Cross Country Tour – Day 28

25 September 2016

For some reason I woke at 5:30 am and was raring to go. However, I had to wait until my room service breakfast was delivered at 7 am.  In any case, I was one the road at 8 am and headed towards Troutdale/Portland on I-84 west.  My idea was to travel old, historic highway 30 as far as possible and see what “old” Oregon looked like.  I exited at Troutdale and started back east on Oregon 30.  If you are ever in this area, I recommend it.  There are a lot of twists and turns and narrow lanes and bridges, but it takes you back to the 40’s and 50’s.  There were a lot of mom and pop inns and restaurants along the way.

My first stop was at the Portland Women’s Forum State Scenic Viewpoint. I’m not sure why the name other than the obvious but it has some of the best vistas of the Columbia River Gorge along with a view of the Vista House.  To the west of you, Portland, and to the east of you the mighty Columbia River.

Next up was Vista House at Crown Point. This is a basalt promitory on the gorge and the building that occupies the site was designed by Edgar M. Lazarus. His detractors referred to it as the world’s most expensive bathroom. Samuel Lancaster supervised the Columbia River Highway project in 1913 and the idea of the Vista House was to promote travel on the highway.  Construction on the house was completed in 1918. It is, of course, much more than bathrooms.  It has an observation deck, a small cafe, gift shop, and exhibits.

Heading east on 30, the next stop was Latourell Fall.  The hike to see the fall was all downhill and fairly short (0.2) miles.  It’s a spectacular waterfall of approximately 249 feet in height. It’s a straight shot down for the fall whereas most of the falls in the area are tumblers in they have steps down.

Bridal Veil Fall was next.  Most states have a waterfall named bridal veil and they are all fairly broad in appearance.  This was a little further in hiking distance (0.6 miles) but worth the downhill part – which meant all uphill on the return.  Also at Bridal Veil was an interpretive trail with overlooks of the Columbia River Gorge.

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The last fall of the day was Wahkeena which was a short hike upward to a bridge spanning the creek in front of the falls.  You were so close to the fall, you got wet from the mist.

I missed the last two falls on the scenic leg: Oneonta Fall and Horsetail Fall.  I could have seen Oneonta as I stopped at the Oneonta Gorge to view the tunnel carved into the Rock for old highway 30, but did not know the fall was there,  further up the gorge (1.5 mile hike).

Horsetail Fall was so busy, I couldn’t get a parking space anywhere near the place. I opted to head to Bonneville Dam for a tour of the visitor center.

Bonneville is a large dam and one of the first on the Columbia River. It also has locks to allow ship traffic and barges through.  Since the dam stopped the natural flow when completed in 1938 (F.D.R. Dedicated it in 1937) they installed salmon ladders to allow migration further upstream.  In the visitor center, you can see salmon swimming upstream through specially designed portals in the salmon ladder.

Next, I crossed the Bridge of the Gods into Washingon.  It was built in 1926 and is a 1,856 foot cantilevered bridge across the Columbia River connecting the two states.  There is a toll of $2 in both directions and I assume it goes for the upkeep of the bridge since it was in pretty good shape.  It’s very narrow and as I was returning to Oregon, a transfer truck was beginning to cross, so it is still used commercially.

My last attempted stop was the picturesque town of Hood River.  I say attempted because the downtown area was like the traffic at Multnomah Fall.  I think I found two parking spaces in the entire town and they were far away from the main drag.  With amount Hood close by, it’s a popular stopover for campers, hikers, bikers, and what not.  It looked a lot like parts of Tallahassee to me with a collegiate atmosphere.

Tomorrow, I have to be at the Coho Ferryboat in Port Angeles, Washington by 1 pm for my trip to Victoria, British Columbia.  I have reservations ( not that I knew I needed them, but Keith, who has been to Victoria many times clued me in). It’s about a six hour drive, so I need to be on the road around 6 am to allow me a little leaway in case I hit a traffic jam or something.