Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T!
Sea to Summit Tour►
The Columbia River Gorge NSA , including Latourelle Falls, falls under the administration of the US Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service. When in Oregon, we toured the gorge with Sea to Summit tours. We met our guide Shahn by Pioneer Square in Portland and loaded into a comfortable minibus for our full day tour.
Shahn drove us along the Historic Columbia River Highway, stopping at numerous waterfalls and other picturesque places. The tour culminated with a stop at the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood. Shahn kept us entertained during drive time and at each stop with the history and anecdotes about the places we saw. We never would have fit all of this into one day if we’d tried to do it on our own, and my husband would have been cranky from all the driving and trying to find parking. I highly recommend seeing the area with Sea to Summit.
Latourell Falls►
Latourell Falls is the centerpiece of Guy W. Talbot State Park along the Columbia River Gorge. In the early 1900s, two roadhouses, the Falls Chalet and the Falls Villa sat on the banks of Latourell Creek. The Chalet burned down only a few months after it opened. The state tore down the deteriorating Falls Villa in 1959 to create the state park.
Our tour stopped at Latourell Falls after the Vista House. We walked across the historic Latourell Creek bridge and down an easy path tp the base of the falls. We snapped a few photos before heading to the next stop.
Columbia River Gorge Posts►
- Vista House
- Latourell Falls
- Multnomah Falls
- Horsetail Falls
- Bonneville Lock and Dam
Location: 40700 Historic Columbia River Hwy, Corbett, OR 97019
Designation: National Register of Historic Places
Date designated/established: Built 1916, NRHP 1974
Date of my visit: August 27, 2016
I’m glad that you are covering the waterfalls in our beautiful Columbia River Gorge. They are numerous and accessible whether it be by a short walk or a longer hike. I remember the comment of one out-o-state visitor coming back to the parking lot after my wife and I stopped to see Latourell Falls: “Just think, we paid thousands of dollars to travel to Hawaii and the waterfalls did not come close to what we’ve seen in the Gorge!”
Well, now I wouldn’t discount Hawaii just because Oregon has better waterfalls, lol. Oregon is beautiful and I’m glad I got to visit, but would gladly pay for immersion in the ‘Spirit of Aloha’ any time.