Columbia River Gorge Waterfalls & Mt Hood Tour from Portland, OR
Description
Follow the path of an ancient riverbed, carved by the last Ice Age, past the Bridge of the Gods, and explore the Windsurfing Capital of the World. In the afternoon, traverse Oregon’s fertile fruit valley on the way to the alpine top of a volcano, which boasts a title as the world’s 2nd most summited mountain in the world. Come along on this whirlwind journey to experience a selection of Oregon’s wonders.
Tour Options
Itinerary
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.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- A maximum of 12 people per booking
- Dress in layers as you travel though varied climates
Reviews(643)
There are several stops including a fruit orchard and small town for lunch. There’s no itinerary so we didn’t know this is advance. We might have eaten at the Lodge at Mt Hood if we had known. The tour was very informative and we would recommend it! Our tour guide,Mel, was very knowledgeable.
Hi there! We are unsure what you mean about their being "no itinerary", as our itinerary is very specific on all Viator booking platforms and anywhere else this tour may be booked. Timberline Lodge is a wonderful place, however our stop there is not at typical lunch time nor is the restaurant open. Thanking you for touring with us and we are glad you had a good time!
The tour was good, the spots were nice. There could have been more scenic spots included in the itinerary. I was a bit disappointed as Mt.Hood was cancelled due to wildfire warning. They refunded some amount,but instead it would have been great if we had a chance to see Mt.hood from any other place close by.
Had a great tour with Sean. We had signed up for an 8-hour tour but had to change to a 4-hour tour due to wildfires in the area. But the 4-hour tour was great, we saw several waterfalls and incredible views of the Columbia River Gorge. Sean was a wealth of information and the van was new and comfortable. Highly recommend!
Easy to book. Saved us driving to these areas and parking on own. Driver informative of local area and historical facts. Beautiful waterfalls. Only reason not a top rating is because of local forest fire nearby. We couldn't see Mt. Hood at our stop from Timberline Lodge, due to smoke! Vista House closed. No fault of tour company. Praying for fire fighters we passed along the way. I would do tour again on a better day!
Thank you for acknowledging we did all we can with the situation at hand. We DO hope to see you again sometime when conditions are ideal.
Such a beautiful scenery took us to all the places. Sean was really awesome. all the waterfalls were very beautiful. They were not far away less than a mile to reach.
The waterfalls were beautiful and the guide very knowledgeable about the land and environment. We had booked the full day to include Mt Hood but the road was closed due to fire. Tour company refunded that portion of the cost without being as.
The tour was perfect. Plenty of time to explore and so much to see. Daniel was great. He was very friendly and knowledgeable. I would highly recommend this tour. 😃
Would not recommend this tour company. Our guide, Mel, seemed irritated for the entire tour (slamming the van doors, complaining about equipment issues, and making little to no effort to interact with the group or make travelers feel welcome). I don’t know if she was just having an off day, but it made the whole experience uncomfortable. Ironically, the friendliest she was the whole time was at the end, when she asked for tips. This was a stark contrast to two other tours I took in Portland, where the guides were warm and genuinely made the trips memorable. The itinerary also felt off. We spent 25 minutes at a fruit stand but only a few minutes at the actual waterfalls, which didn’t make sense (I suspect the company gets a kickback for the fruit stand stop). I have this tour 2 starts instead of one because we still got to see some good spots. There are many other companies that offer these tours. I highly recommend going with them instead.
Hello, We apologize that your tour with us did not meet your expectations. We hope to create memorable, friendly and lasting experiences for all guests. Guides do have occasional off days. If equipment was malfunctioning, we will do our best to remedy in the moment. Looking at the GPS for your tour day, it does look like some of the waterfall stops were shorter than usual, but your Fruit Stand stop seemed in line with how long we often stay there (15-20 minutes). We want to assure you and any other guests that we do NOT get kickbacks from any vendor on tour. Our stops are chosen to be a representative of the best of the region, as chosen by our staff. We are glad you had other positive experiences in Portland. Should you ever come back, we would love the opportunity to make it right.
Very fun. Daniel our guide was great- very informative & approachable. Great scenery. Glad we went!
We had an amazing time visiting Portland and this tour was such a big part of it, if you’re on the fence, do it, you won’t regret it! Patrick our guide was so accommodating and knowledgeable- learned a lot about the city and its landscape! Great value for the money you get to see great features- mountain hood my favorite and get a taste of Portland.
