FTJ, Entry 104: Gorging on the Columbia

The Columbia River Gorge, which separates the states of Oregon and Washington, is a spectacular wonder of nature. We stayed there three nights, in White Salmon, WA. Another wow wow wow place. (Not White Salmon, which was a dot on the map, but the gorge itself.) Would not want to live here, but for the once-in-a-lifetime experience, coming here was well worth the trip. 

The gorge is the only sea level passage through the Cascade Mountain range. The sides of the gorge rise more than 4,000 feet from river level. Volcanic eruptions laid down lava beds that were then scoured out by torrents of water up to 2,000 feet deep, released when ice-dams burst further upstream  to form the cliffs on either side. Experts say one big burst 18,000 years ago released 500 million cubic miles of water! These ice-dam bursts apparently happened frequently as the glaciers advanced and retreated during the Ice Ages.

Although I tried to get a great photo of the gorge from a central spot, I failed. So I include these two stock photos to give you a good view of the natural beauty we saw there:

The area known as Cape Horn.

 Okay, no more "fake photos."  Here are some we took.

OOPS -- I lied! I did get a good shot of the gorge from overhead, on our trip up to the Rowena Loops.

Beau checks out the "Loops" from an overlook.

A good view of part of the Rowena Loops.

The views were truly breathtaking.

The Rowena Loops, built in the early 1900s, were one of the first modern paved roads in the Pacific Northwest, winding through rugged landscape up from sea level to dizzying heights above the Columbia River. They were carefully designed by engineer John A. Elliott, to echo the natural turns and grades of the gorge cliffs themselves.

Here is a great quote from him (1929) we saw on one of the overlooks:

Grades, curvatures, distance, and even expense were sacrificed to reach some scenic vista or to develop a particularly interesting spot.... Although the highway would have commercial value in connecting the coast with the eastern areas, no consideration was given the commercial over the scenic requirements. The one prevailing idea in the location and construction was to make this highway a great scenic boulevard surpassing all other highways in the world.

They did a helluva job.

Beyond the loops area, there were great views on both sides of the gorge. It didn't really matter where you drove along the gorge -- the scenery was continually spectacular.

I stitched two photos together to show you the view from the Memaloose Overlook. The tiny island to the right is where the Indians traditionally buried their dead.

Here and below, typical views of the gorge cliffs.

 

The Columbia River Gorge is also world renowned for kite boarding and windsurfing. From the bridge between the two states over the gorge, the myriad multicolor sails look like butterflies.

A lone windsurfer getting a great ride. The winds are about 25 knots, maybe 30 on a typical day.

We went down to the shore to check out the action. The kite boarders were skimming right up alongside the shore. They were flying!

To the Timberline

Our ride up Mount Hood (Beau wanted to get a closer look at the behemoth) took us through virgin forests, along the Hood River, and past a number of waterfalls. Our last stop was the Timberline Lodge. The lodge is located at an elevation of 6,000 feet (Mount Hood is almost a mile higher -- 11,245 feet). The snow depth average at Timberline is TWENTY ONE FEET!!!

The Hood River.

The lodge is a national historic landmark.

When we went to the Timberline Lodge, we were surprised to see skiers and snowboarders. On July 25th. So you can "board" both at sea level and up on the mountain. For the athletes, this area must be Mecca.

Skiers, climbers, boarders ascend to descend.

The lodge was built in 1936, with construction taking about a year. It was a WPA project. You wonder how the heck they got all the supplies and equipment way the heck UP here, way back when.

Part of the Timberline lobby.

    

This is the closest we got to the top of Mount Hood. Spectacular!

Dam Dam Dam

We did a lot here in the gorge area. Our travels also took us to one of the river's dams. (There are lots of dams on the Columbia. But we saw only one, at a place called The Dalles.)

 

These are "fish ladders" to help the salmon and other fish swim upstream past the dam.

The 1 and 1/2 mile long dam has 22 generating units, capable of producing 1.8 million kilowatts of power -- they say that's enough to power 800,000 homes.

Stonehenge, American Style

I saw some tourist information promoting Stonehenge, a memorial to WWI soldiers lost in battle. Had to go -- another oddity for the blog!

Wow it was windy up there. But it was very cool to see -- and moving. Inside the memorial are plaques with the names of those lost during the war.

This American Stonehenge, built by Samuel Hill in 1929, is dedicated to 13 men of Klickitat County who died during World War I. Apparently, Hill saw the ancient Stonehenge in England and was told it was used for human sacrifices to pagan gods (the sacrifice story was later generally discredited). Anyway, he was inspired to create another such monument, in that he believed the "flower of humanity is still being sacrificed to the god of war on fields of battle."

Whatever, it is a cool structure and a nice tribute to fallen young men.

We left the gorge area and traveled next to Long Beach, WA, the end of the friggin' world, we discovered. More on that next time.

I'll end this with photos of four of the many tunnels we had to go through on our way north. Gulp!

Lots of dings and scrapes on these tunnel entrances and walls!! None from us, fortunately.

Tanks, Panky