The skies of Oregon cleared for a couple of days so I decided to take advantage of it with another hike. Tunnel Falls is yet another hike in the Columbia River Gorge, only instead of gaining a bunch of elevation, it passed a bunch of waterfalls. In the 15 miles of hiking I had to have passed at least as many significant waterfalls. I stopped photographing after mile 4 or 5 and decided to save my phone’s battery for the labeled ones on the hike.
I apologize for the low quality photos (or at least lower than usual). Apple decided to sabotage my phone during an update and I had to wipe it. Luckily my Columbia GPS Pal app (if you hike, download it, it’s the best) automatically uploads when my phone connects to our network. So these are compressed, but I won’t complain because they are after all still in existence.
The hike started off with fog and followed a stream the entire way. When you think of a soothing hike with a gurgling stream, this is what you’d think of.
The trail also offered a few stream crossings for some particularly nice shots.
2 miles in, the famous Punchbowl Falls. I cheated down a ridge to get a little closer than the trail allowed. From the number of signs forbidding cliff diving, I certainly wasn’t the only one. This was clearly the main attraction of this trail, as I was asked at least 5 times ‘How far to Punchbowl?’.
And this is why this trail is perpetually wet. A good deal of the trail was on a ridge above the stream that was carved into a wall that served as a water runoff. The water was freezing but surprisingly refreshing.
Tunnel Falls, the destination of the hike, did not disappoint. As the name indicates, there’s a tunnel going behind the falls. This was the best waterfall I’ve seen so far.
Tunnel Falls again. This was the best shot I could get, it was huge. I had a number of awesome panoramas, but again, Apple destroyed them.
The one guide I followed recommended going a half mile further from Tunnel Falls to Twister Falls. It was definitely worth it. H particularly liked this one.
And the fog returned for my trip back.
Another nice hike.
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