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.
