Exploring the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

 We had an opportunity to do our first child free trip since having our first baby 2.5 years ago. We wanted to get away and do something fun- but not too far away just incase. The Columbia River Gorge is about 3 hours from our house and about an hour away from Portland Oregon. We have driven through this area before and I was like "I have to come back!!!" 

This is a great area to explore for a quick weekend getaway. There is plenty to explore!

We stayed in Hood River, OR this is a cute little town right on the Columbia River. There are plenty of places to stay and fun walkable downtown area. Plus the views of the river are so pretty. 

Things to do 

Multnomah Falls 

Ok this is the big attraction. This waterfall is HUGE!! It is one of the tallest in the world and second tallest in the US. It is free to get into but be prepared that it is popular. We went in February so it wasn't too busy but I could see this in summer being insane. But it is spectacular and I was so glad that we got to see it. 

Be prepared to get a little wet if you get close to it. The mist coming off the waterfall is intense. 

You can hike to the of the waterfall- my husband convinced me to do it. It is 2.4 miles out and back with 600 foot elevation gain. I would say it's not that kid friendly- there were a lot of switch backs and lots of steep drop offs on the trail. I would've been very anxious if my toddler was doing this hike on foot with us. There is a small platform at the top that you can look out onto the the Columbia River Gorge it is very pretty. 

Views from the hike and the top

Drive the Columbia River Scenic Highway and visit a bunch of beautiful waterfalls. 

This was a great little day trip for us. We just took our time driving the highway and stopping and exploring the waterfalls. This would be good for a group of people where it is easy to get in and out of the car. This wouldn't have been as fun if we had to get our kids in and out of car seats each time. 

Begin your trip at the Portland Women's Overlook. This a small little area with a beautiful view. You can also see Crown Point from here which is where we stopped next. I wish we could've had access to the building at Crown point because I'm sure the view from it would also be pretty. 

From there you can drive to Latourell Falls. This is the view of it from the parking lot. You can also hike closer to it and explore as much as you want. You can really choose your own adventure and decide how much hiking you want to do. 

Then further down the road is Shepherd Dell Falls. Again this is the view from the road but you can choose to explore further if you want to. 

From there we went at explored Bridal Veil Falls. This one is very pretty and I would highly recommend doing the small hike (.5mile) down to get a better view of the falls. 

Horseshoe and Ponytail Falls 

This was a great little not as popular hike that a park ranger at Multnomah Falls told us about. I am glad that we took his advice because ponytail falls was very neat! Horseshoe falls you can see right from the road and there is a small parking lot across the street from it. There is a small trail to the left of the falls which takes you to ponytail falls which is .8 of a mile away. Ponytail falls was neat because you can hike behind the falls. You can keep going further on the trail if you want to but it was closed when we went. 

We had a great time exploring the Columbia River Gorge!