Cruising the Columbia River
Happy Halloween from the National Geographic Sea Bird!
While we slept, the NG Sea Bird sailed down the Willamette River, leaving Portland, Oregon and its beautifully lit bridges behind. We navigated east along the Columbia River and passed through the locks at Bonneville and The Dalles.
After breakfast and under a blue sky, we approached the John Day Lock and Dam. John Day was a 33-year old Kentuckian who ran into bad luck. He was captured by the Indians, stripped of his clothes and left for dead. Fortunately he was found, revived and taken to Astoria.
The John Day Lock and Dam has the highest lift on the Columbia River, at 113 feet. We learned that there are no pumps to move the water, and that gravity does the work. We could see a fish ladder on the right side that allows the fish to get past the dam. It took us about thirty minutes to go through the lock. Ring-billed gulls and double-crested cormorants circled above, and we took in the unique basalt formations carved by the great floods.
After our safety drills, a fascinating and informative talk was given by our historian, Junius Rochester, entitled “Lewis and Clark: Before and After.”
The McNary Lock and Dam was our next destination; construction began in 1947 and the project was completed in 1954. It supports this arid region with hydropower and irrigation and more than seven million tons of cargos pass through the McNary Lock each year.
Our evening was full of laughter and fun as staff and crew donned their Halloween costumes; who was who was anyone’s guess!
