Fine Art Photography Blog

The mountains that hold up the sky above the Columbia River are beginning the long, sluggish process of donning their winter coats. Mount Hood, true to its image, looks like a gargantuan tepee covered in what could well be permafrost. Other peaks are dusted in white along the tops of their ridges, growing large snowfields for the season, but less stark than Hood’s glaciated peak.

Driving south along US 97, from Ellensburg, there had been an ice storm; trees were glistening with each branch frozen and coated in ice. I couldn’t help but notice how the Earth’s skin is wrinkled into long, rounded folds that, from the air, might look like finger prints. A nearly full moon rose above the desert floor, while Mount Adams, with its gentle slope like a woman’s breast, stands above the nearby ridges, visible over the horizon for untold miles. Like Mounts Hood and Ranier, symbols of northwestern metropolises, Adams is a singular peak rising up above its surroundings, visible as far as Yakima.

Desert isn’t normally what springs to mind when people think of the Pacific Northwest, but we have plenty of it; this trip was nothing but from Cle Elum to The Dalles. Near the edge of what feels momentarily like an oasis is Washington’s bizarre idea of a war monument: a full scale replica of Stonehenge. I have to admit I drove within a mile of the thing without stopping, although in my defense it was dark by this point.

Things quickly change when the river, which starts in Glacier National Park, Montana as the Snake River and meanders east, cuts through the Cascade Range. Suddenly waterfalls come rushing down the sides of cliffs, feeding a temperate rain-forest. From seemingly lifeless desert comes The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, one of the region’s obscure gems.

The Bridge of the Gods, above, was finished in 1926, connecting Cascade Locks, Oregon, to rural byways in Washington. When these aren’t closed, they lead on to Mt Ranier; unfortunately it’s winter in the eyes of the national forest service, who maintain Wind River Road. Scientists believe a nearby mountain collapsed, blocking the river a thousand years ago, forming a dam that may have created an inland sea reaching back as far as Idaho. The water broke through the bottom of the dam and eroded a natural bridge … time eventually destroyed this as well, leaving behind a name that makes this structure seem like it must be a pale imitation.

Of course waterfalls are what The Gorge is best known for. Expect another post on Multnomah Falls and others once I’ve had enough time to cull through all the photos from the journey.