Gorge Ourselves
2023-07-16
Columbia River Gorge, OR
The plans for today were to do a long hike in the Columbia River Gorge, followed by a dam visit if we had energy. The hike was a waterfall and vista loop of about 10 miles and 1400 feet of climb, but we decided on something less ambitious due to my health. It's a pity; I was looking forward to seeing how easy the climb is on my own turf, i.e. sea level. We did hit the lower two falls on the hike, Multnomah and Wakeenah. The former is supposedly the most visited natural attraction in the Northwest. That's believable because it's both spectacular and easy to get to as there is literally an exit on the highway just for the parking lot. There's a whole permitting system in place to reduce overcrowding at the usual hours. We got there before 8:00 to beat the crowds (which is also before the permitting applies). Needless to say we had the appropriate permit secured, we just didn't use it. At any rate, our hike between these falls was only 2 miles and 250 feet of climb, much of that going to the bridge at Multnomah.
We decided to take Scenic Rt 30, which was the original Columbia River Gorge road until they built the interstate. We stopped at Bridal Veil Falls. I should tell you that in my experience, every place I've been to with a lot of waterfalls has one named Bridal Veil. All of them are lovely, but looking at them has never brought a bridal veil to my mind. Today's falls was no exception. However, an enjoyable 2/3 mile with 118 feet of climb. And again we felt like deities as we didn't get even slightly winded.
Then we went on to Bonneviille Dam. While this is the fifth dam on this trip, it was the only one scheduled in the original plan. However, I love good engineering, and who doesn't love all the dam puns I keep getting to make? I obviously avoided the visitor center, but it's a big dam area with surprisingly few visitors so it was easy to avoid the dam people. They also have dam big fish ladders on both sides (Oregon and Washington) of the dam. We only visited the Oregon side today. There is also a fish hatchery which was surprisingly crowded after the dam's limited audience so best avoided by me today. Val saw the hatchery yesterday and recommends it.
Wahclella Falls is just outside the dam entrance, and so was a target of opportunity for a couple tourists like us looking for another falls in the gorge. We did a 2 mile hike with 386 feet of climb to see the falls. It turns out this is one that the locals like to use for swimming, so the 15 spots in the parking lot don't get much turnover. The falls is cool as it is set back in a wide dome that no doubt it has carved out. It was a great shady place to hang out in the 96 degree weather and there were a number of people in swimsuits in the water or on the rocks. Of course they had to put up with a constant stream of tourists (such as ourselves) coming and going every few minutes.
Afterwards we headed for a scenic drive to The Dalles which is a city in the gorge. It is the end of the Oregon Trail for settlers crossing the mountains. From here they could build a raft or hire a boat to take them to Fort Vancouver, or go overland to California. "Dalles" comes from a French word (roughly "slabs") that describes the way that the rocks split the water into channels at the city.
Oh, and The Dalles also has a dam too, for an even half-dozen. Dam that's a lot for one trip. We might have ignored the "sidewalk closed" signs for the cool bridge to take this shot. I will be a scofflaw for a good picture. They had an inspection/maintenance platform on the sidewalk, but they were far enough along the bridge that we didn't get close to it.
