Columbia River Gorge

drive the historic columbia river highway built in the 1930s and stop at Chanticleer point. That is where I took this picture. Then continue on to Vista House and the falls. It is definitely worth the drive.

July of 2006.
My first time, and I just loved the area. Beautiful scenery, laid back attitude, friendly (mostly) people. A great place to be.

Flew into Pasco, WA last summer for work. After a morning of work in College Place, WA I drove to Pendleton, OR. From there headed west on I-84 all the way to Portland. Spend the night in Portland and worked the next day. That afternoon I followed the river all the way to Astoria.

Didn’t get a lot of time to stop and see the sights. However, the trek was quite worth it. I knew Eastern OR was dry from previous trips to Pasco and LaGrande. But it was much drier than I expected along the way. Of course it started to green up by the time I reached the Cascades and the Gorge Scenic Area.

I learned to windsurf in a little lake near the gorge. I would like to say that I windsurfed in the gorge, but that would just be crazy talk b/c I could barely figure out what to do with my sail depending on the direction of the wind.

I don’t think I would make a good sailor.

I went out there by myself (something I never do) and really enjoyed hiking, driving, and waterfalls!

We drove through the Columbia River Gorge in part based on the enthusiastic recommendation of a coworker. We were short on time and running out of light; next time, we need to plan to spend a whole day or two there so we can spend more time hiking and exploring.

And no, not the one at George. We are nestled in the heart of the Cascade Mts. We have Mt Rainier, Mt St Helen’s(the volcano) and Mt Adams directly to the north and this is the view to the south, across the great Columbia River. You know, the one Lewis and Clark made famous 200 years ago with the great journey to discover the Pacific.

It was one of the most amazing parks I’ve ever been to. We’ve vowed that someday we will return and go camping and hike a bit too.

It was a really scenic drive along the gorge. We started in the late afternoon so we only went as far as Multnomah Falls and needed to return to get back to Olympia that evening, so… there is definitely a lot for me to go back for!

Boy it was cold last February, but that didn’t disuade all the hikers and photographers from coming out in force. Porlanders are pretty rugged individuals. I think this was Wahkeena Falls.