Geo 730: November 4, Day 673: Willamette Falls I

On October 10, 2012, we hadn't had anything but a few sparse showers, and those were in early to mid-September, so the water was quite low. As you can see, the fall colors were pretty nice, by Western Oregon standards, but we were definitely antsy for our fall rain. The lack of precipitation would shortly play a major role in changing what we had decided to do on this day. The size of the driftwood logs resting on the falls, though, gives a sense of what a more swollen river can accomplish. During the great flood of 1996, the falls were barely visible as a riffle in the torrent. See, for example, this photo (several other good ones at this page). As I mentioned yesterday, the bedrock here is Columbia River Basalt.

Photo unmodified. October 10, 2012. FlashEarth Location.