Columbia River GorgeJul 9, 2009
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How's this for a campsite with lots of room?
The bridge crossing the Columbia River at Hood River
Lots of barges pass by here
Today we toured the Columbia River Gorge. We drove from Hood River to Corbett and there we picked up the historic Columbia River Highway and followed it along the rim of the gorge back to Hood River. The first part, driving back toward Portland on I-84 along the river is very scenic in itself.
On the way down to Corbett we stopped at Multnomah Falls. This is an oft photographed falls tumbling some 600 feet. It is so popular that there is a big parking lot adjacent to the interstate just to accommodate tourists. We hiked up to the bridge that crosses the falls.
Our first stop was at the Women's Forum State Park for a view of the river and gorge. We were able to see the Vista House at Crown Point from this spot.
Back on the historic highway, our next visit was to the Vista House built in 1916 and recently restored. This is a beautiful building reminiscent of a temple. The building is faced in marble with busts of Indian Chieftains mounted on tall columns around the inside of the building. The view up river and down river from this high point is spectacular as JoAnn’s pictures will attest.
We stopped at several other falls & then had a picnic lunch in one of the many little parklets along the highway. We started to hike to Bridal Veil Falls from this lunch site but quickly gave it up as it involved some seriously steep trails.
Back in Hood River we stopped at Wally World for paper products and then back to our site which is also on the historic highway but at a place closed to motorized traffic. Later Doug went into town where he met a solo traveler named Mal and had coffee. Mal is on a 4000 mile motorcycle trek and is headed back to Phoenix where he performs that dirty word work.
Incidentally, Doug called the Super Chip factory and they quickly solved the problem we had with the device yesterday and now it works just fine. That is a great relief as we believe that the Super Chip helps the truck to better mileage as well as keeping the engine in fine fettle.
