The Portland Area, Oregon - Aug 2008

Photos © Peter Mansbach, 2008.
No commercial use without written permission.

The Japanese Gardens

We spent our first morning at the Japanese Gardens in Portland. It was absolutely lovely and peaceful.







Jean and I










Then things started to heat up. Literally. It was 104° in Portland that afternoon, and over 100° the next two days. Yes, that's unusual for Portland - highs had been in the 80's most of the month. The Oregonian called it "the most significant heat wave in Portland in 14 years". I wasn't feeling very energetic, and didn't take many pictures. Here's one, taken from Steel Bridge looking towards the convention center. We walked across Steel Bridge, since the "MAX" (rail mass transit) was detoured due to construction. Would have been nice, but it was just too hot for walking.





The Columbia Gorge

The second day we drove through the Columbia Gorge (see the overview map), stopping at some of the waterfalls.

Latourell Falls
Bridge over Latourell Creek
Wahkeena Falls



At 620 ft, Multnomah is billed as the "second highest continuously running waterfall" in the U.S. (Compare this with Yosemite Falls, 2400 ft high - but it dries up by the end of summer.) This photo shows the lower Multnomah falls (70 ft), with a bit of the upper falls behind the bridge.


Lower Multnomah Falls

We did hike a loop from Horsetail Falls, past Ponytail Falls and Oneonta Falls. The spray at Ponytail kept the temperature at least 10° cooler, and we stopped there for lunch. We originally planned to hike as far as Triple Falls, but the heat slowed us down, and there was not enough time.


Horsetail Falls

Ponytail Falls
Oneonta Falls



Timberline Lodge - Mt Hood

(See the overview map). That night we stayed at Timberline Lodge. It's a wonderful old building, at 6,000 ft halfway up Mt. Hood. At that altitude they don't normally need air conditioning, and there is none. But in this heat-wave-of-the-century, it did not get cooler than 80° all night, and we did not sleep well.



Timberline Lodge

Top of Mt Hood, from Timberline Lodge, with Lupines



The Oregon Coast, from the same trip
Crater Lake, from the same trip
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