Multnomah Falls (the iconic two-tier 620-ft cascade)
— — 620 feet, in two falling acts.
Not only on a wall.
“The upper tier drops 542 feet against a basalt cliff fed by springs on Larch Mountain. The lower tier drops a further 69, with a small stone footbridge — Benson Bridge, 1914 — between them. Heaviest in spring snowmelt, a quieter ribbon by August. From the studio.
Multnomah Falls (the iconic two-tier 620-ft cascade), on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Multnomah Falls is a two-tier cascade on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge, about thirty miles east of Portland on the Historic Columbia River Highway. The upper tier drops 542 feet; the lower tier drops a further 69, for a total of 620 feet. A small plunge pool between the tiers is crossed by Benson Bridge, completed in 1914. The site lies within the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and is managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
The cliff is part of the Columbia River Basalt Group, a sequence of flood-basalt flows laid down across the Pacific Northwest roughly 15 to 17 million years ago. The dark, columnar character of the rock is the signature of cooling basalt and gives the falls its strong vertical reading. Benson Bridge, the small stone arch between the two tiers, was built in 1914 by Italian stonemasons and funded by Portland businessman Simon Benson, who donated the surrounding land to the city.
Flow is fed mostly by underground springs on Larch Mountain behind the cliff, supplemented by snowmelt and gorge rain. The peak season is spring, when the upper column carries a heavy white plume; by late August the falls reads as a finer ribbon. The Eagle Creek Fire of 2017 burned much of the surrounding forest in the gorge, but the falls themselves were untouched. From May through early September, a timed-use permit is required for the day-use area at the base.