Portland, Day Two: We Climbed a Waterfall and Met a Troll Named Ole Bolle

2026 Rally4Vets America Grand Tour

We came to Portland for one rest day and stayed for three, and we have zero regrets. Today we earned our keep, though — we actually hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls. Lungs: tested. Views: unreal. Crew: grinning like idiots the whole way up. What a day.

To the Top of the Falls

Multnomah Falls is the headliner of the entire Columbia River Gorge, and the sign at the bottom sets you straight before you even start climbing: at 620 feet, it’s the nation’s second-highest year-round waterfall, fed by underground springs up on Larch Mountain that keep it running 365 days a year. The trail up is a steep, switchback grind, a little over a mile of climbing that has you hugging the hillside and, in a few places, questioning your life choices. But, it was worth every step. From the top, you’re looking straight down the throat of the Gorge, the Columbia River stretched out below. We may be road-trip veterans, but we hiked this one like tourists and loved every minute.

The Bridge with the Best Backstory

Partway up, you cross the Benson Footbridge, a graceful little concrete arch tucked right between the two cascades, 105 feet above the lower pool. And the story behind it is pure America. Back in 1914, a Portland timber baron named Simon Benson was walking the grounds with the engineer building the Columbia River Highway. The engineer mentioned it’d be awfully nice to have a footbridge across the falls. Benson asked what it’d cost, got the number scribbled on the back of an envelope, and wrote a check on the spot.

Then he did the part we love most: a year later, he gave the whole thing away, the falls and some 1,400 acres around it, donated to the public so it would belong to everybody forever. It eventually passed to the U.S. Forest Service, which is the only reason a couple of veterans could climb it for free today. A rich man decided the most beautiful thing he owned should belong to all of us. That’s about as American as it gets.

And Then… a Giant Troll

Because Portland is Portland, we capped the day by going to meet a 19-foot troll named Ole Bolle. He lives in the woods on the campus of Nordic Northwest, at the Nordia House, a Scandinavian cultural center celebrating Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. Ole Bolle is the work of Danish artist Thomas Dambo, built entirely from reclaimed wood and old pallets, and he’s posed mid-mischief: too big for his little red cabin, he’s lifting the roof like a cookie jar lid to peek inside. His name comes from an old Danish troll song.

If you’ve been following along, this is the third Dambo troll we’ve stumbled into on this trip.  We are now fully committed to seeing as many as we can. There’s something simply perfect about a giant made of other people’s scrap wood, smiling in the forest. Recycled into something that makes total strangers grin.

Tomorrow: Eastward, For Real This Time

Portland, you’ve been impossibly good to us. But the road east is calling. Tomorrow we finally point the nose toward Bozeman, Montana, with a stop for the night in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to break up the miles. New states, new history, new posts coming your way.

But man. We’re going to miss this place.

The Rally4Vets 2026 America Grand Tour isn’t a road trip. It’s a moving act of remembrance; a celebration of the country and the people who created it.