The Columbia River Gorge
Beginning before the sun rose until well after sunset, today’s adventures on the Columbia River were, as one of our guests put it, splendid! The soft yellow early light in the gorge illuminated the hard edges of the magnificent basalt flows, and outlined the ridges and rocky outcrops that lie ahead. Multnomah Falls’ 620 feet of cascading water appeared off the bow and as the day warmed the views became ever more interesting.
We were all on deck for Bonneville Lock, and enjoyed the 75 foot ride up in the lock chamber and back into the sunlight. While we ascended, the first annual sing-along bow concert of Woody Guthrie’s 1930’s folksong “Roll on Columbia” took place. The brilliant scenery, stories of the geology, native legends, and towboats pushing barges of grain and woodchips kept us happily on the decks all morning.
The afternoon’s exploration of the Columbia River Gorge by land was wonderful. We toured a bit of the orchard country near Mosier, Oregon and hiked along a restored piece of the Columbia Gorge Historic Highway. Along the trail we admired the graceful rockwork created by the Italian stone masons brought to the Oregon country by the visionary entrepreneur Sam Hill. This part of the gorge is in the middle of the transition zone between the much wetter west side's deep-green temperate rainforest (where we walked), and the dry east side we’ll awaken in tomorrow. In only fifteen miles of passing through the Cascade Range we will have experienced a complete change of climate!
After a stop at the beautifully designed Discovery Center perched on a basalt cliff overlooking the river, we caught up with the Sea Lion in The Dalles. She brought us into our second lock, and as we neared the top we found ourselves in a memorable scene of splendor… up on the bridge deck enjoying a sumptuous winetasting and watching a glorious sunset over Mt. Hood.
Beginning before the sun rose until well after sunset, today’s adventures on the Columbia River were, as one of our guests put it, splendid! The soft yellow early light in the gorge illuminated the hard edges of the magnificent basalt flows, and outlined the ridges and rocky outcrops that lie ahead. Multnomah Falls’ 620 feet of cascading water appeared off the bow and as the day warmed the views became ever more interesting.
We were all on deck for Bonneville Lock, and enjoyed the 75 foot ride up in the lock chamber and back into the sunlight. While we ascended, the first annual sing-along bow concert of Woody Guthrie’s 1930’s folksong “Roll on Columbia” took place. The brilliant scenery, stories of the geology, native legends, and towboats pushing barges of grain and woodchips kept us happily on the decks all morning.
The afternoon’s exploration of the Columbia River Gorge by land was wonderful. We toured a bit of the orchard country near Mosier, Oregon and hiked along a restored piece of the Columbia Gorge Historic Highway. Along the trail we admired the graceful rockwork created by the Italian stone masons brought to the Oregon country by the visionary entrepreneur Sam Hill. This part of the gorge is in the middle of the transition zone between the much wetter west side's deep-green temperate rainforest (where we walked), and the dry east side we’ll awaken in tomorrow. In only fifteen miles of passing through the Cascade Range we will have experienced a complete change of climate!
After a stop at the beautifully designed Discovery Center perched on a basalt cliff overlooking the river, we caught up with the Sea Lion in The Dalles. She brought us into our second lock, and as we neared the top we found ourselves in a memorable scene of splendor… up on the bridge deck enjoying a sumptuous winetasting and watching a glorious sunset over Mt. Hood.
