I'd seen a hundred photos of Multnomah Falls before I ever stood in front of it, and I still wasn't prepared. The scale of it is something a photograph flattens out. You're standing at the base looking up at 620 feet of falling water — two tiers separated by a stone bridge — with the cliff face rising above that, and the whole thing is just relentlessly vertical. It keeps going up longer than you expect.
Multnomah Falls sits in the Columbia River Gorge about 30 miles east of Portland, right along the Historic Columbia River Highway. The gorge itself is a geological spectacle — formed when the Columbia River carved through the Cascade Range over millions of years, leaving basalt cliffs rising hundreds of feet on both sides of the river. Multnomah is the tallest of dozens of waterfalls that line this stretch of highway, fed by springs and snowmelt from Larch Mountain above.
The walk to the base is short and paved, accessible to just about anyone. From there, a trail switchbacks up about 800 feet of elevation to a bridge between the two tiers, with a view straight down into the plunge pool and straight up at the upper falls. It's a legitimately good viewpoint — the kind where you feel the mist on your face and your phone starts making weird water spots on the lens. I shot it from the bridge as the light changed through the afternoon, trying to get the exposure right on moving water against dark rock.
The falls are busy. More than two million people visit every year, which makes it one of the most-visited natural sites in the Pacific Northwest. Timed entry permits are now required in summer — something worth checking before you go. If you can time it for early morning or visit in shoulder season, the experience is different. In fall, the surrounding maples turn, and the falls has this whole different quality — lower water volume, warm light, and a fraction of the crowd.
The Multnomah Falls Lodge has been here since 1925 and is worth a stop for the history alone, though the restrooms were under renovation when I visited. Small inconvenience.
The Columbia River Gorge has an entire waterfall corridor worth driving — Latourell, Bridal Veil, Horsetail — but Multnomah is the anchor. Even if you've seen it in pictures a dozen times, go see it in person. The pictures don't cover it.