America's unspoiled oases | Slide Show - Salon.com: Here's a remedy for the crowds at Multnomah Falls: Keep heading east on I-84 to Exit 55, a stop that most fly by at 70 mph. What I found: no crowds and a two-tabled picnic nook at the end of a 100-yard stroll, tucked up against secretive Starvation Creek Falls. It's a great respite from the road, but, wait, there's more. An easy, three-falls-in-one jaunt takes you to Cabin Creek Falls, barricaded behind an enormous boulder, man-made Hole-in-the-Wall Falls, then lacy Lancaster Falls. The tough, 4,800-vertical-foot trek up Mount Defiance had me alternately gasping for air and gasping at the views, from Mount Hood to Mount Rainier. Fun fact: No one starved at Starvation Creek, nee Starveout Creek; the name refers to a train that got caught between avalanches for a week. Map it.