Natural History Wanderings

Almost all of the areas in the Columbia River Gorge that you would want to shoot are closed, even places that weren’t destroyed in the fire.

However, there are several other places in Oregon that you could visit for fall color:

– Hood River Valley – harvest season for the farms and orchards in addition to the trees

– Silver Falls State Park – gorgeous waterfalls and good fall color

– Aufderheide Memorial Drive (West Cascades Scenic Byway) – a winding forest road lined with bigleaf and vine maples.

– North & South Umpqua River drainages – a good number of scenic waterfalls and surrounding fall color

– Portland Japanese Garden – spectacular in autumn.

Mid to late October is usually prime for these areas. I drove over the Willamette Pass (Hwy 58) yesterday, and the bigleaf maple and vine maple were looking very good at 3000-5000 ft elevation.