Columbia River Gorge

The Columbia River gorge runs for about 150 river miles east from Troutdale, 15 miles from downtown Portland, to the dry rolling hills of eastern Washington and Oregon and forms the border between these two states.  I set out to explore the center portion of the gorge on the WA side and hoped to make it home shortly after dark.

After taking the freeway to Cascade Locks, OR, I crossed the Columbia into Washington on the "Bridge of the Gods."

Tracks run along the road on both sides of the gorge.  If it wasn't for this rock wall (and fairly heavy train traffic) I could take an alternate route.

There are five tunnels on the WA side.  Trains to the right...

Trains to the left.

After climbing out of the gorge at White Salmon, I found the unpaved road to the tiny town of Laurel.  Yes, my new day trip box is by Rubbermaid.  Not only was it inexpensive, waterproof, and just the right size, but it matches the bike!  It will also work nicely for multiday trips where I stay with friends or in hotels rather than camping, which requires the larger box I built last winter.

East of Laurel, this perfect view of Mt. Adams, about 30 miles east of Mt. St. Helens.

The still-operating post office of Appleton, WA.  Looks like it doubles as the jail!  The structure you can just see behind and to the left was the only other public building in town.

Back on the pavement, I stopped for a snack at this view of the Klickitat River valley and highway 142.

Pavement condition was generally good on this trip.  Striping was another story.  It was either centerline with no fog lines...

Or fog lines wth no centerline.  This one-lane Euro-style road was a lot of fun, though!

The guardrail, however, didn't leave me with many options if someone were to come around the corner in my "lane."

This dirt road at the bottom of Rock Creek canyon was the next on my planned route.  Looks good from up here but it only shows as a Jeep trail on my map.

This gorgeous paved road up the next ridge will have to wait for another time.

Despite the warning sign, Rock Creek road proves not only to have a nice hard-packed surface...

But beautiful fall colors as well.

Descending through the Columbia River Basalts volcanic rock layer.

More color.  Not sure what happened to the bike in this one.

Town of Goodnoe Hills.  If you look very closely, just past the intersection sign, you will see a pile of dry sage brush in the center of the road.  By the time I passed the church, a boy had set the pile on fire.  I thought I was back in Bolivia, where roads are often blocked by flaming tires in political protest.  He was surely just trying to safely get rid of roadside weeds, but I quickly swerved between the piles before the rocks started flying!

Warwick, WA begs the question,"Does putting up a large sign in your yard make you a town?"

And here is the view to the other direction, just to show that while there appear to be several barns in Warwick, there is in fact only one house.  Guess he's the mayor.

I thought I was on the pavement for the ride home when this little jewel popped up.  It was supposed to be only a few miles long and might have a view of the Columbia before descending back to the highway. Of course, heading off so late in the day has its risk...

So far so good.  Got up the steep rocky section and through a couple muddy spots to join up with a more heavily traveled gravel road.

Where a view up the Columbia (to the east) quickly opened up.

One more corner and I was treated with the sun setting behind Mt. Hood, near the western end of the gorge.

The road was nice and twisty all the way back down to highway 14.  I rode to White Salmon, crossed the bridge to Hood River, OR just as the sun was disappearing and headed for home.  I'd covered almost 500 miles.  It was a very good day. 

North Cascades NP

Finally getting around to posting a 3-day trip I took at the first of the month.



Started by bombing up the freeway to a suburb on the north side of Seattle, where some friends have secure back garden parking!  Had a great meal and a good nights sleep before the real adventure began.

About half of the tiny "town" of Silverton, WA, just before the pavement ends.



The fun started quickly as the greasy road traversed this wall along the river.

Back on a main highway (530) at the timber company town of Darrington.  These bicycle ramps seem to reflect the mountains in the distance.

Diablo Dam in North Cascades National Park, the most artistic dam I've ever seen.

Narrow gorge below the dam.

Washington Pass on highway 20, east of the park, will soon close for the winter.

Loved this fast, sweeping switchback, just down from the pass!

 

Harts Pass road, running northwest from Mazama, WA, gets nice and narrow in spots.

Enjoyed some fall color at timberline.

Passed the pass, heading up to Slate Peak.  Would have been there long ago, but just can't seem to pass up these amazing photo ops!

Slate Peak viewpoint.  The mountaintop was leveled off to build a lookout tower to spot any bombers coming over the Pacific during WWII.  No enemy planes today.

No clouds either - perfect afternoon!

Heading back down to the pass.  Notice the switchbacks below.

Couldn't resist this lesser used road down the back side of the pass.  It supposedly deadended at the old townsite of Chancelor, in a historic mining area.  This was the last bridge over Slate Creek.

The Slate's next crossing was only a ford, still common on Colorado forest roads, but a rare treat in the Cascades.

A few miles later, this rock slide looked like the end of the road.

But I was able to follow some ATV tracks up and over.

After the slide, the road became an ATV trail, but I was able to make it to what is left of Chancelor - one cabin in the trees.

A few modern conveniences for present day miners, as there are still claims in the area.  I stopped to chat with a few beside another old cabin on the way out.  They told me there are several more structures up on the mountain side, but they are hard to find.

Perhaps across this foot bridge.  But the trail was too narrow and rocky for my iron steed.

So back across the slippery ford, over Harts Pass again, to arrive at the tiny town of Mazama --only fuel stop for the next 75 miles.

You guessed it.  The sign just to the left of my bike says, "we're CLOSED."  I got back in the saddle, hoping for the best.

Just as I was about to take off, two people walked up and entered the store!  It was not closed, they just wanted you to pay first before pumping gas.  In a few minutes (and a cold Mt. Dew) I was back on the road with a full tank of fuel!

Narrow bridge to the old electric company town of Diablo.

Kickstand placement is critical here -- and don't drop your keys!

Diablo was founded as and continues to provide housing for workers at the multiple hydro generating stations in the gorge.

One of a couple of tunnels along the highway through the park.

Though I barely made the 12:30 Kingston ferry the next day, bikes get to go to the front of the line, so I parked in position 3 and headed upstairs to enjoy the big cushy seats and great views of the sound.

Scandinavian town of Poulsbo, on  a narrow inlet of Puget Sound.  All the shops and sadly, restarants, will have to wait for another day.

The Bremerton ferry heads back to Seattle as I continue around the sound.

A float plane waits peacefully on the Hood Canal.  That would get me home a bit quicker!

Made it back to the Columbia River as darkness fell.  Astoria, OR is across the bridge, then about an hour and a half home.  Another great trip!