The Columbia River Gorge

The Columbia River Gorge is a spectacular river canyon cutting the only sea-level route through the Cascade Mountain Range. The Gorge is 80 miles long and up to 4,000 feet deep with the north canyon walls in Washington State and the south canyon walls in Oregon State. The Columbia River Gorge, an 80-mile geologic wonder that forms the border between northern Oregon and southern Washington, is proof of Nature's unbridled strength. Glacial floods thousands of years ago carved this 1,200-mile-long river, which is the only sea-level passage to cross the Cascade Mountains. With cliffs rising as high as 4,000 feet, the Gorge acts as a funnel for North America's fourth largest river, whose tributaries include the mighty Snake River.


The Columbia River Gorge is widely recognized to have one of the largest concentrations of waterfalls in the world, with over 90 waterfalls on the Oregon side of the gorge alone. Through millenniums of geologic events, waterfalls have found their home in the Columbia River Gorge. Multnomah Falls is the second highest year-round waterfall in the United States at 620 ft. The Columbia River Plateau was created by a series of basalt flows. The flows covered 164,000 square kilometers -- portions of northeast Oregon, southwest Washington and western Idaho.


Crown Point is the name of a promontory on the Columbia River Gorge and an associated state park. The Crown Point Vista House was built in 1916 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. With its marble interior and brass fixtures, some Oregonians at the time derided it as "The $100,000 Outhouse".