Oregon’s Multnomah Falls

Located amongst lush greenery in northern Oregon, Multnomah Falls is probably on many tourists’ to visit list. It makes sense because who doesn’t want to see two waterfalls in one? It’s a sight to behold from afar and even better as you get closer to it. Although there were a good amount of people here when I visited, it was fortunately not as crowded as I was expecting it to be.

There are two areas you can enjoy the waterfall from. But before you get to either spot, you might want a potty break or a quick bite to eat. If that is so, you’re in luck because you can get both businesses done at Multnomah Falls Lodge. Despite its name, I don’t think they provide any type of lodging services. They do have an on site restaurant that was bustling, along with public restrooms. There’s even an area by the restroom where you can refill your water bottle in preparation for your hike up to Multnomah Falls or anywhere else within the area. While I did fill up my water bottle, I didn’t have it in me to drink much of it throughout my journey here. Let’s just say the water smelled a bit funky. (It’s possible that the piping wasn’t clean or the water was pure tap. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was both.)

If the restaurant is too full or their prices turn you off, you can visit a hole in the wall area on the left side of the building where you can buy junk food at a more “reasonable” price. (If I remember correctly, I got an ice cream. Ice cream on a cold day? Yes.) They also had a vendor selling other types of junk food that kids and the young at heart would enjoy. If this vendor is still there, be cautious since she doesn’t list her prices out in the open. When I inquired about something I was interested in consuming, she told me one price despite selling it to another person for a dollar cheaper. Can we say wtf? Wtf. I don’t know if it was intentional but I got the vibe that there was a bit of racism behind this vendor. She seemed to have a flippant attitude towards me but was overly friendly to non-POC customers. Intentional or not, this was a no no, which is why I opted for the hole in the wall place. While my experience there was better, I did manage to experience some form of ism there yet again. The young guy tending to me seemed to be at a loss for words at one point when I was buying the ice cream. I don’t know if he assumed I couldn’t speak English or if he was just dumbfounded by how amazing I looked. Regardless, it was a moment of strangeness and of course, I doubt it was the latter reasoning.

I bring these experiences up because at the time, the only other non-POC visitors I saw were Chinese and most likely from mainland China. I don’t have a problem with them but I do have a problem with people automatically making assumptions about people based on how they look like. I suppose these type of isms are to be expected when you consider the lack of diversity in Oregon as a whole.

Anyway, once you get your businesses done at Multnomah Falls Lodge, the trek to gawk at the falls itself isn’t a far one at all.

The first stop you reach is where many people hang around, taking pictures of the magnificent Multnomah Falls. Things look nice here but it’s another level of nice once you decide to do a bit of hiking to a bridge.

This bridge is the second point from where you can enjoy Multnomah Falls. As it’s a relatively short hike from the first view point, I recommend visitors to do this hike. It’s nice to get close enough to the falls where you can feel fragments of the waterfall on your face. It’s a refreshing experience.

From here, you can go up to the top of Multnomah Falls, provided that the gate is open for you to do so. When I was there, it was closed. This was a good thing since I don’t think I had it in me to conquer the top of Multnomah Falls but might have tried anyway had the gate been open.

If the gate’s closed when you visit and you desperately want to hike, don’t worry as there are other places you can visit, which most visitors of Multnomah Falls don’t know about. All you need is your feet. Yes, you read that right. You don’t need a car to get to the other destination. In fact, a car isn’t even necessary to get you to Multnomah Falls in the first place. From Portland, you can easily take the Columbia Gorge Express directly to Multnomah Falls. It costs more than a regular bus ticket but is worth it if you don’t have a car or just want to be eco-friendly.

Before leaving Multnomah Falls, you might want to visit Multnomah Falls Lodge again to do some souvenir shopping from their gift shop.

Their gift shop is nice. It’s definitely not your average gift shop in that you can easily spend time looking at things. If you like camping or rustic themes, you’ll find yourself wanting many items at this gift shop. I sticked to the basics (postcards) but looking back, I should have just bought a few of the things I was attracted to simply because they ended up not being for sale at other gift shops. In other words, if you see something you like here, you’re better off buying it since other gift shops in northern Oregon probably don’t have it in stock. The greatness of this gift shop aside, the treatment I received from the cashier was on point with whatever was trending from earlier. Unlike with other customers who weren’t POC, she wasn’t friendly with me and seemed a bit hostile towards me. At this point, I figured something was definitely wrong with the “water” that employees were drinking from here. Thank goodness I didn’t drink much of it? These people aside, Multnomah Falls is still worth a visit. And it helped that in the end of it all, the bus driver I had into and out of Multnomah Falls/Columbia Gorge was nice.