Columbia River Gorge

Finding places to stay has been a real challenge the entire time we have been on the road.  We were thinking it would get easier since summer was over and school had started.  Boy were we wrong.  Trying to find a campground with a vacancy in the Columbia River Gorge area was not an easy task because the parks were filled with fishermen.  The fall salmon run had started in the Columbia River and the anglers were out in large numbers.

Peach Beach RV Park in Goldendale, Washington had a couple of sites available so we made reservations to arrive there on Sunday, September 11th and depart on Friday the 16th.  The park is
located on the shores of the Columbia River and is surrounded by a peach orchard.  Peach Beach not only attracts the fishermen but also wind surfers.  As we stood in the park and watched the folks that were wind surfing it looked like to us that they were scooting across the river pretty fast.  We talked to a few of them and they told us that the wind was not as strong as they needed it to be.  Even though the conditions were not perfect they had to take advantage of the sunny afternoon.

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America.  It is amazing to see a river flow right through a mountain range, and that is exactly what the Columbia River does in the Columbia River Gorge.  There are several dams and fish ladders on the river and we stopped in at the Bonneville Dam visitor center.  The visitor center has fish viewing windows where we watched fish go through a narrow section of the fish ladder allowing them to get a count of the salmon swimming by.  Here is a link to a video that gives a good explanation of the ladders.

The life cycle of salmon is very interesting.  They have a lifespan of three to eight years and can live in both fresh water and salt water.  They are born in fresh water and most live their adult lives in the ocean. Then they make an incredible upstream journey to spawn in the same place they were hatched.  After spawning the male and female salmon die.  Some believe it is the extremely difficult upstream journey that causes the salmon to die.  What I think is incredible is how they return to their birthplace after swimming hundreds if not thousands of miles during their lifespan. 

Mt. Hood is just south of the Columbia River Gorge and was on our list of things to see while in this area.  We learned a very valuable lesson on this day trip.  Do not I repeat do not put in your GPS the name of a national forest like we did.  I think it was trying to take us to the center of the forest or to the top of the mountain.  This had to be one of the scariest drives we have ever taken. We knew we were in a very isolated area because after driving for over an hour  there were no signs of a ranger station anywhere in sight.  It took us over two hours to get out this forest on a one lane narrow windy dark road that I don't believe anyone in their right mind would voluntarily go on.  If they do they are crazy. I did get a few good pictures of Mt. Hood while we were high above the tree tops but what was even better than good shots of Mt. Hood was when we started seeing the high lines bringing electricity to civilization.  We were some really happy explorers to see those high lines.  As deep as we were in the woods we did not see any kind of wildlife at all.  What we did find on our way out was Lost Lake where some of the most beautiful pictures of Mt. Hood have been taken. 

As we made our way back to the campground we had one other stop to make and that was to see Maryhill  Stonehenge.  It is a replica of the Stonehenge in England and was built by Samuel Hill. It was the first memorial in the United States to honor those who died in World War I and was dedicated to the  local servicemen of Klickitat County who died serving their country.  It is located on a cliff high above the Columbia River and provides excellent views of the river. 

A big thank you to Sandi and Mark Henning for telling us how much they enjoyed this area during their travels.  Our original plans were to go to Seattle but we have no regrets of the change in our route. 

Columbia River and Mt. Hood in the distance.
 

Entrance sign to park and the peach orchard.

The peaches we bought were very good and so was the peach cobbler that I made from the fresh peaches.



Standing in Washington looking at Oregon.

Samuel Hill Memorial Bridge.  Behind the bridge is Mt. Adams.

This looked fast to us but they said the wind was not strong enough close to the water.

They change their equipment when the wind is low.  The red and white sail is much larger than the other one.

Joe and Cricket walking back from Maryhill State Park which is right next to our campground.

Orchards like this are seen throughout this area.

Anglers trolling the river for salmon.

The wind surfers also have to be on watch for the barges in the river.

More of the Columbia River

The Dalles Dam

The Dalles Bridge.  There are some bridges over the Columbia River that are not RV friendly. 

Native Americans can use gill nets to catch an unlimited amount of fish while everyone else has a limit of two fish imposed on them per day. 

Those fingers are made from logs.  We stopped here after trying to find Trout Lake only to find out that the lake had dried up and is mostly marshland.  We saw the marshland but thought we were in the wrong place.  Only a 36 mile detour from off of our route. 

This is one of the bridges not RV friendly and there is a $2.00 toll to cross it.  This is Joe's picture he took.  I get a little nervous standing in the middle of the road seeing headlights approaching to take a picture. 

Here's my picture of the bridge from the Cascade Locks visitor's center.

Our only sighting of "Big Foot".

Hope on board for a river tour.

These are Love Locks.  Sweethearts lock the padlock on the fence and throw the key into the river to symbolize unbreakable love.  Some municipalities consider this litter or vandalism while others use them as tourist attractions.   

Statue of Sacagawea and the loyal companion Seaman at the Cascade Locks visitor center.  This is the area that Lewis and Clark traveled during their expedition and Sacagawea and Seaman helped them achieve their mission.

Pointers from the locals are always welcomed.  We were told to stop by for an ice cream cone.



The small ice cream cones are the largest we have ever seen. 



Hard to believe this Bible verse is still displayed at the Bonneville Dam Visitor Center. 

Giant propeller for hydropower turbine

This was so cool to see.

They really do pay someone to count the fish. 

Bonneville Dam is located 145 miles from the mouth of the Columbia River.

The most visited recreation site in the Pacific Northwest.  It is located right off of I-84 and just a short walk from the parking lot to the falls.

Beautiful to see.  This is Joe's picture he did an awesome job on this one. 
This is the 2nd highest waterfall in the United States according to the locals but is highly
debated by waterfall experts.  It is 621 feet tall.

We walked to the bridge to take it all in.



This was a swimming hole until a 400 ton rock broke away from the basaltic cliffside and fell 200 feet to the pool below.
A wedding party was posing for photos when it fell.  It is reported that the rock was the size of a school bus and made a  splash 70 feet high.

A reflection from the sun in a pool near by.
 

Beacon Rock a 848 foot landmark that was originally named by Lewis & Clark.  It is among the tallest monoliths (singular piece of rock) in North America.

The banks were lined with fishermen too.

Really nice fish.  Several of the lines had to be brought in before the fish could be netted.  I wished we would have found this fishing spot earlier during our stay.  We would have loved spending time on this bank fishing.

So many wind turbines in this area. 

Purple mountain majesty.  Mt. Hood is the tallest mountain in Oregon and stands 11,250 feet.  Have you noticed we were seeing the tree tops?

So happy to get such good picture of Mt. Hood. 

At this point we are thinking - wow what a pretty drive.

Then it turns into this.

Yes it was this dark and narrow.

Hairpin curves and switchbacks.

No way to move over if we encounter another vehicle.

What "road closed"!!  After driving over 2 hours to get out of  the forest this is what we see.  All we were thinking is we are going to have to turn around and go back the same way we got there.  They moved the barricade and let us go through because I am sure they knew we had to be lost. 

Lost Lake a very tranquil place to settle our nerves down from our GPS guided tour through Mt. Hood National Forest. 

From green forest, snow capped mountains to desert region all in a day.

The wind turbines are on both sides of the Columbia River Gorge.

Maryhill Stonehenge -  World War I Memorial

Thankful we made it out of the forest today and were ready to settle down for the evening.