Mosier Creek Falls

A few photos of Mosier Creek Falls, in the small Columbia Gorge town of Mosier, between Hood River and The Dalles. Mosier Creek and its waterfall are in a narrow canyon on the east side of the town, with houses lining most of the canyon. The setting is unique for the Gorge, and looks more like the Bend area than parts of the Gorge further to the west.

I don't recall there being a sign for the falls specifically, but they're easy to find once you know the trick. If you're heading east on the old Gorge Highway from central Mosier, you'll pass over the historic Mosier Creek Bridge. Immediately across the bridge, on your right is the local pioneer cemetery. Look for a park bench that doubles as the cemetery sign. You want to park somewhere in this area, and then walk through the cemetery, generally following the creek/canyon upstream. Be sure to heed the warning signs about rattlesnakes. I didn't see any when I was there, but they do exist in Eastern Oregon, so better safe than sorry and all that. Before long the trail will lead you to a view of the falls from above.

The falls rush down a steep rock face but don't plummet straight down like some waterfalls do. This means it's possible to raft or kayak down the falls without necessarily crashing bow-first into rocks at the bottom and being horribly mutilated, assuming you're skilled and/or reckless enough to try such a thing. It's not something I have any personal interest in ever doing, but there are insane videos on YouTube if you're curious.

Mosier Creek Bridge

Here's a photo of the Mosier Creek Bridge, which carries the old Columbia River Highway, aka 1st Avenue, in the small town of Mosier, OR. Mosier is about halfway between Hood River and The Dalles, and it's the western end of a segment of the old highway that continues east to the Rowena area and then to The Dalles. I stopped to take some photos of Mosier Creek Falls, a short walk upstream, and the bridge looked kind of interesting so I took a photo of it too, even though I wasn't yet doing a bridge thing here. The BridgeHunter page for the bridge claims this is yet another Conde McCullough bridge, like the Dry Canyon Creek Bridge up on the Rowena Plateau, and Bridge Ink concurs. A 2009 ODOT presentation about McCullough bridges includes it (along with a lot of other great vintage photos), and they of all people ought to know. A brief 1921 Oregonian item says:

Paving on Highway Begun.

HOOD RIVER, Or., May 25 - (Special.) - The A.D. Kern Co. today began paving the Hood River - Mosier stretch of the Columbia river highway at Mosier creek bridge, according to M.A. Mayer, Mosier orchardist, here on business. The paving crews will be moved to the east approach of the Hood river bridge tomorrow and will move east from here.

An earlier item from June 1911 is confusing, because the year predates the Columbia River Highway as it's usually understood, and also predates McCullough's employment with the state highway commission. So maybe it refers to an earlier bridge on the site. And maybe it's a different road too, or maybe the existing road was upgraded later to have the Columbia River Highway look.

WORK IS RUSHED ON ROAD

Motor Highway From Mosier to The Dalles Ready Soon. MOSIER, Or., June 18 - (Special.) - The new bridge across Mosier Creek has been completed and work is being rushed on the automobile road from Mosier to The Dalles. The road follows closely along the Columbia River, and when completed will be one of the finest roads in this region, as well as the most picturesque.

The road will be 16 miles in length and is expected to be finished by early Fall.

One mostly unrelated but interesting item I bumped into: Mosier was the site of a recent ODOT effort to make I-84 bridges and overpasses a bit less fugly. Their new "Cascadian" style vaguely evokes some design elements used in the old highway. I'm not sure if the one they did here is an overpass over I-84, or I-84's bridge over Mosier Creek. It's a nice upgrade, wherever it is.

Some Waterfalls in the Gorge

Bridal Veil Falls, in Bridal Veil State Park. When I stopped by last week, I had a curious experience: Nothing looked familiar. I'm sure I've been there before, I must've been, and on more than one occasion I've driven right by figuring there was no need to stop, as I'd been there not too long before. But the more I think about it, it must've been a very long time indeed. If ever. Because it all looked new to me, rightly or wrongly. I like to think I know that part of the gorge like the back of my hand, so it was quite an odd feeling.

There's a short trail down to the falls, and an even shorter, flat trail that the signs describe as a "walking/interpretive" trail, with some native plants to observe, etc. The latter sounds pretty boring, so that I'm quite certain I'd never taken it before. I figured I would this time just on a lark, and it turns out the trail also leads to high cliffs over the Columbia, with vistas stretching for miles in all directions. Once there I recognized the fences at cliff's edge, having seen them from the freeway. I'd always wondered what they were for. I'd post some pics from the overlook, but this post is about waterfalls, and I do hate to wander off topic.

Bridal Veil Falls is not to be confused with the many other waterfalls by the same name. There's one in Yosemite, one that's part of Niagara Falls, and others in North Carolina, Utah, British Columbia, and elsewhere.




Youngs Creek Falls, Shepperd's Dell State Park. Or you could just call it Shepperd's Dell Falls. A lot of people do, including myself when I'm not feeling pedantic. And yes, it's really spelled "Shepperd", not "Shepherd", because the guy who donated the land spelled his surname that way.

That's a lot of naming confusion to have for such a small place. There's a small parking lot, and a very short trail down to the top of the falls. No connecting trails or anything, so once you've been down and back, you're pretty much done here and it's time to move along to the next one down the road, which is Bridal Veil if you're heading eastbound.




Multnomah Falls. Like, duh.




Latourell Falls, Guy W. Talbot State Park. The tiny town of Latourell is nearby, although you can't see it from the main road. Nothing much to see or do there, though.

This one may be my personal favorite in the Gorge, although Elowah Falls (not pictured) is a good candidate too. And there are still a few I haven't tracked down yet, so nothing's set in stone.

And no, the name is not spelled with an 'e' on the end.




Wahkeena Falls. If you're lucky enough to run across any really old books about the Gorge, Wahkeena was once called Gordon Falls, long, long ago. That's about the only interesting bit of trivia I know about the place. It's never been my favorite, although I've never been able to put my finger on why that is. I dunno, maybe the feng shui is out of whack or something.

You might look at a map and notice Benson State Park right next door, with its cool and (allegedly) safe for swimmin' lake. You can't get there from here, though, at least not without crossing some very busy railroad tracks, and I seem to recall there were very official-looking signs ordering you not to even think of crossing there. There also isn't a path between Benson State Park and Multnomah Falls. Maybe that's because Benson is a fee area, and they don't want people sneaking in from across the tracks lugging a raft to avoid the $3 day use fee. Or maybe it's because both waterfalls are on Forest Service land and Benson's run by the state, and the two agencies just don't collaborate on projects for whatever reason. Beats me.




Starvation Creek Falls, west of Hood River at Starvation Creek State Park. The name comes from a train that was temporarily stranded here by snow back in the 1880s. Nobody actually starved, though. The name's just a bit of Victorian melodrama.

You may recall Starvation Creek as the highway rest area that was closed for quite a few years after the plumbing failed and the state had no money for repairs. Instead of putting closed signs on the restrooms themselves, they closed the whole thing, blocked off the offramp and everything. I've never understood why they did that. Anyway, everything's supposed to be all fine and dandy now, at least until our fair state's next financial or infrastructural crisis comes along.




Horsetail Falls is right next to the old Gorge Highway, so it can be amusing to sit for a bit and watch people driving by taking their tourist photos without even stopping, much less getting out of their cars. When the passenger's taking photos as the driver gabs on a cell phone, you're almost moved to pity. When they return home, they'll wonder why they don't feel any more relaxed than they did before leaving on vacation.

There are a couple of even more photogenic falls up the trail a ways, but most people just call it quits without getting past the parking lot. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but the day I took this I numbered among those people. At least I got out of my car, though. And really I have an excuse: I've got to hurry around like a madman to keep up with the incessant demands of this humble blog's zillions of Gentle Reader(s). If I don't generate new content on a regular basis, people will show up at my door with torches and pitchforks. That's not actually true, of course, but I only said it was my excuse, and I never claimed it was a very credible excuse.




Mosier Creek Falls, Mosier OR. Last week, I'd made it a goal to try to track down at least one waterfall I'd never been to before. First I was going to try to find Coopey Falls, but it's on the grounds of a convent, and I chickened out at the thought of nuns. And I missed the super-obscure trailhead for Mist Falls, even though it's just down the road from Wahkeena Falls. So I eventually ended up all the way out in Mosier, between Hood River and The Dalles, and they've got a waterfall right in town. I think it's actually a city park, not state or federal, if I read the signs right. You follow the Columbia River Highway signs until you cross the bridge over Mosier Creek. On your right, you'll see a sign for the local pioneer cemetery. Take the trail leading to the cemetery. Trust me on this. The cemetery itself isn't too overwhelming, with maybe a dozen headstones, tops. To your right, Mosier Creek flows in a deep canyon. If you continue along the trail, there's a sign announcing you're at "Pocket Park", with all sorts of dire warnings about primitive trails, rattlesnakes, and such. I didn't see any snakes, and I didn't find the trail especially primitive (by my standards, anyway), so maybe they're just trying to ward off non-taxpaying out-of-towners or something. After a short walk, you'll see the falls.

I admit this isn't the best picture ever. The light was at a very difficult angle, and you can tell from the rocks that there's a lot more water going over the falls other times of the year. Pretty much anytime other than midsummer, I imagine. But this was primarily a scouting trip, so you take what you can get.

I ran across a site a while ago with some pics of a guy taking a kayak down these falls, when the creek was running a bit higher. I've lost the link now, but if I find it again I'll post it here.




Shady Creek Falls, right near Multnomah Falls. Never heard of it, right? If you take the trail up to the famous bridge at Multnomah Falls, you'll cross a smaller stream at one point. If you look upstream/uphill, you'll notice there's another waterfall way up there. There's no sign telling you the name of the thing, and I didn't realize it even had a name. And officially it doesn't, but over the years it seems the stream's often been called Shady Creek, and thus the falls are Shady Creek Falls. So now you know.

I've never thought they were especially impressive so far as waterfalls go, although it's also true that you really don't get a very good look at them. The falls proper are way up the slope, and the main thing you see from the trail is the creek burbling its way steeply downhill. So it's hard to say, really.