Archer Creek/Good Bear - Friends of the Forest Day • Nov 1, 2008
Columbia Gorge Overview
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The Columbia Gorge is a spectacular river canyon 85 miles long and up to 4,000 feet deep. Carved by volcanic eruptions and Ice Age floods over a 40 million year geologic period, the Gorge is the only sea level route through the Cascade Mountains. This geologic activity also transformed flowing river tributaries into hanging waterfalls creating the largest concentration of waterfalls in North America.
The Gorge is also host to a unique diversity of plant and animal life, including over 800 species of wildflowers, 16 of which exist nowhere else on earth.
This wild and beautiful place has also served as a human corridor for tens of thousands of years, and was visited by Lewis and Clark and traversed by thousands of Oregon Trail pioneers.
Today's visitors and inhabitants revel in the recreation opportunities that abound in the Gorge. Known as the windsufing capital of the world, the Gorge is also great for hiking, biking, sailing, fishing and boating.
No matter your interest, there is something for everyone in the Columbia Gorge.
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