Columbia River Gorge Waterfalls and Mt Hood Small-Group Tour

Our central meeting location and pick up point! A beautiful, urban park in the middle of Downtown Portland.

We will depart downtown Portland and head east along the Columbia River to Troutdale, known as the Gateway to the Gorge! We will join the beautiful Historic Columbia River Highway, the first planned scenic roadway in the United States.

Our first stop for the day: Crown Point Vista House. This famous overlook sits 733 feet above the Columbia River, atop the remains of a lava flow that swept through the Gorge around 14 to 17 million years ago! Here, we will find amazing 180-degree views of the Columbia River Gorge and explore the Vista House. An intricately designed observatory and museum, the Vista House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

From the Vista House, we will drive deeper into the Columbia River National Scenic Area. Our first waterfall for the day will be the dramatic Latourell Falls which plunges 249 feet over a massive wall of columnar basalt. Depending on the season, a short ¼-mile trail hike will be led to get a closer view of the falls.

The next waterfall we will visit will be the famed Multnomah Falls. Plummeting 620 feet in two major steps, Multnomah Falls is the highest waterfall in Oregon and second highest in the nation! Here, we can explore the Multnomah Falls Historic Lodge (a Cascadian style stone and timber lodge built in 1925) as well as the beautiful Multnomah Falls itself. The easily accessible viewing platform offers a full view of the Benson Bridge and cascading falls beyond it.

We will make our way to Hood River, known as the Windsurfing Capitol of the World, where we will pause for an hour for everybody to disperse for free time. This gives us a chance to explore the town and get lunch.

Following lunch, we will set out heading south, through the picturesque Fruit Loop orchards and lavender farms. If time permits, we may even make a brief stop at one of the farm stands before beginning our scenic drive through Mount Hood National Forest!

While enjoying a scenic drive through Mount Hood National Forest, we'll have many opportunities to view Mount Hood before our final stop right on the mountain at Timberline Lodge.

For our last stop of the day, we will wind our way through Mount Hood National Forest, climbing to roughly 6,000 feet in elevation, to Timberline Lodge. This National Historic Landmark sits proudly against Oregon’s highest peak- Mt. Hood! Attracting over 10,000 climbers each year, Mt. Hood is a mammoth to behold. We’ll have the opportunity to explore inside the lodge and enjoy the surrounding Cascade Mountain Range views from the lodge’s outdoor patios. If time allows, a short hike to the Pacific Crest Trail crossing just behind the lodge can be led by your guide.

After a full day out on tour, we end back at Director Park, our drop off location in the heart of Downtown Portland.