I must say that the weather doesn’t get much better for waterfalls than what we had. Granted we did get rained on, and heavily, at times, but those times were put to good use. Like breakfast at the Multnomah Falls Lodge. Or napping. At any rate, we managed to wait out the nastiest of the rain and capture some pretty amazing scenes.

Our first morning started off at what is probably the only sunrise location in the Gorge: the view of Crown Point and Vista House from the Portland Women’s Forum State Scenic Viewpoint. The morning was overcast and the forecast called for rain all day. But what the heck, let’s go anyway and see what happens. This was our first good decision. At first it seemed as if it was just going to be yet another gray morning better spent on sleeping in and taking advantage of the free breakfast at our Cascade Locks hotel.

It took awhile, but color started to develop in the clouds and then the sun poked through, bathing everything in pinks and oranges. This was probably the best morning I’ve spent at this location.

Soon after the light show was over, the sun went back into the clouds and a bit of rain began to fall. So we began our initial visit to waterfall alley on the scenic road. We made a quick stop at Horsetail Falls and then moved on to Multnomah where we got our fill of that tall waterfall followed by our fill of an excellent breakfast at the lodge. During breakfast, the rain returned in force.

After breakfast we continued up the scenic drive to Wahkeena Falls. It was raining so hard that we opted for our morning break rather than soaking ourselves and our cameras.

We met again in the early afternoon prepared for either a critique session or to go back out and shoot, depending on the weather. The weather was overcast but the rain had stopped to it was back into the cars to finish off what we’d started that morning.

Our first stop was Latourell Falls, always one of my favorites. It’s easy to get to, and there are several viewpoints. So we managed to get plenty of images there before the rain started yet again. Then it was down the road to Sheppard’s Dell Falls where the rain continued to bounce off the road and our vehicles. We tried to wait it out but decided to head back to the hotel. Fortunately, we also decided to stop once again at Wahkeena Falls on the way. It had stopped raining (mostly) so we stayed and played. I managed to finally get a picture of a Maidenhair Fern that I actually like as well as a few other ferny shots.

For this shot I used two exposures, each focused on a different part of the fern, and Photoshop CS5’s image blending capability to blend the two into one image that has focus everywhere I want it. I also made a five shot capture of another fern, focusing at different points for each shot, and blended those images.

We were on a role and finished up the shooting day at Sheppard’s Dell.

The next morning was our hike up Eagle Creek to Metlako and Punchbowl Falls (at the top of this post). Since we didn’t know how high the water would be at Punchbowl, my friend Dick Badger and I each brought our chest waders and made them available to others in our small group. Needless to say, I managed to grab a few shots of Pam, who is quite a bit smaller than I am, wearing my extra large chest waders.

The Eagle Creek trail is one of my favorite spring hikes. There are lots and lots of wildflowers, great views of Eagle Creek and lots to photograph. If you ever find yourself in the Portland area and have a few extra hours, be sure to take this hike. This day’s hike was excellent. The weather cooperated, we stayed dry (thanks to practically no rain and the chest waders) and we got some classic waterfall pictures.

After taking a mid-day lunch break we were back at it. This time to Wahclella Falls, This two mile round trip hike was a little steeper in places than Eagle Creek, but it’s not difficult at all. This was also a place where the chest waders came in handy.

Saturday morning found us hiking the short, and a bit more than moderately steep, trail to Upper Horsetail Falls, also known as Ponytail Falls. This one might just be the most photogenic falls in the gorge. Our plan was then to keep hiking UPHILL to Triple Falls. But unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on one’s viewpoint) the rain returned in earnest and as a group we decided we’d rather not sweat in our rain gear and get soaked from the inside and outside.

So instead we aimed for the coffee stand at Multnomah Falls and enjoyed lattes, mochas, and pastries. It’s a tough life.

And then the rain quit again. Taking advantage of that, we decided on another hike: the short 3/4 mile hike to Elowha Falls. Like Latourell Falls, Elowha Falls is a tall waterfall flanked by basalt.

Later that afternoon we visited the Tom McCall Preserve, just east of Hood River. This is a great place for wildflowers like lupine and Balsam Root. On this day though, the wind was blowing hard, making photography impossible. So we simply hiked around a bit and then made a bee-line for the Full Sail Brewery in Hood River for dinner.

On our last morning, having visited all the waterfalls we had planned on (except for Triple Falls and its somewhat laborious, some would say grueling, hike), the group opted for a critique/teaching session. We hadn’t had the chance up to this point because we were taking advantage of all the shooting time we possibly could, so this made for a nice recap of the trip.

The Columbia Gorge is one of my favorite places to photograph. And if you like waterfalls, you really should give it a visit. I had a very small group this year. There were only the five of us, including me. And in some locations, having even a few more people along would have made it tough–we’d be getting in each others’ way. And in a couple of locations, there are only one or two spots from which to get the shot. So I’ve decided that in the future, I’ll be leading this trip with no more than five or six participants along. Any more than that and I think people would just get frustrated waiting for that joker in the grey jacket to get the heck out of their shot. Wait a minute! I’ve got a grey jacket!

So next year’s trip will be limited to a small number of participants. I’ll be running it right around the same time of year, as that’s best for waterfalls and wildflowers. I’m going to aim for May 14 -18, 2014. I haven’t set a price yet but it will be in the same range as this year’s trips. If you want to save a spot, I’m taking deposits now. Just let me know.