8-29-12 Bridal Veil Falls cliff trail links

Wood and Oregon go together… or at least used to.

Small company towns – boom towns, really, grew up to service and supply the timber industry. In the Columbia Gorge, there was a town called Bridal Veil. There was a big ol’ sawmill and a company town all laid out – beautiful location, near Bridal Veil Falls.

A US Post office opened in the hamlet of Bridal Veil too, and it has never closed, even though the sawmill is gone and the the town lives on in only pictures. It’s reason for being now is the volume of mail that goes through the Post Office at Bridal Veil. The postmark of this office is highly valued as a wedding invitation postmark – the town may not exist any more, and it’s reason for being well past, but the Post Office lives on dealing with boxes of wedding invitations and announcements every day.

There is a State Park at Bridal Veil Falls on The Old Columbia River Highway – a big parking area and restrooms and picnic areas – it’s a good place to visit. I made Bridal Veil a stop the other day when I took a short drive into the Gorge.

I’ve been down to the falls many times; so the other day, I walked on the "other" trail there, and took "The Cliff Trail" above the Columbia River bottoms and the river itself.

Coming here, most people park and walk down the 2/3’s of a mile trail and into the hollow that Bridal Veil Falls cascades into, running by the foundations of the old sawmill before it joins the river as it flows to the Pacific Ocean.

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I guess I like this park; I came here on my birthday in Marchtoo.

I was by myself this day though, and it was a beautiful August day in the Gorge.

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A picture of the River, the Road, and the train tracks here is required:

3 forms of transportation, rails, road, and river.

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Looking west along the Columbia River:

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Along the Cliff Trail at Bridal Veil Falls you can see this old volcanic plug:

It looks like something you would find on Easter Island or something, like a "watcher" or sentinel.

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Since there was no one with me, I took my own picture:

I’ve got my favorite summer shirt on, but apparently I forgot to smile for the pictures – this being the best of the three, I think.

(this is not the face I see in my mind, the self-image thing)

I like this shirt a lot. I bought it at a little shop up the street, and this is the only shirt I have that has inspired people (read "women") to tell me how much they like it.

As a younger cat, I looked more cool unshaven; nowadays, heh, it’s probably best to shave every day. I used to have a beard or a goatee, but when it started growing in white, I shaved it all off. This aging thing, this "getting older" has always fascinated me, seeing the changes. The transition for "boy" to "man" was interesting. I guess I’m "middle aged" now.

Far younger than the watcher at Bridal Veil:

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