Chanticleer Point of the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

 

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The mighty Columbia River gashed an 80-mile-long Gorge through black basalt cliffs, cutting ribbon-like waterfalls that cascade down steep-sided hills lined thick with luxuriant firs. We selected “America's Fjord” to be the highlight and the mid-point of our family vacation, traveling together to see North America's record concentration of high waterfalls. Congress recognized the unique beauty of the Gorge in November 1986 by making this region the nation's first National Scenic Area, a remnant of molten basalt gushing from cracks near Idaho to inundate 80,000 square miles. Crown Point sits atop a lava flow laminating the landscape, deluged by shearing floodwaters surging nearly 1000' deep through the Gorge to scour the canyon maybe 100 times.

 

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