Columbia Gorge

chrismoore · June 6, 2013

Spent 4 days in the Columbia Gorge exploring some of the lesser known waterfalls. This meant heading out as early as 3am by headlamp, bushwacking and serious scrambling. The gorge is one of my all time favorite places to visit, it's hard to go wrong. Here are a couple of my favorite shots from the trip.

"Rainbow in the Mist"

"Almost Paradise"

"Whispering Falls"

"Raging Spirit"

"Emerald Canyon"

"Enlightened"

Cheers, and thanks for having a look!

David_S85 · June 6, 2013

All gorgeous (pun, sorry) images. Emerald Canyon is a knock out of the park!

Stumblebum · June 6, 2013

Hats off! Just mesmerizing! Can you please say where to go for these places. Which city is nearest....what wilderness or park. Thanks.

chrismoore · June 7, 2013

Stumblebum wrote: »

Hats off! Just mesmerizing! Can you please say where to go for these places. Which city is nearest....what wilderness or park. Thanks.

Thanks. This is all in Columbia Gorge Oregon. Hundreds of waterfalls there!

nvr2low · June 7, 2013

Amazing series, there is no way I could pick a favorite. If I ever get to Oregon on know what location has been added to my "must visit" list.

Stumblebum · June 7, 2013

chrismoore wrote: »

Thanks. This is all in Columbia Gorge Oregon. Hundreds of waterfalls there!

Thanks. Is it near Portland? No specific place to go to? I have driven through there before once and I did see various points where it was considered the Gorge....one of my favorites is Mtnomah falls. Yours however are incredible shots and I didn't know or see anything like this. I will do more research when I get a chance to be out there!

Its one thing to see absolute beauty, it is whole another thing to be able to capture it. You did!!

Gemma · June 7, 2013

What a beautiful place and lovely pictures.

Cornflake · June 7, 2013

Very nice. Raging spirit is the composition that most grabbed me out of a very good lot.

squirl033 · June 8, 2013

i love these all, but "Almost Paradise" and "Whispering Falls" really speak to me. where was that one taken? i know these were all shot in the Gorge, but where specifically?

Dan A · June 8, 2013

Beautiful shots, I quite like rainbow in the mist.

bristlecone · June 8, 2013

Very nice series. Last one would be my fav. Maybe it's me, but there seems to be an over saturation of yellow, rendering the greens to bright? Still, I like them all.

-Len

chrismoore · June 9, 2013

bristlecone wrote: »

Very nice series. Last one would be my fav. Maybe it's me, but there seems to be an over saturation of yellow, rendering the greens to bright? Still, I like them all.

-Len

Thanks. I have some test prints coming early next week, so I'll see how they look. The greens look pretty close to what I want them to on my calibrated monitor. If you've ever been to the Columbia Gorge, you know that the greens there are very vibrant, almost unrealistically so.

Photogbiker · June 9, 2013

When I lived in Oregon we said Fuji had our forests in mind when they made Velvia. Greens on Velvia transparency film were amazing without being unrealistic. These are some of the best shots of the Gorge waterfalls I have seen, including one of "Emerald Canyon" (aka Oneonta Creek I think) by Peter Lik. You definitely had wet feet and tripod mid stream in some of these. Great job.

These areas are so incredibly accessible I am surprised we don't see more pics. I guess people are like me when I lived in Portland for 20+ years--take for granted what is right in your back yard.

Head to Portland and drive 30 miles east to Multnomah Falls for the main tourist stop. Then you can back track on the old Columbia Gorge Highway (a National Register Historic road) to a few falls, and then back east to the rest. Lots of trails to hike back in (rapidly gaining elevation) and you'll be surrounded by green from trees to ferns to moss. Waterfall off a ledge you can walk behind. Different world. Horsetail falls, Ponytail falls, Latourel, Wahkeena, etc. Basically from the east side of Portland (Troutdale) take the old highway and you can't miss. Go in summer for greens and better chance of not getting rained on, or early fall for some color change. Stop at Tad's Chicken and Dumplings in Troutdale.

chrismoore · June 9, 2013

Photogbiker wrote: »

When I lived in Oregon we said Fuji had our forests in mind when they made Velvia. Greens on Velvia transparency film were amazing without being unrealistic. These are some of the best shots of the Gorge waterfalls I have seen, including one of "Emerald Canyon" (aka Oneonta Creek I think) by Peter Lik. You definitely had wet feet and tripod mid stream in some of these. Great job.

These areas are so incredibly accessible I am surprised we don't see more pics. I guess people are like me when I lived in Portland for 20+ years--take for granted what is right in your back yard.

Head to Portland and drive 30 miles east to Multnomah Falls for the main tourist stop. Then you can back track on the old Columbia Gorge Highway (a National Register Historic road) to a few falls, and then back east to the rest. Lots of trails to hike back in (rapidly gaining elevation) and you'll be surrounded by green from trees to ferns to moss. Waterfall off a ledge you can walk behind. Different world. Horsetail falls, Ponytail falls, Latourel, Wahkeena, etc. Basically from the east side of Portland (Troutdale) take the old highway and you can't miss. Go in summer for greens and better chance of not getting rained on, or early fall for some color change. Stop at Tad's Chicken and Dumplings in Troutdale.

Thanks! I love the Gorge. This was my second time there and I made a point to visit the non-tourist falls. Aside from Emerald Canyon, all of these required off trail hiking and scrambling to reach. Even that Oneonta shot required climbing over that huge log jam and wading in waist deep water. I went there several times during my trip hoping for some better atmosphere but it just didn't happen...that's why Lik's shot from there is so awesome, he had rain and sunbeams which really made it unique. I didn't increase saturation in any of these. In fact I had to take the vibrance down in a few because the combination of wet foliage and a polarizer made the greens almost neon, even in the RAW file.

JohnDC · June 9, 2013

Beautiful. And my bias--I long ago roamed those places when I lived in Oregon. Thanks for bringing back the memories with your great images.
---John

byoshi · June 10, 2013

Great shots of this lovely place. Love how the mist adds a dreamlike effect to these. Awesome composition.

bgarland · June 10, 2013

Beautifully captured Chris. What amazing scenery to be wrapped in. I definitely want to add this to my bucket list of places to visit.

Thanks for sharing.

Roaddog 52 · June 15, 2013

Great images. Hard to go wrong in the Gorge. Your version of Oneonta Gorge is stunning. My last two trips there, the water was to high for me to make it around the last bend to capture the falls. If I had to pick a favorite I would say "Almost Paradise". For what it's worth I think your colors are spot on.

ZBlack · June 15, 2013

Beautiful shots! Living in Oregon, I need to hit up these places. I've of course done all the main easy to access ones which are great, but some of these other ones are so much better. Wonderful captures!

Your, Raging Spirit photo, that is Spirit Falls on the Washington side isn't it? Fairly easy to get to, but the climb out is the killer? It's high on my to visit list, but haven't talked to anyone with first hand experience on the climb down and back up the steep hill. All of this assuming of course this is the same waterfall I'm referring to haha.

chrismoore · June 16, 2013

Thanks. Yes that is spirit falls on the Washington side. The blue water is so unique for the area. It was probably the easiest of all to access. It's about a 300 foot descent down. That part wasn't bad, but it takes you to an overlook Of the falls. To really get down there and get a good wide-angle perspective, you have to do a little scrambling on some slippery rock. Overall it wasn't too bad.

CatOne · June 17, 2013

VERY nice!

Love the color, composition, and the sense of motion I get from them. Excellent work.

redleash · June 18, 2013

Terrific series, Chris. The colors are so rich and your mastery of silky water always impresses me. "Raging Spirit" is my favorite of all of them. The composition really appeals to me, nicely balanced. The scene is both soothing and filled with tension. All in all, a lovely series.

Lauren

Travis · June 18, 2013

All are stunning but that first is just jaw droppingly incredible. Great work!

Wiren · June 21, 2013

Hey Chris, awesome work. I have been to many of these - I will need to go to the WA side and check out Spirit Falls.

On "Almost Paradise", If i'm not mistaken, that's the upper Ruckle Creek fall....correct? I have heard that is a bit of a challenge to get to.... how did you find the hiking to that waterfall.... was is as challenging as they say, really want to go up there, but have avoided it until I can plan to go with somebody who can call for help when I break my leg getting to it..... would love to hear your take on the access to that fall, I have only shot the Lower Ruckle Creek Fall so far, and would love to add more in the Ruckle creek complex to my gallery.

Thanks - Lee

Columbia Gorge

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