Waterfalls, Beautiful Waterfalls

Eagle Creek

Today we leave Hood River, driving a half hour to Eagle Creek, a tributary of the Columbia River.   As the Creek waters carve through the rock down to the Columbia River Gorge, they create beautiful waterfalls. 

From the Eagle Creek trailhead, we hike seven miles up Eagle Creek Canyon.  Our trail takes us through abundant forest, sometimes growing near the surging waters, other times taking us into the quiet of the forest where the rushing waters are muted by the trees between us.

A side trail*  takes us to Metlako Falls, which drops one hundred feet to Eagle Creek below.  The falls get their name from the Indian goddess of salmon.  I’ve heard there are kayakers who have gone down Metlako.  I don’t see salmon or kayakers...I’m still having trouble imagining a kayak plummeting down that water

Metlako Falls  

Punchbowl falls

After lunch we head back to the van and go for an fairly easy three-mile walk along Horsetail Loop to Ponytail Falls.

   Horsetail falls

Tonight we are at Skamania Lodge on the Washington side of the Columbia River.  After dinner, we enjoy a presentation from a forest service professional who presents images and information on the 1980 volcanic blast of Mount Saint Helens.

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* I usually mention at the start of each new series of posts that I am not traveling now, but writing based on my journals and photos of the trips I’ve taken.  Since some things change, I do some research to verify that what I have seen still exists.  Since I visited the beautiful waterfalls above, the side trail that leads to Metlako Falls has closed because the overlook collapsed into the gorge (in early 2017).  As I understand it, there is no safe place to view the falls at this time. (info from http://tinyurl.com/MetlakoOverlookClosed)