Doing the Gorge

D Vautier
9/22

In Portland it’s known as the Gorge; that magnificent stretch of the Columbia river from Portland to The Dalles.  As they say, there are two ways to do the Gorge.  You can go the quick easy way OR you can do it the right way.  The quick easy way is by traveling the boring and monotonous I-84 Freeway on the Oregon side with it’s straight and meticulous lanes, it’s manicured landscapes along with all the standard and expected rest stops.

But the right way is from the Washington side on highway 14 where all sorts of wonders present themselves.  You can’t do the Gorge without first stopping at Cape Horn, a pull-off in the road that displays the absolute beauty and power of the river.  It also displays the river from almost three angles.

I got a few shots with my son Val.  When I attempted to step over the barrier like he did I fell right on my ass.  Oh well, just a few bruses.

A little bit further down the road is Beacon Rock, a pretty easy climb with a good trail and steps for feeble old people like me.  As the story goes when the ice age melted it swept away all the loose soil leaving this huge rock.

We took a quick detour across the bridge of the gods over to Cascade Locks and grabbed a hamburger.  Then back over and proceeded down 14 to check out some old railroad crossings.

Down the road further is Dog Creek Falls, always a pleasant little surprise.  It’s back in the woods just a short walk but very refreshing. You just need to walk on the rocks or you will get wet. I got wet.

Now here comes the fun part where it is easy to get up out of the gorge for a better view of things.  Just after Dog Creek is the Cook-Underwood road that goes up and follows the ridge line, not descending until Underwood and connecting again with 14.  Up at the top of the ridge is a real nice view of Hood River and surroundings.

We came across the Hood River bridge to check out the town.  I lived and worked in Hood River for over a year and a half back in 1970 for The United Telephone Company of the Northwest.  The company is long gone but my house was still there.

We went back to 14 and next visited Schreiner Farms which has a bunch of zebras, camels and giraffes.  On the way there we noticed all the rock that had been blasted out to build a road.
 

There was one last stop at Stonehinge near Maryhill, a monument in honor of WW1 soldiers from the local area who died in the war.

Finally it was across the river again at Biggs Junction ending our Trip up the Gorge.  There is however a lot more history on this trail especially involving the Lewis & Clark expedition.  And many pull-offs have documented stories of their travels and travails.

Great trip

On to Oregon