This Week on the Road - September 3rd-10th

View fullsize

Jewett Boulevard in White Salmon

Hello Everyone! It is wonderful to be back on the coast here in Washington State where the weather is cool and shoulder season crowds are small and subdued. While I really enjoyed heading up the Columbia River Gorge, it was just too hot in the interior, and I had to make a beeline back to the coast. I will take my time as I head north and I know that by the time I head inland again it will be well into autumn and cooler temperatures will prevail. Despite a few hiccups, it’s been another great week all around and I’m very happy to be on the road in coastal Washington.

View fullsize

The Train Pulling “Quietly” Through Stevenson. WA

When I finished off writing this post last week, I was in Hood River, Oregon having just spent two fabulous days exploring the Columbia River Gorge. I had every intention of spending a few more days on the trail, chasing waterfalls and exploring the area, but as I mentioned, it was just too hot out there. I had been watching the weather, and while it had been hot for months it seemed like there was a bit of a cool spell coming through. That had held true for those first two days, but ended last Wednesday as temperatures climbed back into the 90s. It cooled down at night, but not very much and not until well after midnight. The heat is my biggest challenge when it comes to sleeping in my van as it absorbs heat on a hot day and it’s tough to cool it down (I don’t have a working a/c). I’ll take cold and rain and storms any day over a hot night. On top of the heat I found Hood River boxy and unattractive and while not altogether unpleasant, not particularly welcoming either. They had parking meters up all over town which I think are a terrible idea in a town that size, and really in most places including back at home in DC. Hood River wasn’t a bad place, but it wasn’t a place I would rush to get back to either. I did enjoy a few beers at Full Sail Brewery which is another old-school craft brewery which has been brewing beer longer than I’ve been drinking it. The beers were excellent and the bartender was quite pleasant as well. After a decent but unexciting stroll around downtown, I decided to call it a night, but it was just too hot to sleep, even with my “emergency fan” which I carry for just such an occasion. It served its purpose, but I still didn’t get much sleep. When it finally cooled down enough for me to doze off, my alarm was going off because they were going to start enforcing the meters at 8am (and they were out and doing just that not too long after).

View fullsize

The Main Dock in Stevenson, WA

When I don’t sleep, I don’t function well and I was on half-speed for most of Thursday. I headed up to a park just outside of town called Panorama Point where I had my coffee and breakfast. The smoke from the wildfires that are burning in Oregon took away most of the view, but I could at least see the outline of Mount Hood in the distance. Mount Hood is part of the Cascade Range which runs up the inland region of the west coast and includes spectacularly isolated, snow covered cone volcanoes which can be seen for miles around. They are absolutely stunning and always make me feel good and it definitely helped my mood a little bit. The overcast weather and cool breeze let me catch a short morning nap as well. When I got up, I headed down to the waterfront area to grab a cup of coffee and then decided it was time to cross the river and head west again towards cooler weather and save the rest of my exploration for another, cooler time. I remember doing the same thing a few years ago in Detroit and being very happy I did.

View fullsize

Looking Back Up River

The bridge there in Hood River is quite nerve wracking to cross as it is very narrow and the metal guardrails on either side have obviously been hit hundreds of times or more the entire way across. Bridges don’t generally make me nervous, but this one did. Right on the other side of the river was a little tourist information center (and a must-stop Welcome to Washington sign for this post), so I pulled in to take a photo and say hello. The lady in the Visitor Center couldn’t have been any nicer. She was born and raised in the area and told me that when she moved away she couldn’t wait to get back. She was a perfect representative of the communities on the Washington side of the gorge and helped with all of my questions, throwing in some stories of her own for good measure. She told me that the bridge I had just crossed was privately owned, hence the poor condition it was in. She also told me that it wasn’t very structurally sound and I was glad I wasn’t going back over it any time soon. When I asked her if it was always that hot in the beginning of September, she told me it was chilly for that time of year and motioned to her jeans and her sweater. That made me smile and, feeling a little better about the day, I decided to pop up the hill and check out the town of White Salmon at the top. White Salmon was small and charming and a big contrast to Hood River just across the bridge. I had a wonderful walk around town, taking some photos and enjoying its quirks (I especially loved that many of the crosswalks were actually painted with white salmon crossing the road). I stopped in the bakery for a snack and my mood was starting to take a real turn for the better. After wandering around town for a while, I headed down the hill and came into the neighboring town of Bingen. I was surprised that they were separate towns given how close they were and how small each of them was. It turns out that the rivalry goes back to the towns’ respective founding families, the Sukdorfs of Bingen and the Jewetts of White Salmon who were bitter enemies. I believe the towns are on better terms today, but I’ll bet their sports teams are still healthy rivals. Bingen had some neat little places to see as well and I especially loved a statue called “Oh Joy of Joys” which was a tribute to a beloved member of their community, Guillermo "Willy" Fisch. Willy had been born in Argentina and after years of traveling the world settled in tiny Bingen, Washington. He was apparently so well liked that he was often referred to as “Bingen’s Second Mayor”. I would be over the moon if a statue as joyous as this one was ever made of me and I’m sure Willy is out there somewhere smiling about it. I also stopped into Chips Tavern which was a perfect little neighborhood bar with lots of great old news stories and photos on the wall to keep me busy.

View fullsize

The Tower at Fort Vancouver

Leaving Bingen, I headed on down the gorge to Stevenson, another cute little town which caught my eye and had me hit the brakes and find a parking spot. Stevenson was super quaint and had some lovely waterfront parks to sit on a bench in the shade and look out over the Columbia River. I stopped in for a quick beer at the Walking Man Brewery which was absolutely adorable and had the feel of a small country pub somewhere in England or Ireland. Their hot water was out and the guy they had working on it was named Tom. He sat and had a beer with me and we ended up chatting for almost an hour. We had a lot in common and he was great to talk to and eventually he went out and got the hot water working again. During that time, one of the musicians who was playing that night at the brewery had wandered in and convinced me to stay and hear them play. It seemed cooler there than upriver, and my van was parked in the shade so I thought I might just stay the night there in Stevenson. I got some dinner, wandered around some more and came back for the music which was excellent. It was definitely cool enough for me to sleep that night, but I hadn’t counted on the trains that pull through town every hour in both directions all night long. While Stevenson is a “quiet town” so they don’t blow a whistle when they pull through, they’re still trains and they’re still loud. It was another night of bad sleep, but I did enjoy my time in Stevenson.

View fullsize

The Big House at Fort Vancouver

Friday I headed straight back to Vancouver which is the city opposite Portland across the Columbia. I started out with a nice visit to Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, which was once the administrative center for the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Columbia River region which covered the fur trading area from Alaska to Mexican California and from the Rockies to the Pacific. Built in 1829, the “fort” itself wasn’t much (and never fired their canons except in ceremonial ways), the community that grew up around it was really quite fascinating. There were obviously Brits there to represent the HBC and probably a few Americans, but also French Canadian fur trappers, representatives of 35 different American Indian bands and a surprising number of Hawaiians. These groups intermarried and had children and created quite a diverse community there. After 1840, Fort Vancouver would serve as the end point of the Oregon Trail and the cities of Vancouver and Portland would grow up around the fort. It would remain a fort when Oregon became an American territory and stay one through both World Wars, becoming a National Park Site in 1948. The reconstructed old fort is cool to visit and I especially enjoyed chatting with a volunteer in the old trading post (which was apparently run by the fort’s doctor). After my visit, I went up to the old Grant House in a more modern part of the fort, which now houses a small wine room and restaurant. It was lovely to poke around inside and the people working there were super friendly in letting me do so. Ulysses S. Grant never lived in the house which bears his name, but he had served as the quartermaster of the fort in the early 1850s and at some point people started calling this house the Grant House. I enjoyed a glass of wine there and then headed downtown. Downtown Vancouver is nice enough, but I was pretty tired so I didn’t stay down there too long. I did have a cocktail at the Wahi Hana tiki bar, a couple of beers at some of the old pubs around the neighborhood and a burrito at Muchas Gracias. I stayed right next to the fort and finally got a good night’s sleep.

View fullsize

Coming Down the River

The next morning, seeing as it was Saturday and I was right across the river from Portland, I decided to go watch my Penn State Nittany Lions square off against Florida International at the Satellite Bar I had been to the week before. It was a noon game on the east coast, so a bright and early 9am game in Oregon. The staff was ready with a breakfast menu and plenty of coffee and there was a reasonable showing for an early season, inconsequential game at 9am (which we won 34-0). After the game I had a bunch of errands to run so I set off to see what I could accomplish. Since there is no sales tax in Oregon, I got what I could over there before re-crossing the river and finally heading north in the late afternoon. I pulled into Kelso just as it was getting dark and found a quiet place to spend the night and slept like a baby.

View fullsize

The Church in Oysterville

I was up bright and early Sunday morning because I had a lot I wanted to accomplish before heading back to the coast. I hit the gym and then pulled into the back side of the mall to do a couple of maintenance projects on my van. I changed the oil which is always easy and the air filter, which is way more complicated in these old vans than it should be. Then I drained my radiator so I could flush it and that would be it for the day. For whatever reason, I couldn’t get my radiator plug (petcock) to go back in. Everything I put in my radiator flowed right out again. I couldn’t believe that this simple project, which I’ve done plenty of times, was going to be what caused me grief. But I couldn’t go anywhere without coolant in my engine and it was Sunday so no place was open. After a couple of hours of racking my brain trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, I decided to call it a day on worrying. I filled it up with water and drove the 3 minutes down the street to a fortuitously placed radiator repair shop. Then I went to the movies and saw Caught Stealing. It was a little more violent than I would have liked, but very fast paced and watchable and excellent to distract me for a while which is exactly what I needed. After the movie I went to Papa Zuzu’s pizza for a hot pizza and some cold Rainier beers before calling it a night.

View fullsize

My Guide to Oysterville

I try and look at things through the lens of what went right instead of what went wrong whenever I can. Being able to wake up in front of a radiator repair shop which opened at 7:30am when I had radiator problems after spending a cool and quiet night in a pleasant little town – that’s all good stuff. A van issue could happen anywhere, and this was one of the best places this particular issue could have happened. The gentleman I spoke with at Hart Radiators told me that they only work on radiators which have been removed from the vehicle they come with, not actually on the vehicles themselves but told me he knew a thing or two about radiators and would have a look. He rolled underneath and told me that when it was screwed all the way out, it was closed and when it was screwed all the way in, it was open. This was something I knew but my brain just wasn’t letting me remember the day before. It’s counterintuitive which is why it should be easy to remember, but for whatever reason I didn’t and hadn’t been paying enough attention when I opened it the first time. Regardless of any of that, he fixed it for me in 20 seconds and rolled back out, shook my hand and sent me on my way (after asking a dozen genuinely inquisitive and good natured questions about Washington DC). Definitely good luck I would say and a huge thank you to Hart Radiators in Kelso, Washington – you not only represent your business well, but your whole community.

View fullsize

Shell Mound

With my van back in service, I headed to the gym for a workout and then to the library to work on this post for a while. Then I made a beeline for the coast. It was a really nice drive down the Columbia River and I was so happy to be headed west towards the beach, cooler temperatures and the setting sun. When I pulled onto the Long Beach Peninsula, I knew that my day was just getting better. This is the kind of coast I love with small town maritime vibes and just a touch of tourist kitsch. It was after 6pm when I arrived, so I decided to just head up the peninsula to Oysterville which has a Victorian church that I really wanted to see. Oysterville is a tiny little village with only about 20 permanent residents but a whole lot of character to go along with it. When I pulled up to the church, which was as beautiful as I imagined it would be, a big, happy dog came bounding up the road towards me with her tail wagging. She was a healthy dog with a collar and tags so I assume she was a local dog and she sure seemed to be the welcoming committee as well. I took some photos of the church and grabbed a walking tour map and she came with me as I wandered down to the old schoolhouse and past a number of the houses in town, many beautifully maintained. I felt bad when I had to leave, but she said goodbye and then strolled down the road. It almost broke my heart when I looked in my mirror on the way out of town and she was bounding after me at full speed. What a great dog and a wonderful town.

View fullsize

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

I drove down the east side of the peninsula and stopped to check out some of the oyster fleet along the way. Huge piles of oyster shells lined the roads to the piers and the working boats were as captivating as ever. This area once shipped a lot of oysters up and down the coast which brought a lot of money to this little corner of the country. They’re still in the oystering business, but the demand isn’t as high as it once was. I passed some cranberry farms on the way back down the peninsula as well and made it back to Long Beach for a beautiful sunset over the ocean. I had a lovely evening just walking up and down the main street and looking at all of the statues and murals I would photograph in the morning. It was so nice to fall asleep in my van with my blanket on and the windows closed as the temperatures hovered in the 50s.

I got up feeling great yesterday morning and stopped into Dylan’s Cottage Bakery for a bite. They honestly had one of the best bakery displays I’ve seen in a long time with a wonderful and diverse offering of pies and pastries. I had to settle on just two and a cup of coffee and used that to fuel my morning wander around town to take some photos. After an hour or two I headed just south of town to Cape Disappointment which houses a state park, two lighthouses and a wonderful museum about the journey of Lewis and Clark which ended right there at the mouth of the Columbia River (after a six day stretch in a gloomy and awful nook which they called the ‘Dismal Nitch’). Of all of the Lewis and Clark museums I’ve seen on this trip, this was one of my favorites. It was straight and to the point and moved right along, with plenty of great visuals to go along with the story. The Lewis and Clark story is of particular interest to me and this journey I’m on as my very first stop of this trip, way back in November of 2017, was in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia which was where Merriweather Lewis began the outfitting of his Corps of Discovery. It took them 18 months to make it to Cape Disappointment and it took me almost 8 years, but we both got here in the end. Nothing else to do but spend some time on the west coast and then head east again, which is exactly what they did and exactly what I plan to do. Much like Merriweather Lewis, I will probably return to Washington DC in the end, although I doubt any president will be waiting to greet me there. It brought me great joy to find several photos in this museum from the legendary Edward Curtis, the “Shadow Catcher”, after whom my van is named. Beyond the museum, I really enjoyed chatting with the volunteer manning the North Head Lighthouse about Fresnel lenses and lighthouse architecture before heading back north along the peninsula. I stopped in at Ilwaco for a nice walk along their marina and a lovely cider or two at the local cidery. Then I headed back to Long Beach where I had decided to take a room for the night because they are reasonably priced and I thought it was time for a little break. I had some delicious oysters for dinner at Castaways before calling it an early night in my quiet, cool hotel room.

And that’s where I am at the moment. I’m going to wrap up this post this morning before I go and then it’s time to say goodbye to Long Beach and time to head north again. I will stay tonight in South Bend, Washington and then continue up the coast for the rest of the week. I hope to find some great beaches, quiet towns, delicious seafood and maybe even a lighthouse or two. I’ll hopefully be getting real close to Olympic National Park by this time next week, but you’ll just have to check back in and see what I got up to. Whatever it is, it will be on the cooler side, and that is all I could ask for. Have a wonderful week out there, wherever you are and thank you, as always, for reading.

-Mike

View fullsize

Sunset in Long Beach

View fullsize

Dusk at the Long Beach Arch

View fullsize

Oyster Boats

View fullsize

White Salmon Crosswalk and Town Hall

View fullsize

Chips in Bingen, WA

View fullsize

Oh Joy of Joys Statue in Bingen, WA

View fullsize

North Head Light

View fullsize

The Southern Cross in Ilwaco Harbor

View fullsize

Ilwaco Harbor

View fullsize

Old Rolls Royce Cars in Cape Disappointment State Park

View fullsize

Hanging With the Oyster Fleet

This Week on the Road - August 27th-September 3rd

View fullsize

Portland Stag Sign

Hello Everyone. It’s been kind of a quiet week for me out here on the road. It was Labor Day Weekend here in the United States this week (for my international friends), which is always a busy travel weekend so I thought it would be best to lay low for it. I spent a good bit of this week in Portland, catching up with some friends and exploring the city. Since then, I’ve been cruising up the incredible Columbia River Gorge which is really just outside of Portland but has so much to offer. I’m writing this newsletter this week from Hood River, so I’m as far inland as I’m going to go for now but it has been spectacular and so good to be back out and hiking again. It is definitely noticeably and considerably warmer the further I get from the coast which is why I am headed back towards the Pacific starting tomorrow. I will save the rest of my time in Oregon for later in the year when it has had some time to cool down a bit. While not a particularly busy week, it’s definitely been a good one, so let me tell you what I’ve been up to.

View fullsize

Full Tiki Gear at Alibi

When I left you all last week, I did, in fact, drive all the way to Portland. There were some cute towns along the way as I drove up the Columbia River, but none that called out to me to stop and explore. When I got into Portland it was pretty late, so I decided I would go check out the two main tiki bars in town and see what they were up to. The first one I stopped at is a classic called Alibi which has been serving up delightful tiki cocktails since 1947. The décor was great and I loved the fish tanks and fountains. After a drink there, I made my way down to Hale Pele, a much more modern bar hidden behind an incredibly bland façade. Hale Pele is owned by Martin Cate who also owns some of the country’s best tiki bars – Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco, Max’s South Seas Hideaway in Michigan and False Idol in San Diego. While I would say of those four, this was my least favorite, that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. I had a couple of great cocktails and they had an extensive rum list as well. It was small and very crowded, but I definitely enjoyed my visit. After a few cocktails, I was thrilled to find a Northern Thai restaurant called Sweet Basil open late and right up the street where I could get some spicy noodles to soak up the rum. It was a nice first evening in Portland.

View fullsize

It’s a Bus That’s a Bar

On Thursday I ran some errands around town and then went out to meet up with my friend, Andrew, in the north part of the city. Andrew is a fraternity brother of mine from Penn State and has been living in Portland for many years now. I try and catch him when I come through town, but usually I’m here with a tour group so it’s usually a short visit. This time I had more time so it was good to be able to spend the evening hanging out in his neighborhood. We went to an event called Last Thursdays in the Alberta Arts District which is a fun neighborhood street fair held on the last Thursday of the month. There were street musicians, food trucks and plenty of cool stalls selling all kinds of things. We wandered up and down the street, stopping here and there to check out a stall or watch some music (the break-dancers were particularly fun). We stopped for some good Mexican food and a beer and then headed back to his place for the night. As much as I enjoy my van, it was nice to spend a night inside for a change.

View fullsize

Keep Portland Weird

I left my van parked at their house in the morning and got a ride downtown from his girlfriend and I spent the day at the Oregon History Center. I spent several hours in their permanent exhibit on the third floor which covered Oregon’s history from its indigenous roots all the way to present day. There was a lot to see and to read and I was surprised when I checked my watch for the first time and realized I had been up there for over four hours. I had afternoon plans and I was also nearing the end of my attention span, so I whipped through the rest of the museum over the next hour and then headed out. I grabbed a quick lunch from a nearby food truck and a beer from a bar in a converted English double-decker bus and then hopped on the city bus back to where I was parked. From there it was just a quick 15 minute drive to my friend Josh’s house. Josh lived in the city just north of me when I lived in Japan many years ago and I particularly remember a wonderful ski trip we took together to Sapporo. I haven’t seen him since I left Japan and was really happy to catch up with him in Portland. He took me down to Mississippi St, another of Portland’s many business districts. We had a nice stroll up and down the street, stopping here and there for a beer. My favorite was at a spot called Moloko that had several big saltwater fish tanks lining the walls. I love tropical fish and I really enjoyed watching them swim around while we caught up. Some of Josh’s friends joined us and we wandered down the street for some barbecue from Matt’s BBQ which was pretty good. Right around the corner is an alley filled with Star Wars characters and lights and sound effects which was pretty cool and very Portland. From there we went to a cool little bar near Josh’s house in St. Johns which had some fun old video games and pinball machines before winding up at a great little dive bar which reminded me a lot of some of the places I used to hang out at in New Orleans. It was another fun day and so good to see Josh after a dozen years.

View fullsize

We Are Penn State!

I stayed in my van that night, but right at Josh’s house, so we were able to have breakfast together in the morning before parting ways. I made my way down the road to Satellite Bar, which is the Penn State Oregon Alumni Association’s official viewing site for football season. Andrew joined me for the game, as did my friend Cristen who also went to school with me. There were probably about 80 people there to watch our Nittany Lions sail to an easy win over the Nevada Wolf Pack. The weather was a little cooler than it has been in Portland recently and it was nice to sit outside and enjoy the game. Afterwards I went back to Cristen’s house for the night. Her husband and daughter came home soon after we got there and we had a wonderful dinner and some great conversation before calling it a very early night, which was much needed at that point.

View fullsize

Star Wars Alley

I stayed with them for breakfast in the morning and then said my goodbyes and headed just up the road to Firestone. Shadow Catcher has been making some noises and I figured since they were open on a Sunday, it was as good a time as any to get it looked at. As I mentioned above, it was Labor Day weekend, so I knew it would be super busy everywhere nearby and I figured I’d get the work done and be ready to hit the road when everyone else was headed back to town (plus school started Tuesday in Oregon). I spent the day in Starbucks catching up on some work and editing some photos while I waited. They closed at 6 and when I hadn’t heard anything I wandered back over at 5:45, only to be told that they weren’t going to get it done that day (despite having promised that they would). That was incredibly frustrating and made more-so by their complete lack of communication about the whole thing. It was half done and they at least pulled it out of the garage and parked it in their lot so I had somewhere to sleep. Getting repairs done when I’m on the road is always a pain, but at least I didn’t have to go find a hotel somewhere. That left me with the night to explore a bit of Tigard which is a cute little suburb of Portland. I got some food and had a few beers and met some really nice people which made for a pleasant evening.

View fullsize

McMennamins’ Crystal Hotel

I didn’t sleep great though, in part because I was right next to a busy road and in part because I don’t like confrontations and I knew I was going to have one first thing in the morning. I didn’t roll in right when they opened at 7, but gave them a half-hour to get the lights on and their opening work taken care of. When I did come in, the manager was expecting me and knew I wasn’t going to be happy. He told me the situation and apologized profusely. I told him that I didn’t know if I could trust them to do the work and he assured me he would get his guy on it immediately, check the work himself and get me out the door as soon as possible. He seemed genuine and was true to his word and even knocked about 20% off of the price. It was way more expensive than it should have been in the first place so that helped, and I couldn’t drive much further down the road with it clinking and clanking away back there so I’m glad I got it done. At the end of the day it’s all part of life on the road.

View fullsize

Q D’s Bar in Portland

Shadow Catcher did sound a lot better and it felt as though they did a good job, so we headed up the road to the gym and then I drove back to the north side of Portland and took the train into the city. It was nice to have an afternoon to myself to just wander around. I stopped here and there for a beer, ate some dinner at one of the food truck courts, checked out Powell Books (the largest independent bookstore in the country), and generally had a good time of it. I think my favorite spots that I hit were QD’s which had an old school Americana vibe, Kelly’s Olympian which is just full of old-school neon, inside and out, and Raven’s Manor which is decked out like Halloween every day of the year.  I’ve been slowly getting to know Portland over the years, but I’ve rarely been able to just wander aimlessly about and see what I can find and it was nice to do just that. While Portland definitely has some problems that it needs to address as far as drugs, homelessness and the general state of its downtown area, everywhere outside of that central core is pretty nice. Within the city center there is still a lot to do and it is getting better, but there’s still a long way to go.

View fullsize

Shadow Catcher at Vista House

Bright and early Monday morning I put Portland in my rear view mirror and started heading east for the first time in a long time. I made my first stop in Troutsdale at a place called Edgefield. Edgefield was once the Multnomah County Poor Farm, but today is a part of the McMenamins enterprise. The McMenamins brothers are pretty famous in Oregon and especially in the Portland area. They take over old bars, hotels, restaurants and other properties and rehabilitate them into something special. I’ve been to a few of their places since arriving in Oregon, but after visiting Edgefield I will definitely be paying more attention. They have turned this institutional property into a beautiful and whimsical hotel with a brewery, a winery, several bars, a restaurant, a live event venue, a glass-blowing studio, a golf course and a spa. It was fabulous to walk around and see what can be done to a place like this with the right amount of inspiration (and money, of course). I often seek out old institutions in my travels because they are architecturally interesting to me, but more often than not they are abandoned and falling apart. I always think how amazing it would be if someone would invest the time and money to restore these old buildings and I’m happy to see that in this part of the country they are doing just that. And by the looks of the place they are doing quite well with it too.

View fullsize

Latourell Falls

Just outside of Troutsdale I headed into the Columbia River Gorge. The Gorge has been a transportation route for centuries as the American Indians used it as a trade and travel route. Lewis and Clark came down the Gorge on the last leg of their overland trip to the Pacific Ocean. It was the last obstacle that emigrants faced on their way down the Oregon Trail and the road that runs through it was the very first paved highway in the Pacific Northwest and the first designated scenic corridor in the country. I have been up the Gorge several times in my life, but always with a tour group in tow and always on a tight schedule. It was nice to be able to just take my time and get out and explore. I started my day up at Vista House which sits high above the Gorge and offers nice views over the road and the river. Just down the road, I stopped at Latourell Falls and hiked the scenic loop trail to the upper falls and back. At the top, I met Helen and KC and their sons Chase and Liam. I had actually taken their photo at the start of the trail and was taking some photos at the top when they caught up with me. The boys took off behind the falls, laughing and having a blast which was good to see. I chatted with their parents for a while about my trip and my photos and they gave me some places to check out when I move into Washington State. It was nice to meet them and I really enjoyed the conversation, but I said my goodbyes and then headed back down to the base of the falls and back to my van.

View fullsize

Punchbowl Falls

My next stop was Bridalveil Falls which was just a short walk from the parking area, but also very nice. Then I went to the Wahkeena Falls trailhead and took another nice walk up past Fairy Falls to the Wahkeena Spring. This walk was beautiful and I felt good doing it but it’s definitely been a while since I did any hiking and my legs were feeling it. It was starting to get late by the time I got down from this hike, but I did make a quick stop at Multnomah Falls on my way past. This is probably the most famous stop in the Gorge and one of the more famous waterfalls in the country. Funnily enough it is the bridge in front of the falls that makes it such a photogenic and beloved spot. I have been to Multnomah several times before, but I’m still glad I stopped. From there it was just a quick 20 minutes into the little town of Cascade Locks. I made it to Thunder Island Brewery just before last call so at least I could have a quick beer to celebrate the day. Cascade Locks is the town where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the Columbia River via Bridge of the Gods, so there were a lot of hikers in town on their long walk from the Mexican border to Canada. They looked tired, but seemed in good spirits and I’m sure the beer tasted even better to them.

View fullsize

Dusk on the Gorge

Another early start this morning got me to the Eagle Creek trailhead nice and early after a quick photo stop at Horsetail Falls. This was a hike recommended by my friend Cristen and it was definitely a good one. The hike travels up Eagle Creek which comes down a pretty impressive gorge of its own. The trail ascends above the creek and is sometimes narrow enough that the Forest Service has installed a metal cable into the rocks to hold onto. It was absolutely beautiful the whole way up and down, but also more exposed than a lot of the trails in the area so I’m glad I started early. I only went as far as Punch Bowl Falls, but it was a wonderful 5ish mile walk and a really nice way to start the day. I returned to Cascade Locks because I had spotted a little burger stand called the East Wind Drive-In last night and thought I would treat myself to a burger and fries and a little bit of ice cream as well. It was excellent and fresh and a real treat. After lunch I made my way on to Hood River, grabbed a shower at the Aquatic Center and have tucked myself into the library to finish this week’s This Week. I have added a few photos from my time in the Gorge, but hope to take some more and do a full photo post this coming week.

Tomorrow I will leave Oregon behind as I cross the Columbia River Gorge into Washington State. My normal plan is to spend my 6-8 weeks in each state in one continuous push, but it is still too hot in the inland parts of Oregon. I don’t love the heat and it’s especially hard to sleep in so I am moving on back to the coast and will pick up where I left off in Oregon later in the year. Since there was no way to get to Washington from California without traveling through Oregon, I started my exploration en-route and have really enjoyed it so far and am looking forward to getting back here in late October. Tomorrow will begin my time in Washington and I hope to be there for all of September and a good bit of October as well. I will make my way back down the Gorge and back out to the coast and head north again along the Pacific. I hope to explore some coastal towns, do some backpacking in Olympic National Park and then head out to the San Juan Islands on my way to Tacoma and Seattle. That’s about as far into things as I’ve thought right now, but I’m really looking forward to it. By this time next week I hope to be getting back to the coast and hope I’ve had some good adventures along the way to share. I’m definitely excited for what lays ahead. I hope you’ll come back next week and see what I’ve gotten up to. Until then, have fun out there and thank you, as always, for reading.

-Mike

View fullsize

Portland’s Chinatown

View fullsize

Last Thursday Street Fair

View fullsize

The Portland Theater

View fullsize

Multnomah Falls

View fullsize

Bridal Veil Falls