Mother Nature's Tears

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This series is dedicated to the Columbia River Gorge and to Multnomah Falls. The Gorge suffered through a horrible fire in September, 2017. The fire burned right up to the edge of the water fall shown in this series. The Gorge is one of the most beautiful wonders of not only the Pacific Northwest but of the entire planet. The story is that a careless teenager playing with fireworks ignited the fire. Only through the heroic effort of many firefighters was the fire stopped at the edge of this waterfall. I knew about the fire, but had not seen its devastation until October, 2018. The damage is still quite evident a year later. 49,000 acres of blackened rock, blackened soil, burned tree trunks can be seen to the east of this water fall ! Oneoneta Gorge and Eagle Creek drainage, two of my favorite places for waterfalls, were burned extensively. Full recovery will probably take decades. I am grateful for the photographs that I took in 2015 and early 2017 which hold dear memories of the beauty of this place. These images were taken in October, 2017.