Rivers and Flowing Water

At the top of Multnomah Falls, looking down.

A creek in the Columbia Gorge in Oregon

Lower Latourell Falls, near the Columbia Gorge

Lower Latourell Falls, on the Oregon side of the Columbia Gorge 1979. What makes this photograph interesting is the prominent basalt columns that flank the falls. The geological origins of the Colombia Gorge are volcanic. As the molten basalt cooled, it shrunk and cracked. The physics of the process dictated that the shrinking rock cooled into hexagonal columns. As the cliff was eroded by the falls, the basalt columns became prominent. Large basalt boulders have been known to fall off such cliffs into the pools below. Waterfalls such as Latourell Falls dot the length of the gorge

A creek in Marshall Park, Portland Oregon.

A river tug tows a raft of logs down the Columbia River and past wetlands between Oregon and Washington State The Washington State foothills of the Cascade Mountains can be seen in the background.

The sternwheeler Queen of the West chuggs up the Willamette River near Portland, Oregon.  This vessel is the largest of several sternwheelers that carry sightseers on the Willamette and Columbia Rivers.

F11 for a larger view