Gorge-ous

Saturday we took a drive to the Columbia River Gorge to do a little sight seeing and a little hiking. Our first stop was a look-out spot called Women's Forum. I do not know why it is called Women's Forum, but it is evidently the best look-out spot in the whole Columbia River Gorge. I had to agree that it was pretty spectacular. Jonah brought his Ranger Rick binoculars and refused to let another single person look through them. I could only assume that they helped him get a closer view of Crown Point, way off in the distance.

If looking at Crown Point through free toy binoculars didn't get Jonah close enough, driving right up to Crown Point did.

For all you Twilight fans out there, Crown Point is very close to the View Point Inn where the "Prom" scene for the Twilight movie was filmed. (This link has a 6 minute video clip, and shows that they filmed at Multnomah Falls too!)

Crown Point had a lovely little gift shop as well as an upper observation deck (see all those people up on the 2nd level?). The kids had fun running around and giving me heart attacks by getting too close to the edge and it one case, sitting on it.

We stopped at another waterfall along the way for a picnic lunch, then it was on to Multnomah Falls, the most popular tourist attraction in Oregon. No kidding.

The trail leading up to the top of Multnomah Falls is 1 mile and rises 542 feet in elevation. It is paved and while most people are huffing and puffing by the time they reach the top, it's not uncommon to see people pushing strollers or walking in highly inappropriate shoes.

This picture (above) is of the boys BEFORE the hike up to the top of the falls. As you can see, they look thrilled at the very thought.

I was proud of Jonah for walking the whole way up with out hardly complaining at all. Isaac, on the other hand, had to be carried part of the way up and part of the way down!

Meanwhile, I was experiencing a minor freak out because while the trail was paved, it lacked a guard rail for most of the trail which was quite narrow in places. There was just room enough for a single file line hiking up and a single file line coming down. The drop off the side of the trail was steep and rocky in places and inspired all kinds of visions of tragedy, gore and even a mental preview of a somber report on the 5 o'clock news. At the top of the falls, there is a little observation platform which hovers out over the water as it falls 542 feet to the bottom. Jonah and Ethan were thoroughly inspired by the breathtaking view (not!) I was more concerned about getting them away from the edge!

Before we headed back down, Ethan and Jonah found this lovely little napping rock and both proclaimed they would never climb to the top of Multnomah Falls again.

As lovely and invigorating as the hike had been, I tended to agree with them when I saw an ambulance, paramedics and a rappelling rescue team pulled up in front of the gift shop on our way out.

Robert overheard that a young boy had fallen off the trail and was possibly injured. Word among the rescuers, however, was that people usually over reacted and once rescued, the fallen person generally not badly injured. I guess they were right because there was nothing about it on the 5 o'clock news.