A Waterfall Wonderland: An Autumn Day in the Columbia River Gorge

coscorrosa

I took Friday off from work to head a few hours south to the Columbia River Gorge to shoot the waterfalls one last time before winter, the forecast called for rain and overcast weather, perfect for waterfalls. I had been there in autumn before, but never in peak. Friday was in peak, and it was awesome. I got drenched big time and pushed my gear a little further than it should be pushed but it was worth it. And it's always fun playing in the rain and splashing around in the creeks.

All of these were taken on Friday (including a side trip I made to the Portland Japanese Gardens, and hour lunch with a friend, and only 10.5 hours of daylight), the density of falls in the Columbia Gorge is amazing.

Here are some of my favorites.

#1: Latourell Falls



#2: Latourell Falls



#3: Multnomah Falls



#4: Multnomah Falls



#5: Horsetail Falls



#6: Metlako Falls



#7: Punchbowl Falls



#8: Punchbowl Falls

anwmn1

Dude..... I hate you!

Was it raining? Most of these look pretty soft (misty-foggy).

I am liking Horsetail and Punchbowl the most.

CWSkopec

OK, OK, I give... You're forced me to start Googling for fall color around San Diego. Probably not going to find much of it, but I can head into the mountains an hour away and try.

I'm definitely not going to find waterfalls like these though. Great images, Ron! I like 'em all. Horstail falls look SWEET! (Is that really a wall around the pool at the base?) And I've often seen Multnomah Falls and lamented that bridge obscuring the view, but your version here is the first I've seen where it feels like the bridge should be there. Nice work!

kdog

These are insane! They look so painterly. Is that misty fog, or are you doing something else with your processing these days?

Either way, they're just wonderful, Ron.

#4 is definitely the best Multnomah falls I've ever seen.

-joel

Wiren

Great shots!! I knew I should have went to the Gorge on Friday!! I love these great shots, all of them, but I guess I like the first one of MF and the 1st of Latourell the best. Pretty decent shot of Metlako also.

redleash

Such pretty sites near you . . . SIGH. I love seeing them through your eyes, Ron--this is a wonderful series. It almost looks like you picked a scene and then turned on the water faucet. That water stream just goes everywhere!

I think my favorite is #8. I like the comp and the colors and the shot really draws me into the scene.

Nicely done!

Lauren

dlplumer

6, 7, and 8 are my favs here. The others are pretty OK too.

Eia

Wonderland for sure! It's almost too much to take in! The first has it all, and 3,4,5 are my faves!

sgonen

Wow, the colors - just gorgeous - looks like I need to plan a trip to visit relatives up there during this time of year.

acowan

I went to most of the falls back in the spring but the splash of fall color really adds to the already breathtaking scenery. Great series...love 'em all!

coscorrosa

anwmn1 wrote:

Dude..... I hate you!

Was it raining? Most of these look pretty soft (misty-foggy).

I am liking Horsetail and Punchbowl the most.

Thanks for the comments and the hatred And yes, it was raining like crazy. I had to wipe my lens between every exposure, and even that wasn't enough sometimes (many shots I took 3-4 exposures before getting a clear one). The fog and mist was everywhere, and there was often condensation on my lens. But it made the colors really stand out.

coscorrosa

CWSkopec wrote:

OK, OK, I give... You're forced me to start Googling for fall color around San Diego. Probably not going to find much of it, but I can head into the mountains an hour away and try.

I'm definitely not going to find waterfalls like these though. Great images, Ron! I like 'em all. Horstail falls look SWEET! (Is that really a wall around the pool at the base?) And I've often seen Multnomah Falls and lamented that bridge obscuring the view, but your version here is the first I've seen where it feels like the bridge should be there. Nice work!

Thanks Chris, I have no idea about the colors in San Diego, so good luck in your pursuit! I actually don't mind the bridge in Multnomah Falls, I think it makes the falls more distinctive. The biggest problem with it is that people walk on it during the middle of my shot! Not an issue this time though because it was pouring rain and no one else was there.

coscorrosa

kdog wrote:

These are insane! They look so painterly. Is that misty fog, or are you doing something else with your processing these days?

Either way, they're just wonderful, Ron.

#4 is definitely the best Multnomah falls I've ever seen.

-joel

Thanks Joel - that's misty fog and steam from all the rain, and some of it from the condensation and moisture on my lens filter. Since I had cleaned my sensor before the trip my processing for these photos was pretty quick (no 5 minutes spent spot-healing all the dust spots out). The colors were wonderfully saturated already due to the rain so I didn't have to do much there either.

coscorrosa

Wiren wrote:

Great shots!! I knew I should have went to the Gorge on Friday!! I love these great shots, all of them, but I guess I like the first one of MF and the 1st of Latourell the best. Pretty decent shot of Metlako also.

Thanks, if I lived in Portland, I would probably live in the Gorge Hard to believe that I never went to any place besides Multnomah Falls when I went to school there for 4 years.

ront

Very nice series Ron!! I enjoyed all of them. Multnomah Falls is special to me as it was one of the stops on my wife's and mine on our honeymoon. You even managed to get it with out anyone on the bridge.

Ron

coscorrosa

redleash wrote:

Such pretty sites near you . . . SIGH. I love seeing them through your eyes, Ron--this is a wonderful series. It almost looks like you picked a scene and then turned on the water faucet. That water stream just goes everywhere!

I think my favorite is #8. I like the comp and the colors and the shot really draws me into the scene.

Nicely done!

Lauren

Thank you Lauren - I put the gorge right up there with Olympic National Park, Rainier, and the North Cascades in terms of scenery, and it's no further away from Seattle. We're extremely lucky that we can do a day trip to all of these places and try to get there during peak conditions.

coscorrosa

dlplumer wrote:

6, 7, and 8 are my favs here. The others are pretty OK too.

Thanks Dan! Have fun at Arches and Canyonlands, and watch out for the suicidal bunnies at Canyonlands...

coscorrosa

Eia wrote:

Wonderland for sure! It's almost too much to take in! The first has it all, and 3,4,5 are my faves!

Thank you Eia, this was my version of sensory overload

coscorrosa

sgonen wrote:

Wow, the colors - just gorgeous - looks like I need to plan a trip to visit relatives up there during this time of year.

Sounds like a good plan except the relatives part, just go up there for the photos!

coscorrosa

acowan wrote:

I went to most of the falls back in the spring but the splash of fall color really adds to the already breathtaking scenery. Great series...love 'em all!

Thanks Aaron - spring is the other peak time for these falls, so much lush green and the water is flowing like crazy (makes creek wading a little more difficult, and it's nearly impossible to keep your camera dry with all the spray from the falls, but still fun anyway).

coscorrosa

ront wrote:

Very nice series Ron!! I enjoyed all of them. Multnomah Falls is special to me as it was one of the stops on my wife's and mine on our honeymoon. You even managed to get it with out anyone on the bridge.

Ron

Thanks Ron, the key to the bridge is to go there when it's pouring rain on a weekday in the early morning. There was no one else at the falls except the dude serving coffee

Awais Yaqub

Such a beautiful place and what a photography.

I can spend million hours in this location relaxing and dreaming seems very peaceful

ront

That would work:).

Ron

coscorrosa wrote:

Thanks Ron, the key to the bridge is to go there when it's pouring rain on a weekday in the early morning. There was no one else at the falls except the dude serving coffee

coscorrosa

Awais Yaqub wrote:

Such a beautiful place and what a photography.

I can spend million hours in this location relaxing and dreaming seems very peaceful

Thanks Awais, it's amazing how concentrated the waterfalls are there. I don't think I walked more than 8 miles total for all of these.

coscorrosa

ront wrote:

That would work:).

Ron

Not a great idea for a honeymoon though, unless you want to establish the low expectations right off the bat

Candid Arts

I was out there the same day! Probably saw you at some point... Haven't processed my photos yet really...started. Either way, great work.

Candid Arts

coscorrosa wrote:

Not a great idea for a honeymoon though, unless you want to establish the low expectations right off the bat

While we were there Friday, a couple got married... But that was more around noon ish.

dseidman

Beautiful series, man. As I've already told you, I'm jealous of your trip but I think it's worth saying again.
I like every shot in this series. The first one is probably my favorite composition but I think the motion blur in the tree is a bit distracting. Is this one of those situations where you just sat there and clicked the shutter nonstop for 5 minutes?

coscorrosa

Candid Arts wrote:

I was out there the same day! Probably saw you at some point... Haven't processed my photos yet really...started. Either way, great work.

Thanks - when I was there I didn't run into a single photographer, or really any one. I got to Latourell right at sunrise, then followed that with Wahkeena, Multnomah, and Horsetail before heading back to the Japanese Gardens at 10 AM. Then I did the Eagle Creek falls (Metlako and Punchbowl) in the afternoon and got done just before sunset.

coscorrosa

dseidman wrote:

Beautiful series, man. As I've already told you, I'm jealous of your trip but I think it's worth saying again.
I like every shot in this series. The first one is probably my favorite composition but I think the motion blur in the tree is a bit distracting. Is this one of those situations where you just sat there and clicked the shutter nonstop for 5 minutes?

That motion blur (and I agree, it's distracting, not enough for me to toss the photo though) is from the rain and not the wind. So there was no point in waiting for the wind to die down I did crank the ISO to 400 to try and minimize the exposure time and it looked fine at 3" just like most photos... Also, I cheated and plucked that big leaf out of the creek and put it on the rock in the foreground.

Dee

Hehe, I was going to ask about that leaf!