Columbia Gorge
Travel Day
The drive from Long Beach to Cascade Locks was easy and non-eventful. We arrived at the Cascade Locks KOA early afternoon. We got set up and headed to the store to get a few items, then did a quick check of the small town.
The RV park has a nice setting with lots of trees. Our site however was a bit removed and not so heavily treed. This is our second experience with Starlink and it is not as good here as it was at the park we just left. There are a lot more trees here that are quite tall and seem to create obstructions., although we were still able to stream with a couple of minor interruptions. Cell coverage is pretty weak, so we are glad to have the Starlink even if it is a bit slower here.
7/21 ~ Beacon Rock State Park
This morning we crossed the river via the Bridge of the Gods to Washington State to Beacon Rock State Park this morning after the rain stopped to hike to the Pool of the Winds. The hike was great and there were some great views. We saw two waterfalls on this hike that are very close together. The trail continues on to Hamilton Mountain which would add close to 4 miles to the 2.7 that we hiked today. We did cross the bridge that leads to Hamilton Mountain and got some nice views of the waterfalls and pools in the stream. The parking lot was not very crowded when we arrived, but was pretty much full when we got back to the car. We met a lot of hikers heading out while we were heading back so we were glad that we started when we did.
Beacon Rock is very close to the trailhead so we did that hike as well. We have hiked Beacon Rock before. It is a very unusual hike with lots of switchbacks and bridges built into the side of the huge rock face. The views from this trail are really amazing and worth the trek to the top. The distance round trip was only 1.4 miles but it still took an hour and 11 minutes because of the vertical ascent and switchbacks, plus we stopped at several vista points to take in the views.
On the way back to the trailer we drove into a park like setting in North Bonneville. It was pretty deserted and we didn’t really know what it was all about. There were signs for the North Bonneville Discovery Trails, but it didn’t really say what they were. I learned more about it when we got back to the trailer. We also stopped at a kiosk that explained about the landslide mentioned in theBridge of the Gods link above.
We had fun today getting a feel for the area where we will spend the next week.
7/22 ~ Biking the Gorge
The Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail kept coming up when researching this area so we headed out with the e-bikes to check it out. We headed west from the trailer riding through Cascade Locks to reach the Bridge of the Gods Trailhead. The trail follows a road the was used from 1916-1922 as a way for people to access the gorge area. THere was no road through this are before that.
As we headed out we were on bike/pedestrian only trail until We reached the Elowah Falls Trailhead . From there we which was the old Highway 30 to Ainsworth State Park, Horestail Falls and ending at Multnomah Falls. We encountered an interesting set of steps to actually reach the original roadway. The steps had a groove for bike tires which was a really nice feature to get those heavy e-bikes up and down those steps. It is the first time we have ever had to use the ‘Walk’ feature on our e-bikes. I don’t think it would have been possible without that.
Both the trail and the historical roadway were pretty amazing. We rode across many old bridges as we proceeded along and saw many kiosks that explained the history of the route. We stopped at the Eagle Creek Fish Hatchery It was pretty interesting to learn how many salmon are hatched and released from that facility.
We rode into the Eagle Creek Overlook and discovered it is a big group apsite that can be reserved. When you reserve it you get the entire campground which has a keyed gate. It is a prety cool spot, although it does have significant road noise with the close proximity to the freeway and there is a train trestle with under-clearance of 11′ 6″.
THis ride was one of the most interesting trails we have ridden with all the amazing views, the history, and beautiful scenery.
7/23 ~ Hiking and Waterfalls
The entire area from Troutdale to The Dalles is full of waterfalls. We hiked to the Eagle Creek to Punchbowl Falls trail, getting a fairly early start to avoid the later hours when the sun gets into the canyon. Punchbowl falls is viewed from above and is pretty, but the best feature of this hike was Lower Punchbowl Falls where there is a trail that goes down to the water. It was much more interesting than looking down on the upper falls. There was an access to the upper falls pool for those adventurous enough to cross the log bridge, or equipped with water shoes to cross over. We opted to forego that experience. The hile was 4.6 miles round trip.
After the hike we drove the old highway 30 to Crown Point Vista House. While the road was fun on the e-bikes, it was pretty much white knuckle driving our big truck on the narrow road. We had planned to take the road from Vista House to Troutdale but the road beyond Vista House was closed due to a landslide. We were not able to enter the Vista House due to renovations.We did stop at some of the waterfalls on the historic highway. The most interesting one was Shepperd’s Dell Falls which is accessed by a a bit of a hike (2/3 mile each way.) It is a two tier alls and is beautiful.
We finished the day stopping at Thirsty, a surprisingly good little coffee shop In Cascade Locks before heading back to our trailer.
7/24 ~ Tourist Day
We started the dat by visiting the Bonneville Dam. THis was an interesting stop and we spent a fair amount of time there. We learned a lot about the river before and after the dam. There is a lof of history that includes the Bridge of the Gods history (see link above) and the rapids that were created after the landslide dam broke loose. There is even a fun legend regarding the slide. The river was not navigable and is why Cascade Locks came to be. The old locks were put in in the 1800s as a solution to get around the Cascade Rapids. After the Bonneville dam was f9nished, the rapids are now gone due to increase in water level and bigger locks put in at the dam.
Another interesting view into the past is the Mitchell Point Tunnel. The tunnel was a part of the historic highwat that ran feom 1913-1922. It was destrou=yed when I-84 was built. It has been replaced with a facsimile to the original as part of the Historic Columbia River Highway Trail. The reports we have found indicate that the trail is no yet accessible from the west side via the trail. That portion is said to be slated for 2026. We drove to the trail head and walked the new tunnel. It is awesome and we are looking forward to being able to ride it as a connection to the west trail that travels between Cascade Locks and the tunnel.
After checking out the tunnel we went into Hood River and got a bite to eat. After eating we headed down to the water front and watched all the wind surfing and kit boarding. It was pretty fascinating to see all the activity.
7/25 ~ Biking
I started today fixing a flat tire on my bike. It is always a battle changing tires on these e-bikes and not something I really enjoy. So…after that we headed East from the trailer riding a frontage road for a mile or so before turning onto Wyeth Road and heading to the Wyeth State Park Trailhead. Wyeth Road was a nice ride with a substantial climb and descent. We were happy to have those batteries.
The trail was great, much better than we had anticipated. The map shows that trail running parallel to the freeway most of the time, which it did, but it was heavily wooded and beautiful and very enjoyable. We passed a few waterfalls and stopped to check them out. This segment of the trail ends about a mile or so short of reaching the Mitchell Point Tunnel that we walked yesterday. The trais are slated to be connected in 2026 and will make this a ride that we will have to do sometime.
On the way back to the trailer I got another flat tire, on the front this time. So that was fun. Anyway, we finally got back on the bikes after that battle and finished the ride. IF we can’t find tubes somewhere, our riding is done for this trip.
After our ride we went to check out the museum in Cascade Locks. We have seen some pretty interesting museums in our travels, this was not one of them. Although we did experience what is likely the worst taxidermy that has ever been done. I cannot remember the last time I laughed that hard.
We finished the day out with dinner at Ixtapa, a mexican restaurant on the riverfront.
7/27 ~ Biking and Hood River
We found some tubes at Hood River so we were able to do the last segment of the Historic Columbia River Highway Trail, The Mosier Twin Tunnels section, heading East from Hood River. We parked at the park and ride area on the east edge of Hood River and rode the old hwy 30 to the tSenator Mark O. Hatfield Trailhead. The road ride was a steady climb for about 1.5 miles before leveling out a bit. The trailhead has lots of parking and restrooms.
The trail was very wide and had lots of traffic, both cyclists and pedestrians. Of course it was a Saturday so possibly all the trails were busy. The tunnels have been completely rebuilt to todays standards and there were several places on the trail with great views. While the ride sounded interesting, Our research did not really give much information as to how great the twin tunnels are. Once again, this ride was really fun. All the segments of the Historic Columbia River Higwah State Trail are great fun to ride with each having it’s own unique features and characteristics.
After our ride we went back to Hood River and had lunch at Bodas Kitchen and would recommend it. One we had a bite to eat, we drove up to Panorama Point for a great view of Mt Hood before driving back to Hood River and wandering around town a bit.
The time we spent in the Gorge was a lot of fun. We Experienced some great riding and hiking and learned a lot of area history. Traveeling through the Columbia Gorge to reach future destinations will always remind o=us of this trip.