Bridal Veil Falls - Kagawong

After that awesome breakfast, C loaded all of us into their minivan for the day's adventure. Her friend S sat in the front, his pregnant wife in the second row with C's baby...and in the back, squished up were me, Bert, TC and TCS. It was really tight back there! The first stop was a place that I'd seen before in C's blog. She took a really beautiful photograph of the waterfall frozen in the winter ...Bridal Veil Falls is in the pretty town of Kagawong, which means, "mists rising from falling water" in the Ojibwe language.

We weren't going to do any major hiking...thank God! I'm one of those people who is totally not into nature and camping and hiking. Don't get me wrong - I admire nature and its beauty but I don't enjoy hiking at all. Or camping. Or getting sweaty or dirty.

Here's a view of the falls from afar...C even said we could even walk behind the falls! The noise of the falls wasn't deafening like Niagara. This was a really pretty waterfall and the size wasn't too overpowering either.

On the side, there was a smaller waterfall:

Bridal Veil Falls has a height of approximately 35 feet (11 m). There is a short hiking trail from the fall down to Lake Huron, which we didn't do that day.

The water source is the Kagawong River which flows between Lake Kagawong and Lake Huron. The water flows down from steep limestone bluffs.The water pool beneath the falls was also shallow.

Here's a view from ground level. The sun was shining overhead so the photos are kind of hazy.

There's TC and TCS wakling through the mud to get behind the falls...

Looked like they were having a blast...

There's me (and I'm actually wearing a bucket hat so I wouldn't get my face sunburnt).

Here's a shot that Bert took with our waterproof camera while he was behind the falls...

Oh shit, look out! Oh well, I was disappointed that I didn't see any poison ivy that day.

TCS pointed out this tree trunk which was riddled with woodpecker holes:

Maple leaves:

There's the rest of the group walking up the steps (C, E, S, and Bert with C's daughter):

More info on Bridal Veil Falls:

Waterfalls of Ontario

Great Lakes Waterfalls and Beyond

and  the Kagawong River...

Up next, the Manitoulin Chocolate Factory!

Portland: Day 3 - Multnomah Falls & lunch at the Lodge

[Scroll down for the most recent 3 posts - I've resurrected my Portland posts with photos this time]

Before seeing the majestic Multnomah Falls, we had a lunch break. Here's TC in her new "Unicorn Combover" Velveteria t-shirt (the sides of the "V" are silhouettes of nekkid ladies; I guess she can't wear that to school!)...For those of you that don't remember what Velveteria was, that has got to be the best fucking place you can visit if you ever visit Portland! It's a gallery/museum dedicated entirely to the art of black velvet!
This is where we ate... the Multnomah Falls Lodge.

The placemat:

It's very "lodgey" and "rustic" in here. Not really into the lodge look myself.

It was dark in here...all that wood made me want to curl up and cringe into a tiny ball of antisocial angst.

Their menu...

TC's lunch - the chicken fingers with curly fries (yes, I know, stereotypical "kid food" but since we were on vacation...). Blah.

My lunch - Chicken Salad Croissant - Chicken salad with diced red onion and herbed mayonnaise. It also came with some spring mix with carrots...Nothing too remarkable but when you're hungry, you will eat anything.

Bert had the Grilled Rainbow Trout with lemon and tartar sauce as well as Potato salad:

My parents would have loved eating the fish head, especially the eyeball. Just look at it, staring lifelessly at you.
The fish had too many bones, in my opinion. I only had a bit of a taste, but I didn't really like it. Something about the taste of trout didn't agree with me.

After lunch we were ready to check out the Falls! But first a little background on the legend of the falls...

"According to legend, on the day that the young woman-- the daughter of the Multnomah tribe's chief-- married a warrior from the Clatsop clan an epidemic befell the bride's people. Advised by a tribal elder that the Great Spirit was angry and must be appeased with the sacrifice of a maiden with a pure heart, the Multnomah chief gathered his tribe's women to tell them of the dire prophesy. Finding himself unable to condemn anyone to death, however, the chief proclaimed that no one would give up their life.

One by one, those who had attended the wedding of the chief's daughter succumbed to the plague, and when the man she loved fell ill the destiny of the chief's daughter became clear. Stealing away in the night, the maiden jumped from a clifftop to the earth below, where her father found her lifeless body. As he cried out to the Great Spirit for proof that his child's death had meaning, droplets of water began to fall from the cliff's summit, eternally signifying the sacrifice of one young woman for her people and the man she loved

Today, two million visitors each year walk along Benson bridge, which stands below the falls, and over the years there have been several sightings of a lady in white standing in the mist. Perhaps, if her soul lingered as the camera rolled, the Native American girl-- who was robbed of her own romance-- found comfort as she watched the immortal love story
unfold." [Info from Lovetripper.com]

Here are some nature loving bikers that were ahead of us...they were wearing David Lee Roth like pants (the ass-less chaps)...

Our first view of the falls...

Okay, I have to get a Twilight reference in here. There is a quick scene when Bella and Edward are walking over to the baseball game and there is a quick shot of the falls from afar. That's this place.

Another Twilight reference - during the black and white end credits (when Radiohead's "15 Step" is playing), you see a really quick shot of theMultnomah Falls with the bridge. Turns out that there was footage shot here for the movie but it was excised from the final cut (see photo below of actors Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson from"Twilight"):

Here I am before heading up the trail to get to the bridge...

Another view from the bottom...

The closer you were to the falls, you could really feel the mist violently swirling around...

This is the plaque that you see once you cross the bridge. you can go up this trail to get to the top of the falls. it's very windy, with supersharp switch backs. I did about 20 minutes then I rested at a bench while Bert and TC walked on for about 20 more min. up the hill before heading back down. They got more than halfway up yet. It takes about an hour to climb to the top but they came back so I wouldn't feel lonely. Awwwww.

The view near the top:

Me and TC...
Last view before heading down...

We had a lovely time at Multnomah Falls - what an experience to hear and feel the rushing water. You could really feel the water's energy and power when you crossed bridge.

Although there were a few more waterfalls on the map, we just drove by the Wahkeenah Falls and Horsetail Falls because we wanted to check out the Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery, which would be our next stop. Afterwards, we were planning to have dinner with the Kinitting Diva's brother later that evening...

Portland: Day 3 - Waterfalls...

After seeing Vista House, we headed east over to Latourell Falls which is the first waterfall from that point. You could hear the water rushing down even before you saw the falls. You had to hike up a small incline to see the falls.
I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves...

I have never seen so much moss covered trees in my life! So many shades of green!

If you wanted to get a little closer, you could take the hike to the top of the falls. However, once you are at the top, you cannot see the falls. You can only hear it. We saw a pre-existing makeshift trail at the top, but it looked too dangerous to go on, as there were no safety railings of any sort. I would hate to fall to my watery death and be dashed on the rocks below.

Coming from Southern CA where there are no real waterfalls, seeing this was quite cool for us.

The next stop on our tour of the Gorge's waterfalls was Bridal Veil Falls :

You had to walk through the woods and cross a bridge to get to the vantage point.

TC and Bert climbing up the hill to meet me at the waterfall lookout point:Last view of Bridal Veil Falls...

On to Multnomah Falls - this "double decker" waterfall is the 2nd highest in the U.S....