As I mentioned in the last post, the reason we came to this area of Oregon was to see the Columbia River Gorge.  The Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River which stretches 80 miles and is up to 4,000 feet deep.  The Gorge is the only navigable route from the Cascades and the water from the Columbia River flows to the Pacific Ocean.  It is also the boundary between Washington and Oregon.  The Gorge is a federally protected scenic area and makes up the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area.  This area is the largest scenic area in the United States.  The way the Gorge was made is really quite amazing.  Thousands of years ago glaciers dammed up the waters of the Missoula River.  Over time the water built up until finally it was released from Montana with such force that it carved a canyon through the mountains as it roared toward the Pacific Ocean.

On our first day in the area we drove the Oregon Scenic Byway to see Multnomah Falls about a 90 minute drive from our campground.  On the Washington side of the Gorge we could see Mt Adams and on the Oregon side was majestic Mt Hood.

This Scenic Byway was built from 1913-1922 and was considered an engineering marvel at that time.  It was built in such a way as to showcase the waterfalls and beautiful spots through the Gorge and in the words of its engineer “not mar what God had put there”.  As we drove we could see smoke from the wildfires still burning, though they were closer to being contained.  The camp host had warned us this was a very popular attraction so we should avoid the weekend and get an early start.  We followed her advice but when we reached the parking lot for the falls it was full with lines of cars searching for a parking spot.  We ended up playing car tag where one of us would circle the parking lot while the other one would get out and walk up to the falls to take a look and then come back to the car and circle the lot while the other one took a turn.  What a pain!  Regardless, the falls was beautiful.  The upper falls drops 542 feet and the lower falls 69 feet, making it the tallest waterfall in the state of Oregon.  A sign at the waterfall says it is the second tallest year round waterfall in the United States, though some would argue with that distinction. 

A little farther down the road we came to Horsetail Falls which is supposedly in the shape of a horse’s tail.  It has a drop of 192 feet and was also beautiful.  There was not a long line of cars  so it was easier to view the waterfall and less hectic getting pictures.  Near the falls we had a nice picnic lunch in the shade.

Bill determined there was a geocache nearby and we not only found the geocache but blackberries on both sides of the road as far as the eye could see.  We sure wished we had a bucket or a large container in the car but instead filled up a baggie left over from lunch.  I made a delicious blackberry cobbler when we returned home! 

We then decided to stop at the Bonneville Lock and Dam on the way home.  Bonneville Lock and Dam was built and is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and spans the Columbia River, linking Washington and Oregon.  It was the first federal lock and dam on the

Columbia and Snake rivers.  Construction began in 1933 and was dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1937.  It cost $88.4 million.  In 1986 it was placed on the National

Register of Historic Places.  As we drove in we went through a security checkpoint where a guard asked if we had any explosives or weapons.  Everyone who passes through is asked to open their car trunk for inspection.  They had a very nice visitors center where we watched

several interesting movies and looked at displays.  We learned that the dam supplies enough energy to meet the power needs of 900,000 homes.  They had nice observation decks to view the dam as well as the fish ladder.  We were fascinated with the fish ladder which was planned

by the Corps engineers to allow migratory fish to continue their migration from the sea, upstream to the tributaries of the Columbia and Snake Rivers.  There are actually workers whose job it is to spend all day counting fish!  This information is used by biologists and engineers to track increases and decreases in fish runs.  Between 700,000 and 1.5 million adult salmon and steelhead fish swimming upstream, and between 24 and 43 million salmon and other fish migrating downstream, pass through the Bonneville Dam in an average year!  At one point we went downstairs in the Visitors Center where we were then underwater and watched fish swim in the ladder by looking through underwater viewing windows.  Cool!

On our second day in Oregon the temperature really started to rise and it was around 100 degrees by the end of the day.  Seems the temperatures in Montana, Idaho and Washington were catching up with us.  The main objective for today was to visit the Dalles (pronounced Dowles) Dam which is completely located in Washington state.  We made a reservation for a

tour and headed over to the Visitors Center.  There were twelve of us scheduled for the free tour and a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employee gave the hour and a half tour.  We were driven by trolley over to the dam where we could actually go inside the facility and see the

 generators supplying power.  The generating capacity is 1.8 million kilowatts, enough to light up two cities the size of Portland.  Here they had more fish ladders and we could walk on catwalks and see the fish going over or through the ladders.  Yes, they have fish counters here too!  They also had an underwater viewing window and while we were fish watching, a duck swam by!!  The guide did an excellent job of describing what goes on at this dam, which was built over a 5 year period with completion in 1957.  The Dam has a unique design in the shape of a backward “L” which takes advantage of the natural rock formation in the river.

On the way home we drove into the town of Dalles because the town had several murals along Main Street.  Dalles marks the end of the Oregon Trail, a trail known as the source of the greatest peacetime migration in history.  We chose three we particularly liked for the blog.   There is a strong Lewis and Clark influence in the state as we drove on roads marked “The Lewis and Clark Trail” and “The Oregon Trail” and we tried to picture what it must have looked like to Lewis and Clark as they paddled through the Columbia Gorge.  It is in this area they bartered with the Indians for horses, and it seems the Indians “saw them coming” so to speak and came out ahead on the deal as they forced Lewis and Clark to barter for three horses, two of which were not good horses in order to get one good horse.  I bet when Lewis and Clark traveled down the Columbia Gorge they must have been wondering where the elusive Pacific Ocean could be!

As we traveled home later in the day we were behind several fire vehicles who had spent the day fighting the nearby wildfires.