Walking the Mosier Plateau Trail
I’ve been feeling a little melancholy lately. Oregon is currently experiencing a record wild fire season with no end in site. The place that I call home is quite literally burning to the ground and it is barely a blip in the national media. Coming to grips with the fact that this is the new normal in our world is really difficult for me to wrap my head around. Many places I’ve personally experienced are no longer there and will never be quite the same, even once, or if, the landscape heals.
I was going through my archives of places I’ve gone hiking the last decade or so that are currently under fire threat and some images I made along the Mosier Plateau Trail gave me some pause.
The Mosier Plateau Trail is one of those hikes in the Columbia River Gorge that isn’t particularly talked about or well known, probably because the beauty in the area isn’t as epic as many of the other possibilities in the area. There are no giant waterfalls (though there is a little one), nor are there epic canyons (again, there is a little one). It’s more of just a nice walk through wind swept pastures and small groves of pine trees. Honestly, sometimes that is more than enough for me.
There are some old pioneer cemeteries toward the beginning of the trail which can be quite interesting. For me at least it puts me in a humble mood. Most of the headstones are faded and difficult to read at this point. It’s quite impossible not to stop and ponder the moment though.
I’ve hiked this trail a few times and there is a bit of an elevation gain, which on many mornings means you are heading straight into fog. Wait until the afternoon and the fog will undoubtably lift and reveal some great views of the Columbia River Gorge. On the day these photographs were made I was actually more interested in the fog itself. Sometimes I like the way bright sunlight fights its way through heavy fog, like nature is experiencing a grudge match with itself. Scenes like this can be challenging to meter, but render beautifully on black and white film.
The older I get the more I appreciate locations like the Mosier Plateau Trail. I guess these places just simply can’t be taken for granted anymore.
Camera: Mamiya RZ67 with 110mm f/2.8 lens.
Film: Fomapan 100 in medium format. Developed in Rodinal.
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