WATER FALLS; yes, it does!

Sunday morning, moving-on day, dawned soggy.  Light rain with bursts. 

Of course, we had waited until then to dump tanks.  Now, in the best of weather, this is not my favorite task.  We didn’t have a sewer hookup at our site, so had to use the camp dump station.  Which was in a low spot.  Which was under water.  If whatever it drained into was also full, we wouldn’t be dumping.  Fortunately, when I stood on the lever to raise the cover, the surrounding water drained right in and didn’t back up.  We were good to go, and the rest was uneventful, except for the fact that I was drowning out there.  Before we left, I checked out a log truck that had pulled in the night before for a rest.  I guess not all the old growth forest has been cut (unless this baby is the last).  I tried counting rings and got a guesstimate of 125.  Impressive hunk of timber.

We took Oregon 6 over the mountains to Portland.  Not much to report.  Just driving through forest in the rain.  The low clouds obscured the mountains and any view, but Loni was trying nonetheless with the camera.  Her impressionist period.

  It cleared up some after we reached Portland, and we made our way to a park on the east side where we would be between Portland and the Columbia Gorge for easy scoot exploring.  We found the Portland Fairview RV Park without drama.  This is a huge RV park, with over 400 spaces, and it was about 2/3 full.  The nice young gal at the desk mused over her map and said she’d put us in a “cute” spot.  Hmmm. Ok.  We followed the route down the aisles and as we approached ours (on a corner at the end of the row, with no one adjacent and, well, cute!) we both shouted “Lazy Daze!”  There, right opposite our spot, was a 27’ mid-bath model.  When we pulled up, I did a double take as I recognized the license (vanity) plate.  It was our good friends from our Past Tents group in the LD Caravan Club, Art and Barbara.

What are the odds that we select the one park out of a dozen or so choices, and then out of 400 spaces get placed right next to folks we know?  Pure serendipity.  They were out somewhere in their Jeep, and we didn’t see them until Monday morning.  Turns out they are here a week for Barbara’s family reunion, with siblings and spouses from as far as Philadelphia.  They have a full calendar of get-togethers, so we won’t be seeing the sights together, but will try to have breakfast one morning.

The Columbia River Gorge Scenic Byway starts just east of us, and there’s an old road, two lanes, that parallels Interstate 84 for a while and passes by a series of waterfalls on the way to the Bonneville Dam.  Monday morning it was dry, but overcast with low clouds.  We loaded up the scoot and took off to find OR 30, the “Historic Columbia River Highway.”  It started at the little boutique town of Troutdale, and, with the sun coming out, proved to be a fabulous road for two wheels, all curves and views.  First up was our first sighting of the Gorge from Chanticleer Overlook.

This reminded me of the Hudson River Valley, albeit wider and not as craggy.  That little dome affair on the bluff is the Crown Point Vista House, which was our next stop.  It’s the catbird seat of views in the Gorge.

A group of five from Florida asked us to take their picture.  Two of them had relocated here and were trying to convince the others to do the same.  The way this day turned out should have made the task somewhat easier.  In return, they took one of me and the bobblehead. 

On to the waterfalls.  The first was Latourell, with a drop of 300 feet.

Next up were Shepperd’s Dell and Bridal Veil (there must be dozens of Bridal Veil falls around the country; we found a couple on our SE trip last Spring).

We only slowed at Wankeena, as it wasn’t as nifty, but the road had definitely saved the best for last.  Multnomah Falls are the centerpiece of the Gorge and, with an upper fall of 540 feet, and a lower one of 65, they are truly impressive.

In the “good old days,” they allowed people to walk behind the lower falls, but a bus-sized chunk of basalt fell off the face of the mountain and put a stop to that.  We were also told that there was a wedding party having their photo taken on the bridge when a small rock fell and hit the groom on the noggin, putting him out and delaying the honeymoon by a few days.  Dangerous stuff, this falling water.

Actually, there was one more set of falls, Horsetail Falls a few miles further east, and they weren’t shabby either.

Highway 30 ran out and we had to get on I-84 to get up to the Bonneville Dam and Locks.  This was another Roosevelt WPA project, started in 1933, that he dedicated in 1937.  Can you imagine how long it would take to build it today?  The lock is an impressive piece of work, but is a replacement for the original, which proved too small.  This one was finished in 1993, and raises/lowers ships a total of 80 feet.  Don’t fall in, Bobblehead!

Protecting the salmon runs was a priority right from the first, and they have extensive fish ladders to route the critters around the dam.  On their spawning run, they would be swimming up these ladders towards where I’m standing.

Most of the fish don’t try jumping up these ladders, because the builders incorporated underwater “gates” for them to swim through to make it easier.

Alas, we never did see one jumping the ladder, but they have viewing windows down below where you can watch the fish (and the stray Lamprey, which actually isn’t an eel, but a jawless fish with a sucker mouth) swimming for all they’re worth.  Your ace photographer caught all the action:

Since we have toured both Hoover and Shasta dams, we didn’t feel compelled to check out Bonneville other than from the outside.

As you can see, this is an idyllic setting, and we got a taste of early fall with some trees over by the lock.  A nice finish to a beautiful day.