Across the Columbia River from Mosier, Oregon
As we retrace the journey of the Corps of Discovery we have come to appreciate the extreme value of the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Every morning has embraced a special beauty of a new day at a ‘new place’ along this mighty river system. Today found us waking at The Dalles, a small agricultural city at the eastern doorway to the Columbia River Gorge. The Dalles is a community not too distant from the ancient but extinct fishing and trading site, Celilo Falls. The mist and thunderous roar of this massive torrent of white water has been silenced by this community’s most significant landmark, The Dalles Dam.
Our enriching schedule today found us visiting the Discovery Center and Wasco County Museum, then traveling on a short segment of the Historical Columbia River Gorge Highway to Rowena Crest Viewpoint. This elevated promontory provided an excellent view of the folded basaltic flows that comprise the east end of the Columbia River Gorge (see photo). By late morning our group was either hiking or biking the Mosier Tunnel segment of the old highway or shopping in Hood River – the wind surfing capital of the Pacific Northwest.
Following another tasty lunch, we continued our journey to the Pacific on the Sea Bird. It quickly became apparent that the golden blanket of vegetation found throughout most of the Columbia Basin this time of year was being overtaken by the stately green that clothes the moisture-loving forests of the Cascades.
This beautiful day which started in the shadow of a dam, drew to a close in the filtered light on Bonneville Dam, the most oceanward dam on the Columbia and Snake River System. Bonneville Dam is one of the many hydroelectric facilities the other corps, The Army Corps of Engineers, has constructed since the late 1930s. I can’t help but wonder what the members of the Corps of Discovery would say about the River of the West if they were able to revisit it today. Would they not call it the river of no return?
As we retrace the journey of the Corps of Discovery we have come to appreciate the extreme value of the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Every morning has embraced a special beauty of a new day at a ‘new place’ along this mighty river system. Today found us waking at The Dalles, a small agricultural city at the eastern doorway to the Columbia River Gorge. The Dalles is a community not too distant from the ancient but extinct fishing and trading site, Celilo Falls. The mist and thunderous roar of this massive torrent of white water has been silenced by this community’s most significant landmark, The Dalles Dam.
Our enriching schedule today found us visiting the Discovery Center and Wasco County Museum, then traveling on a short segment of the Historical Columbia River Gorge Highway to Rowena Crest Viewpoint. This elevated promontory provided an excellent view of the folded basaltic flows that comprise the east end of the Columbia River Gorge (see photo). By late morning our group was either hiking or biking the Mosier Tunnel segment of the old highway or shopping in Hood River – the wind surfing capital of the Pacific Northwest.
Following another tasty lunch, we continued our journey to the Pacific on the Sea Bird. It quickly became apparent that the golden blanket of vegetation found throughout most of the Columbia Basin this time of year was being overtaken by the stately green that clothes the moisture-loving forests of the Cascades.
This beautiful day which started in the shadow of a dam, drew to a close in the filtered light on Bonneville Dam, the most oceanward dam on the Columbia and Snake River System. Bonneville Dam is one of the many hydroelectric facilities the other corps, The Army Corps of Engineers, has constructed since the late 1930s. I can’t help but wonder what the members of the Corps of Discovery would say about the River of the West if they were able to revisit it today. Would they not call it the river of no return?
