Mount Hood is Oregon’s highest mountain, at 11,249 feet, and one of three active volcanoes around the Columbia Gorge; Mount St. Helens last erupted in 1980, Mount Hood in the 1790’s, and Mount Adams around 1000. These mountains are part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, stretching from British Columbia to Northern California. This arc also forms a demarcation between the Pacific Ocean-facing wester side with its lush rainforests, and the arid eastern side, shown here, with less than 20-inches of annual rainfall.
Author: Roy Scribner
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Cedar Tree Jeep Badge of Honor Trail
Jeep runs a fun program called the Jeep Badge of Honor Trail program that identifies a number of off-road trails around the country as “official” BoH trails for Jeeps, and uses a phone app that allows users to “check-in” to these trails and get credit for driving them. Jeep will also send you a nice-looking badge with the trail’s name, that you can stick onto the side of your Jeep, if you are into that sort of thing. As a Jeep owner I had heard of the BoH thing but never paid much attention to it, until my trip across Utah with Dan, Mike and Adam. They wanted to spend a few days in Moab which is Jeep BoH Mecca, and get credit for a number of trails, there. We knocked-out four of the BoH trails while we were there, and several months later I received the little badges from Jeep, and I was hooked! Yes, I am easily amused.
They are not always this fast, but one week later my badge arrived via UPS Fast-forward six months and in true Portland, Oregon fashion it has been raining for several weeks. Non-stop. Today, March 22nd however, I awoke to dry weather which gave me the itch to get my Jeep out and flex its new suspension and tires. Moab had convinced me that my Jeep needed to just a little bit taller, and the tires needed to be just a little bit bigger. That was my winter project. With a dry day in front of me, I decided that it would be a great opportunity to go run one of Oregon’s Jeep BoH trails, so I headed west towards the cheese town of Tillamook.
At some point on Highway 6 in the Oregon Coast Range Mountains there is a rather nondescript turnoff called Roger’s Camp Road. Fortunately, there is also a large state DOT gravel storage area at this point, making the road easier to spot. From here, you will need a good offline mapping application, as there is no mobile service in this area of the coast range, in order to find the trailhead, which in my case was called Cedar Tree. The road forks right becoming University Falls Road, and left becoming Beaver Dam Road.
University Falls is a short out-and-back hike Either road will work, although I took Beaver Dam Road and then turned south onto the University Firepower trail which connects to Cedar Tree. University Firepower also connects to University Falls Road, so that right-fork would have also worked. The University Firepower trail has a tougher rating than Cedar Tree, and I can attest that even the short segment that I did, was a lot of fun. Particularly since it had been raining for several weeks. The trail was very steep and tight, with several very sharp turns, but even without engaging the lockers (because of the sharp turns), the new mud tires performed great.
Typical of the lower portion of Cedar Tree, although there are some squeeze-points between trees After a mile of the University Firepower trail, it crosses a regular graveled logging road and the Cedar Tree trail begins. This trail is still tight with numerous trees, stumps, and roots crowding the trail, but there are no three-point turns like University Firepower. It is a fun and relaxing drive through coastal cedars and firs, and nothing that any capable four-wheel drive would have trouble, with.
Fallen cedar tree stump in the background Towards the end of the trail, it pops-out onto a clear-cut landing where the infamous fallen cedar tree stump is located. Evidently one used to be able to drive under this tree, but the wet coastal mountains reclaim all the things, and the cedar tree is no exception. The trail ends near another Jeep BoH trail called Firebreak 5 and I will be back to run that one, someday.
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Lower Latourell Falls
Lower Latourell Falls is a 224-foot waterfall along the Historic Columbia River Highway, east of Vista House at Crown Point. Just after this photo was taken on March 9th, 2025 a section of the highway leading to Vista House was closed due to unstable conditions, leaving Latourell Falls only accessible from the Ainsworth State Park exit on Highway 84 near Cascade Locks, some twenty miles east of the falls. Though not nearly as popular as the 620-foot Multnomah Falls, which is much more easily accessible from Highway 84, both the Lower and Upper Latourell Falls are every bit as photogenic. The lower falls is the taller of the two, with its 224-foot plunge.
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Columbia Gorge
The Columbia Gorge is one of the most geologically impressive features in North America, forming a deep path through the Cascade Mountains for the Columbia River – the largest river flowing into the Pacific Ocean from North America. The river was not always where it is today, having been pushed north by lava flows on the Oregon side, and more recently, pushed back south and even blocked, by enormous landslides from the Washington side. The layers of lava flows, reminiscent of frosted layers in a cake, form the steep cliffs on the Oregon side of the gorge providing a waterfall-rich environment between Troutdale, at the western mouth of the gorge just east of Portland, and Hood River. From the Portland Women’s Forum scenic viewpoint where this photo was taken, easily-accessible waterfalls along the Historic Columbia River Highway include Latourell Falls, Shepperd’s Dell Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, Wahkeena Falls, Multnomah Falls, and Horsetail Falls.
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Nansene Grange Hall
The Nansene Grange Hall is located between Dufur and Tygh Valley, on the eastern side of Mount Hood along the old Barlow Road portion of the Oregon Trail. Though Nansene is no longer – the post office was closed in either 1894 or 1909, depending on who you talk to – this historic grange hall stands as the sole reminder of this little town that was an important stage coach stop between central Oregon and the Willamette Valley. It was in 1909 that a railroad would connect this area east of Mount Hood to the Columbia Gorge at The Dalles, and travel over the wagon road declined rapidly. The grange hall continues to stand the test of time, surviving the 2018 rangeland fire that swept the area. This photograph is embellished a bit, as there is a paved road and a modern barbed wire fence in front of the structure. I do not normally heavily-edit my pictures, but in this case I tried to capture more of the historical nature of the scene, and felt that it was appropriate. The grange hall is easy to find, using either Google or Apple maps.
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Upper Lewis River Falls
The Oregon side of the Columbia Gorge gets all the attention when it comes to waterfalls, and that is understandable because the Oregon side of the Columbia Gorge has its 1,000-foot-tall sheer cliffs, while the Washington side is a long, gradual, slope from the Cascade Mountains to the Columbia River. The Lewis River begins at Mount Adams, one of the volcanic triads of Mount Hood, Mount Adams, and Mount Saint Helens that dominate the region. The river parallels the Columbia for many miles, turning south and joining big-brother Columbia near Saint Helens, Oregon. Near Mount Adams where the Lewis still runs wild, is sports three impressive falls within a three-mile segment, that may not challenge the Oregon falls for height but absolutely trounce them with their impressive width. I was fortunate to catch the upper falls on a cold February day with intermittent snow and graupel. The photography gods were smiling on me, as there was a pause in the weather for the hour that I spent photographing the falls. It was a fantastic time. I love hiking in the winter and usually I am the only one crazy enough to challenge the trails in adverse weather, but on my way back to the lower falls I did run into a family heading to the upper falls. I greeted them and wished them a good day, but silently I tipped my hat to my fellow crazy winter hikers.
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Paulina Lake
Crater Lake is one of several lakes in Oregon that reside inside volcanic calderas. The Newberry Volcano erupted some 75,000 years ago and subsequently collapsed, forming a five-mile diameter caldera. Newberry is much older than the 7,500-year-old Mount Mazama Caldera, containing Crater Lake. The Newberry Caldera is located 20-miles south of Bend, Oregon, and contains Paulina Lake and East Lake. Paulina Lake is the larger of the two, encompassing 1,530 acres and a depth of 250-feet. Like Crater Lake, Paulina and East Lake rely on snowmelt and rain, and Paulina Lake also has hot springs that feed it. Newberry remains active and its most recent eruption formed Big Obsidian Flow, a 1,300-year-old lava flow, the youngest in the state. This photograph is from the top of Big Obsidian Flow, with Paulina Lake in the distance.
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Florence Cemetery
Florence, Idaho was a mining town that boomed in 1861 when gold was discovered in the area. By the summer of 1862 its population briefly swelled to 9,000 people before tailing-off in 1863, as people moved on to the next big thing. For the next two decades, a mixed population of Chinese and White miners eked out a living reworking abandoned claims and the discarded tailings of previous mining activity. It is thought that the Chinese population numbered around 150 people. Though no original grave markers remain, the cemetery has gone through several preservation cycles over the years, beginning in the 1920’s. Most recently, in 2022, the markers were again replaced with new headboards and additional signage. Sometime prior to the 1920’s the bodies of Chinese buried in the cemetery were exhumed and the cremated remains repatriated to their native country. Today, this marker stands in memory to the Chinese people that were buried here. Florence is located south of Grangeville and east of Riggins, on the Florence Basin Road / Forrest Road 643.
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Multnomah Falls
With a total drop of 620-feet, Multnomah Falls is the tallest waterfall in the state of Oregon (documented waterfall, that is. There is a 700+ foot waterfall, based on aerial data, on a tributary of the west fork of the Wallowa River in remote northeast Oregon). Its close proximity to Portland, a 30-minute drive, means the falls are also one of the most visited waterfalls north of Yosemite, with some 2.5 million visitors per year, according to the Multnomah Falls Lodge. Yosemite Park receives 3.8 million visitors each year and interestingly its major year-round waterfall, Bridalveil Fall, is also 620-feet tall. Any photographer in the Pacific Northwest worth their salt, even an amateur like myself, has to photograph Multnomah Falls. And it is a bear to photograph! The light is muted and dark below the bridge, but bright (on a decent day) at the top, from the sky. This was my effort today, January 15th, 2025, and for my skill-level I am happy with it. I plan to return when the Gorge gets some snow, because the only thing better than a photograph of the falls is a snowy, icy photograph of the falls. Also of note, the Multnomah Falls Lodge is celebrating their 100th anniversary. Construction of the lodge was completed in 1925. The bridge bisecting the two tiers is even older, having been completed in 1914.
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Cauldron Linn
The Scottish word “linn” refers to a geographical feature, such as a waterfall, pool, ravine, or precipice – so Cauldron Linn – an admittedly odd name for a western U.S. waterfall – likely got its name from Scottish members of the Wilson Price Hunt expedition of 1811. Even before the current upstream Milner Dam, the Snake River was a calm lake-like body of water until it hit the 40-foot wide opening in the rocks, of Cauldron Linn. Cauldron Linn is a wild place, little changed over hundreds of years. Note the person standing on the rocks, in the top-left portion of the photograph. There are no handrails, here!
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White Pocket
A challenging place to reach, White Pocket on the Arizona – Utah border is an impressive area of sandstone formations.
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Coronado National Monument
We began our journey across Arizona in the Coronado National Monument on Montezuma Canyon Road, heading up to Montezuma Pass. It was a clear morning in early May, with stunning views all the way into Mexico.