Oregon Day 1 – Oneonta and Punchbowl

It has been a few months since I posted anything, both because work has been keeping me busy and because I’ve been taking some new pictures. The good news is that I have plenty of things to share! I’ll be starting off with some photos that I took in Oregon in late May, a three day trip to the Columbia Gorge with my friends Alejandro Velarde and Matt Olivar.

The forecast for the weekend included cloudy skies with some rain. Normally this wouldn’t be my first choice for a photography trip but it can work great for waterfalls. The cloudy skies help keep the contrast under control (no bright splotches of light) and the rain helps the green foliage of spring really pop. On the first day of our trip we flew from San Francisco to Portland and immediately made our way into the Columbia Gorge. This is an area along the Columbia River, which serves as the border between Oregon and Washington, that features some great hiking and many beautiful waterfalls. We decided that since the first day of our trip was a Friday, we’d start with a couple of the spots that tend to get really crowded on weekends: Oneonta Gorge and Punchbowl Falls.

Oneonta Gorge – Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, Oregon (Kyle Jones)

I’ve visited Oneonta Gorge a few times and it is one of the coolest (literally and figuratively) hikes in the area. From the parking area, you take some stairs down to the creek and after a short distance the trail ends at the water. From there are you are getting wet. Making your way upstream you first come to a large log jamb. After balancing on logs, climbing, scrambling, etc. you are now in the gorge itself – a beautiful narrow canyon with ferns on the walls and colorful rocks in the creek at your feet.

If you keep making your way upstream you eventually come to a deep stretch of water. I took off my backpack and held it over my head as I waded through the chest-deep water. Many people turn around at this point, but it is worth pushing through to see Oneonta Falls:

Oneonta Falls – Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, Oregon (Kyle Jones)

Unfortunately the clouds decided that this was the time to move away making the shooting conditions more challenging than I had expected. It is still a beautiful place to just sit, listening to the roar of the falls and feeling the mist. We then retraced our steps to head back to the car, but of course I had to stop for another shot.

Oneonta Gorge – Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, Oregon (Kyle Jones)

We then drove to the Eagle Creek Trailhead. This is one of the most popular trails in the area and it is easy to see why. The trail heads slowly uphill through a beautiful canyon, passing several waterfalls including the Oregon icon, Punchbowl Falls.

Punchbowl Falls – Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, Oregon (Kyle Jones)

I have been to Punchbowl Falls a few times before as well, but this is the first time I had visited in the spring. The greens were beautiful and I decided to try something a little different than in the past. I waded across the creek to get as far from the falls as possible. I then used a long lens to compress the scene, pulling the green hillside closer (visually) to the waterfall hoping to create an overload of green. I also took a multi-shot panorama (at the top of this post) and tried some shots closer to the water (below). After Punchbowl we returned to the car and called it a day.

Punchbowl Falls and Eagle Creek – Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, Oregon (Kyle Jones)