity with the area and decided to reroute our trip to Bend, Oregon and to explore some of interesting locations around that wonderful town. One of the locations we speced as a must have was the beautiful Sparks Lake. Last summer we were there for a beautiful sunrise so this time we decided to make it’s a sunset shoot. Thankfully, there were nice cloud cover as we approached the lake but that turned weird as the wind started to pick up. As sunset neared the wind had whipped up the clouds together and the mountain wrapped the clouds around its peak. The sunset provided the color.
- William Wordsworth
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Another spot which we missed on our first trip to Oregon. The majestic Tumalo falls is a 97-foot (30 m) waterfall on Tumalo Creek, in the Cascade Range west of Bend. Unfortunately my wife fell sick on this day and was having an absolutely horrible morning, so we cut shot our plans to do the hike here and headed back to town.
This shot is actually a composite image made of two shots, I used a long exposure to get the Tumalo creek and a faster shot to capture the fall. And then blended images in photoshop.
-Wilma Rudolph.
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Here is another old shot from our Oregon road trip. This one is a Panorama shot of the mighty Mt Shasta with a road lading up to the mountain while it is illuminated by the last rays of the sun. I love the this road where we took this shot as every turn and curve has awesome views of the mountain. I had almost forgot about this shot until couple of days ago when I was backing up my data files and saw this one.
This one is a pano stitch image of about 15 shots and was taken just seconds before the last light of the day was gone. I had seen a barn on this road the last time we were there and was driving around to find it but couldn't and my wife was yelling at me not to waste the sunset. so finally I gave in and pulled to the side to take this shot.
Hope you all like it, and Happy new Year!!
I actually had stopped to check my map, I looked up from my parking spot and saw this steam just tucked back up in the woods. A short walk and I found this vantage point. A completely unexpected find and now one of my favorite images of the year.
Olallie Creek is located in the midsection of the Cascades mountain range in western Oregon. The area is nicely shaded by Douglas fir, maple and alder. The Willamette National Forest stretches for 110 miles with varied landscapes of high mountains, narrow canyons, cascading streams, and wooded slopes. This creek sits right beside the McKenzie River and the McKenzie River Trail.
Olallie is a very popular name in Oregon. There are several Olallie areas, from this creek, to a nice lake, not associated with this creek to a nice hiking trail, not associated with creek or lake.
Love prefers twilight to daylight...
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
One of the best things I like about Oregon is how unassuming some of the most stunning locations are. The first time we visited Oregon, we spend a couple of days in Bend but completely missed the stunning Sparks lake. On our second visit, luckily I saw a billboard for Oregon tourism with sparks lake as the main attraction but in true Oregon fashion, they didn't name the location. Thankfully my google tracking skills were on point and I managed to find this lovely location and we spend a brilliant sunrise there.
This happened with Abiqua Falls as well and we in fact turned back about a mile away from one of the most famous waterfalls in the state because we couldn't figure out the turn to the parking lot. Yup, there was not a single sign, I figured it out a year later and returned to get my pics and was kicking myself for turning around while I was so close. While it was frustrating at the moment, as I look back I really appreciate how these spots still maintain their wildness by not being tourist traps.
- Rumi.
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I have been to Mt Shasta about 4 or 5 times now and this location has been one that eluded me the most. I first saw this location on our very first trip as we headed north and made a mental note to return when we had more time. So we returned next year but we had a problem, I completely forgot which road I took the shot from and we had no luck finding the spot even after driving around for close to 2 hours. I returned home with a mission and scoured the roads around Mt Shasta on google street view until I finally found the location. I marked the location on my maps and we returned in early spring to the spot 3rd time. Only a winter storm hit the exact same day we arrived and Mt Shasta stayed hidden by clouds the whole week we were there.
So while we were coming back from our summer road trip to Oregon, we planned it so that we will be by the barn just before sunset. This was the shot I made at the barn with the beautiful Mt Shasta behind lit up by beautiful golden sunset light. I would have preferred some clouds to add some drama but I waited for 4 years I can do a bit more.
Whitehorse Falls is the smaller but arguably prettier of the two named waterfalls along the Clearwater River. The falls occur where the river sluices through a narrow trough in rhyolitic bedrock and suddenly crashes 14 feet over a wall into a large pool below. Though the falls are located several miles downstream of Clearwater Falls, there is often less water present in Whitehorse Falls due to the integration of the river in the North Umpqua Hydroelectric system. The flow is consistent all year long, just not in tune with its natural levels nearly as much as it should be.
Access to the waterfall and its trail is only through U.S. Highway 138. The area around the waterfall is surrounded by moss-covered rocks and canopy of old growth Douglas-fir forest.
Thanks to all Phoide contributors to Cascade Range!
Most notably Bonnie Moreland, Sandeep Thomas, MURALI NARAYANAN, Yi Jiang, Birgit M., Daniel Cheong and janos.hajas@yahoo.de.