The dazzling, picturesque Ramona Falls stands like a fountain centerpiece at the front of a wooded cathedral. The water appears as if from nowhere a hundred feet above you and fans out like a wedding veil to the creek bed below. As it trickles and ricochets off the basaltic rock-face, it gives it a glowing, almost phosphorescent appearance. This illusion is especially noticeable when the alder canopy allows the evening sun rays to pass through, like a spotlight on a great work of art. Its wooded setting provides a cool escape from the summer heat and is an obvious resting spot before turning around or heading to points beyond.

Popular difficult climb in the eastern Columbia River Gorge. The summit meadow area features views of Mount Saint Helens, Mount Adams and the tip of Mount Hood peaking over Mount Defiance. Dog Mountain is famous for its abundant wildflowers in springtime, but it is a magnificent summit year round.

According to Ellen Morris Bishop in Hiking Oregon's Geology, Cape Lookout is "the elongate cast of a coastal valley and channel system that was filled by a Columbia River basalt flow about 15.5 million years ago". The harder basalt has persisted while the Pacific Ocean has slowly eroded the surrounding coastline resulting in a dramatic 2+ mile long peninsula jutting westward out to sea." There are three hikes available here: the Cape Lookout Hike, the Cape Lookout South Hike, and the Cape Lookout North Hike.

The trail rambles along the Salmon through classic old growth rainforest - some of the most accessible in the Portland region. Beyond the riverside segment, the trail climbs to a sweeping viewpoint of the vast Salmon River canyon, with unseen waterfalls roaring in the depths below. It’s hard to imagine that in the 1960s, the Forest Service planned a paved highway up this canyon, connecting to Highway 26 as an alternative route to the current highway.

Hamilton Mountain is a popular destination on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge. Its characteristic stair step profile, and its position behind Beacon Rock make it among the most recognizable features in the area.

Manhattan Beach is the northernmost of the three communities between Barview, at the mouth of Tillamook Bay, and the mouth of the Nehalem River (The others are Twin Rocks and Rockaway Beach). The beach walk described here begins at Rockaway Beach, where the strand is wide and shallow and is named Manhattan Beach (!). Views south are to the arch and stack of Twin Rocks and then Cape Meares. Walking north and crossing Spring Creek to Nedonna Beach, you are faced with a skyline of Coast Range icons: Neahkahnie Mountain, Angora Peak, and Onion Peak. At the Nehalem Bay Mouth, look for harbor seals and surfers riding the tidal bores.

The Clackamas' Riverside Trail #723 is designated a National Recreation Trail and offers a relatively languid day's outing along its undulating course. Its low elevation makes it a suitable destination three seasons out of the year: you can observe steelhead migrations in the spring and fall and the maples provide a brilliant yellow glow in October/early November. The month of June sees blooming rhododendrons and Clackamas white irises. The old growth is there to be admired all year.

Mountaintop views that reach from the Pacific Ocean to Mt Hood await you on this steep climb to the top of a doublepeaked summit of basalt. The upper part of the mountain is decorated with vast steep wildflower meadows in summer.