Wahkeena Falls (Washington side)
— — a white thread on the far Oregon wall.
Not only on a wall.
“Wahkeena drops on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge, but from the Washington shore it reads as a single bright thread on the basalt cliff across the river. The view holds best in late spring when snowmelt swells the creek. Pull-offs along SR-14 between Cape Horn and Skamania face it directly. The river is wide here, and the falls look smaller than they are. from the studio
Wahkeena Falls (Washington side), 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.
Wahkeena Falls itself sits on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge, in Multnomah County, dropping about 242 feet in tiered cascades down a basalt headwall just west of Multnomah Falls. From the Washington side, the falls reads as a thin white seam on the far cliff, visible across the river from State Route 14 in Skamania County. The whole gorge is protected as the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, an 80-mile river canyon cut through the Cascade Range by Missoula Flood waters at the end of the last ice age.
Wahkeena Creek rises on the basalt bench above the gorge and runs about a mile before pitching off the wall. The name is Yakama for "most beautiful." Flow peaks in May and June with Cascade snowmelt and winter rain spikes can briefly double the volume. The 2017 Eagle Creek Fire burned across this section of the gorge and the regrowth is still visible on the cliff. Across the river, the Columbia averages roughly a mile wide here, which compresses the falls to a small bright line.
On the Washington side, the best views are from pull-offs along SR-14 between Cape Horn and the Bridge of the Gods at Cascade Locks, roughly 30 miles east of Vancouver, Washington. Cape Horn Trail above SR-14 climbs to higher overlooks that hold the gorge wall in one frame. The Oregon-side trailhead is reached by crossing at the Bridge of the Gods, then driving west on the Historic Columbia River Highway. A timed-entry permit is sometimes required for the Oregon parking area in summer.