Portland: the outdoor version

Before leaving the States, we made a stopover in Portland, Oregon. I was attending a conference for work there, so it gave us a good chance to explore the fun little city!
We rented a car for a few hours the first day and headed down Highway 30 toward the Oregon wilderness.

Off that one highway, there are so many beautiful areas: lots of great hikes and just amazing waterfalls. We didn't have a lot of set destinations, but just drove and stopped when we came to a spot that looked interesting.

Latourell Falls

Highway bridge by Latourell Falls

We did a short hike out to Bridal Veil Falls. It was really dark and quiet once we were under the tree cover. It also started raining, as you'd expect it to in Oregon, but under the trees it just turned into a light mist. Lovely!

Bridal Veil Falls

The biggest destination in the area is Multnomah Falls. Multnomah Falls is a giant waterfall - the second biggest year-round waterfall in the U.S. - it falls in two stages for a total of 620 feet. There is a beautiful bridge that spans the middle of the falls. Since it was Saturday, it was also pretty packed with tourists. =/ We'd gotten spoiled with how deserted the other areas were! We decided not to do the hike to the top, rather than fighting all the foot traffic. Next time!

There is also a beautiful lodge with a restaurant near the falls, which Scott had recommended we try. It was a pretty cool day, and there was a fire going in the fireplace, which felt so nice! We sat down for a cozy lunch of mac & cheese and a salad with a local Portland beer. It was a pretty good cap to our wilderness fun!

Then we turned the car around and headed back to the city. We both agreed that we need to revisit and schedule at least five days for hiking and exploring! It was one of the most beautiful areas I've ever seen and I would love to spend tons more time there.

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