Shepperd's Dell is a small canyon in the Columbia River Gorge

Columbia River Gorge

The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to deep, the canyon stretches for over as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range forming the boundary between the State of Washington to the north and Oregon to the south...

 in Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, located at 45.54833°N 122.195°W
which is less than one-third mile (500 m) southeast of Rooster Rock

Rooster Rock

Rooster Rock State Park is a state park located east of Corbett, in the U.S. state of Oregon. One of the features of the park is Rooster Rock, a column of basalt forming a natural obelisk, which stands near the south side of the Columbia River Gorge, in the lee of Crown Point...

 State Park.

The Historic Columbia River Highway runs over the dell on a bridge that was the answer to one of the engineering challenges of the highway's construction. The dell was carved by a creek that includes two fairly substantial tumbling waterfalls. Due to the topography of the area, it is difficult to photograph the falls. As such, the bridge is what is normally pictured, and thus is arguably better known than the dell itself.

The spelling of the dell's name tends to vary depending on the source. The official Oregon State Park site http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_168.php spells it with the apostrophe, however the GNIS entry omits the apostrophe.

External links

• Shepperd's Dell State Park
• Historic American Engineering Record report on Shepperd's Dell Bridge
• Vintage Postcards of Shepperd's Dell and Shepperd's Dell Bridge
• Historic Columbia River Highway