6/25: Colossal Columbia River Gorge!

Leaving Portland and heading eastward, Steven and I were so excited back in late June to begin exploring the Columbia River Gorge that bordered Oregon and Washington states for 75 miles. On October 30, 1772, off the point in the Columbia River where a then unnamed river emptied its water, the boat crew from HHS Chatham, while on the Oregon Trail, were the first white men to see the snowcapped peak that was later named Mt. Hood in honor of the Vice Admiral of the British Navy. In 1805, explorers Lewis and Clark named the river Quicksand but it later became known as just Sandy River. Here was the Sandy River Bridge.

The 292,000 acre Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area was established in late 1986 "to protect and enhance the scenic, recreational, and natural resources of the Gorge; encourage economic growth in urban areas and allow economic development consistent with Gorge resource protection."

For the best views of the gorge, Steven and I had planned on driving along Oregon's Historic Columbia River Highway. A little east of Portland was Chanticleer Point, also known as Women's Forum State Scenic View, the first viewpoint on the Oregon side of the Columbia River of the breathtakingly beautiful Columbia River Gorge. 

According to geologists, the Cascade Mountain Range formed 35 million years ago as plates of the earth's crust collided. Then, 20 million years ago, molten basalt gushing from cracks near the Idaho border covered 80,000 square miles and shifted the Columbia River north to its present location. 

During the last Ice Age, melting ice dams in Montana released massive floods that scoured this canyon possibly 100 times - waters so high, they covered the spot where we stood. Aided by these floods, the Columbia River cut through layers of stone faster than its smaller tributaries. That created the greatest concentration of high waterfalls in North America.

Unfortunately for us and other tourists, Oregon state authorities had closed, except for local traffic, the scenic highway and all other viewpoints closest to the gorge because of Covid-19. We were pretty disappointed as a bit further on the highway was a short trail that would have led to great views of mounts Adams, Hood, Jefferson, Rainier, and St. Helens. We could only dream how spectacular it would be driving along the 22-mile-long scenic road through the gorge, with 2,000 ft. tall cliffs, unusual rock formations, and 11 waterfalls. 

These yard decorations by where we had to turn around because of the closed road caught our attention!

We couldn't possibly have lucked out with better weather that day with views like these!

By the town of Cascade Locks, we crossed into Washington state over the exquisitely named Bridge of the Gods.

The mighty Columbia River is over 1,200 miles long and extends north into Canada.

Once over in Washington state, we headed back west to Beacon Rock, a mammoth rock that was identified as Beaten Rock several times in journals written in 1805 by William Clark during the Lewis and Clark Expedition while scouting a passage through treacherous rapids that one existed a few miles upstream from here. The name may have referred to its weathered appearance. The following year, Clark began calling it Beacon Rock in his journals, possibly because of its prominence as a landmark in the Columbia River Gorge, particularly visible from the downstream direction. I read that no one knows why Clark used two names for the rock.

Beacon Rock has always been an important landmark for Columbia River travelers. American Indians recognized the rock as marking the last of the rapids and the beginning of the Pacific Ocean's tidal influence. Though pioneers called it Castle Rock for many years, the US Board on Geographic Names in 1916 officially restored Clark's name of Beacon Rock. I hadn't known that Lewis and Clark named rivers, mountains, rocks, islands, and other features during their journey.

Beacon Rock, the majestic icon of the Columbia River Gorge, was a  remnant of a more volatile period in the geologic history of the Pacific Northwest. Six million years ago, geologists say small volcanoes dotted this area. Beacon Rock was the 848-ft.-high cone of "one of these young, shallow volcanoes, its dark basalt frozen into columns at its final eruption." As the Columbia River cuts its course deeper into the Gorge, it washed away the outer walls of the volcano and left this rugged reminder of a hot and molten past. 

If we had been about twenty years younger and in far better shape, we might have considered climbing Beacon Rock for an amazing 360-degree view of the Columbia River Gorge. The dizzying, mile-long switchback trail, though, didn't sound like our cup of tea! Instead, we opted for Beacon Rock State Park's more sedate Doetsch Walking Path Trail which circled what was once a pasture of the Doetsch family ranch along the Columbia River shoreline. 

This beautiful trail was a perfect opportunity for nature viewing and bird watching. We loved the views of the Gorge and Doetsch Ranch property.

Hard, we thought, to come up with a more beautiful spot than this for a picnic lunch on such an idyllic day.

We then stopped for just a couple of minutes at the small town of North Bonneville to get a better view of the mural and the town's Sasquatch statues. 

The Lewis and Clark Expedition first met Chinookan tribes as they traveled through the Columbia River Gorge in the fall of 1805. Then, the Chinookan society consisted of many bands living between the narrows of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean. The Chinookans were traders who had long controlled commerce on the lower Columbia. While they camped nearby, the explorers came across several Upper Chinookan villages and discovered a well-worn path used to portage around the rapids. 

Lewis and Clark also met the Watala Native Americans in 1805-6. Later pioneers called them the Cascade Indians because they lived along both sides of the Columbia. Like other Upper Chinookan tribes, their way of life was closely tied to the river and fishing.

In Stevenson, Washington, we stopped at the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center Museum where the highlight for us was a 37-ft-high full scale replica of a 19th century fishwheel, something I had never heard of before that. 

Fishwheels were first used in 1879 to play a crucial role in salmon harvests in the Gorge. They were positioned in the narrow channels where millions of salmon, steelhead, and sturgeon passed in their return from the sea to spawn. As the fishwheels dipped in the water, they were able to seize tons of fish and dump them into bins and boxes bound for the canneries. 

Fishwheels operated from fixed positions along the shore and also from boats moored in deep channels in the river. For some reason that wasn't explained at the museum, the fishwheels were banned by Oregon in 1926 and by Washington in 1934.

We backtracked once again, this time to Bonneville Lock and Dam which was built and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of a Public Works Administration project of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. It was named for Army Captain Benjamin Bonneville, an early day visionary who led an exploration to the Oregon Country and charted extensive sections of what became the Oregon Trail. 

Bonneville was the first federal lock and dam on the Columbia and Snake rivers. We learned that it is now a critical part of the water resource management system that provides flood risk management, power generation, water quality improvement, irrigation, fish and wildlife habitat and recreation along the Columbia River. Portions of Bonneville Lock and Dam were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

We saw probably about fifty people lined along the shore by the dam fishing for sturgeon. That was what had caught my attention initially when we'd first driven by and why I suggested to 'my driver' to turn around and drive along the dirt road by the dam!

The sweet peas growing wildly along the roadsides were simply beautiful!

About 40 miles east of Bonneville Dam, we turned onto the Wind River Highway to reach the trail to Panther Creek Falls. The signage to the trail was very poor but the trail was great fun once we did find it!

The hike down to the viewpoint had been easy enough but then we heard we could get closer to the falls if we hiked up another trail and, from there, down to the bottom of the falls. Sounded like a challenge we couldn't refuse!

We figured the area must receive lots of rain judging by all the moss growing on the rocks. BTW, taking a few photos along the trail was a great excuse to take some much needed breaks as the trail led up, up, up!

Hiking all the way down to the bottom of the falls gave us great views but I can't say in all honesty that they were much, if any, better than from the viewpoint much further up. Oh well, it was great exercise going the extra distance and we had 'bragging rights'!

Even though we'd been disappointed earlier that we had been unable to access the sights on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge, our day turned out to be far better than anticipated with the hikes at Beacon Rock and Panther Falls on the Washington side of the Gorge. Our delight continued as we headed further east on sleepy Highway 14 alongside the train tracks toward the town of The Dalles located on the other side of the river in Oregon.

What a hoot it was going in and out of tunnels, one after another, next to the Gorge!

If you're a windsurfer or a parasailing buff like Dan, my kindergarten friend, Lina's husband, I understand there are few better places anywhere than this spot along the Columbia River because of the wind currents.

What a drop dead gorgeous view of Mt. Hood in Oregon from the town of Underwood in Washington!

We crossed back into Oregon on the The Dalles Bridge, a steel truss cantilever bridge built in 1953 and located less than a mile from The Dalles Dam.

Next post: A spur of the moment trip to Mt. Rainier National Park!

Posted on October 6th, 2020, from the Florida Panhandle as Category 4 Hurricane Delta approaches the Gulf of Mexico. Steven and I wonder whether we'll be evacuated from our cabin here in the state park ahead prior to leaving on October 11th.  Our plans are to then drive north to Chicago to spend a few days with our beloved, almost three-month-old granddaughter, Clara, who's facing some tough medical challenges now and ahead.