5 Day Family Trip In Oregon
We have traveled to Oregon quite a number of times, as a couple, family of 3, and family of 4.
We knew Oregon boasted many waterfalls, but how many? We didn’t know until this trip (read more to find out).
Multnomah Falls, May 2016. ISO100, 16mm, f/18, 1.3sec
Our 6 yo had a short school week, so I packed up two kids and a couple of suitcases, picked up my husband at the airport after his 4th month away from home this year. This also concluded my 4 months solo-parenting job this year. Whew! What a relief.
Years ago, we had full-time nanny taking care of the first and the second baby. In addition, my mom visited several times and helped out cooking. I still didn’t feel confident how to handle the rest.
This year, I learned to take care of both kids on my own. Not only that, I took our boys on so many day trips in the beautiful Olympic Peninsula, hiking in the forest, along the river, seeing mountains, lakes and waterfalls (see some of our favorite local spots). I felt somewhat accomplished!
But I needed some break.
View from Tom McCall Preserve
So, instead of driving home, we decided to take a spontaneous road trip, either to San Francisco to see friends, or to Oregon to see waterfalls. We picked the latter, because it was closer, and possibly easier. (See our travel route and detailed itinerary below)
It was raining really hard. Not having a concrete itinerary, we decided to spend the first night in Portland, and work out the rest of the logistics. Did I mention we spent one month in Portland last year, in the middle of a pandemic, and saw almost nothing?
Day 1 & 2
Three hours into our drive, I booked Woodlark Building, a boutique hotel in Portland, for the first night. It took us two more hours to get there. The rain never stopped.
Fortunately, there was a restaurant in the same building, so we didn’t need to go out after unloading.
I didn’t remember the last time we were in a restaurant (perhaps in Miami Beach earlier this year?), and somehow really enjoyed my beef carpaccio, which I didn’t know how to cook. By the way, my cooking skill has definitely improved over the last year. It’s among all the side benefits of a pandemic.
OK, back to waterfalls.
According to google and wikipedia, there are 238 waterfalls in Oregon. 90 of them are in Columbia River Gorge!
Apollo and daddy in front of Punch Bowl Falls, 2016
5 years ago, we took Apollo, our only son at the time, on a 11-day road trip to Oregon. We saw Multnomah and Punch Bowl Falls as well as the coastal areas, Lassen Volcano, Mt Shasta etc. Oh boy, back then we were so inexperienced traveling with a one year old. That was our first long road trip after having him. There were non-stop cries, vomits, diaper accidents, and therefore car cleaning, so the memory got a bit blurry. (See above and below a few of my favorite images)
Punch Bowl Falls, 2016. ISO100, 23mm, f/18, 1.0sec
I planned to photograph at least 5 waterfalls this time. Not super aggressive, right? Well, we saw 5 falls within the first day after checking out of the hotel. But I got no photos, as the rain was too heavy - I certainly didn’t want to repeat the tragedy to my Canon 5D MarkIII a few years ago.
We drove all the way east to get out of the rain and settled one night at Pendleton, OR. Why Pendleton? I had no idea. I outsourced the hotel booking job to my husband. He’s typically the happiest in the middle of nowhere. So he got his chance.
Day 3
Day 3 was our drive-back day along the Columbia River, where my husband and I traveled along during our 72-day national park road trip. That was our most epic trip before having kids.
We made a stop in a little town called Boardman. Why Boardman? There was a green area on the map, so we decided to take a look.
We saw hundreds of geese. When I was immersed in the sunshine and joy to photograph our kids along the river, I realized I must have stepped on tons of goose poops as they were everywhere.
Nevertheless, it was my first time to see Columbia River this up and close.
Our boys certainly had a good time.
We stopped at Tom McCall Preserve, where we thought might be a good location to enjoy sunset.
But clouds were pretty heavy, and chances of good color might be slim.
So we made a quick stop to check in our Airbnb at Hood River, and hurried to Starvation Creek Falls 15 minutes before sunset.
➡️ Starvation Creek Falls
Starvation Creek Falls was the only fall we could drive to within reasonable time, and the trail was only 0.1 miles. It was pretty dark when we arrived.
This was probably the ultimate test for my camera and myself as a photographer, given the dim light in an already dark forest.
In addition, I had a 4 yo moving non stop in my frame (see his head at the bottom of my waterfall image above?). Putting him in front of the scene was already challenging. Having a fast enough shutter without increasing my ISO to an unacceptable level was another. Oh, did I mention the drizzle?
ISO6400, 28mm, f3.2, 1/200sec
There was no time to think in situations like this. You just had to click with whatever knowledge or skills on hand. The above was not my favorite image of my 4 yo, but given all the challenges I had, I was satisfied.
Day 4 & 5
Apart from Portland Women’s Forum state scenic viewpoint and Vista House that we stopped by in the rain on Day 2, we revisited all the waterfalls we saw that day.
Elowah Falls
➡️ Elowah Falls
We stopped to see Elowah Falls on Sunday morning. But all the trails near the fall were closed except the 2.2-mile Upper McCord Creek Falls trail.
We didn't know if we could see Elowah Falls, but decided to take it anyway.
Our hike was pretty easy despite the narrow path and elevation, but our reward was big - the Elowah Falls and the view from the top.
➡️ Multnomah Falls
Is there anyone who traveled to Oregon to see waterfalls and would skip Multnomah? We saw it 5 years ago and this time again. I was both overwhelmed and underwhelmed.
Multnomah Falls, ISO100, 24mm, f/10, 0.3sec
Multnomah Falls is the tallest waterfall in Oregon. It was powerful, and beautiful. The waterfall was bigger this time (compare the above image with the first image of this blog on top) thanks to the rain season.
But even on a non-weekend rainy day, the parking lot was full. There was crowd, and little room to set up a tripod. I did a few quick shots this time, just like 5 years ago.
➡️ Horsetail Falls
As the name put it, it looked like a horsetail, and a big one!
➡️ Wahkeena Falls
Wahkeena Falls, ISO100, 34mm, f/13, 0.4sec
I only photographed it on the roadside, and would have loved to hike around it if it didn’t rain. Unfortunately it was raining both on day 2 and day 5 when we visited it.
I was hesitant to use the camera but didn’t want to wait till the next trip. No tripod was used as I had to be quick. I only set the camera on a ledge near the base of the fall.
➡️ Mosier Creek Falls
After our Elowah Fall hike on Sunday, we decided to do another hike on the 2.7-mile Mosier Plateau Trail. I was intrigued by the “plateau” name and wanted to explore the opportunity to photograph landscape during sunset.
We never did two hikes, each over 2 miles, on a day with our kids, but wanted to make the most of our day. (see the longest hike we did with our kids in North Cascades National Park, and Patagonia Argentina.)
As expected, we got some protest - one didn't want to leave the car, the other didn't want to walk. Somehow, we managed to convince both boys (I already forgot what we said though). With little breaks here and there, both hiked up to the plateau.
The waterfall was actually located at the beginning of the trail, and was less impressive than the previous few. But it was nice to see both hilltop sunset view and a waterfall in one hike - two birds with one stone. I love it!
Mosier Creek Falls
So this concluded our trip. A spontaneous one. I wasn’t sure if I were to make a vacation plan in advance, I would pick a place with rain almost every day. Now in hindsight, this was perfect!
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