st. peter's dome

St. Peter's Dome

First climbed in 1940, St. Peter's Dome is the most inaccessible and spectacular rock formation in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. Photographed with a 4x5 camera from an inaccessible and very crumbly cliff. Looking east toward Mt. Adams, Beacon Rock, and Table Mountain.

In about 1700, a colossal landslide from Table Mountain blocked the Columbia River here, (possibly the basis for the Bridge of the Gods legend) and created The Cascades, the rapids that made the Columbia such a hazard to settlers arriving in Oregon and for which the entire Cascade Range is named.

There was once a proposal to burrow a winding tunnel into St. Peter's Dome to allow motorists to ascend a spiraling highway to a parking lot on the summit (parking would have been limited, presumably).

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