Columbia River Gorge
Bright sunshine, brisk wind, Mount Hood standing sentinel in the distance – what great prospects for a perfect hike in the gorge! We finish breakfast and board motor coaches to the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum, where we whet our intellectual appetites for a first-hand encounter with the terrain. Then we go to the east trailhead of the Historic Columbia River Highway to begin our adventure. This portion of the highway, no longer open to automobile traffic, is a scenic wonder to those who walk along it. Around every curve a new vista appears. The river, the cliffs on the opposite side, and close at hand the abundant wildflowers make our outing a delight. Seeing the rock walls and tunnels of a bygone era provoke us to think about the historic aspects of this place.
And then, too soon, we return so that we can have lunch and set out on a different adventure in the Columbia River Gorge. Westward and downriver our ship proceeds, into darker skies. It begins to rain. Our plans for standing on the bow in fine weather and viewing the middle gorge become modified. Raingear, and a hat securely tied to keep it from blowing off, are the order of the day.
Our thoughts go back nearly two hundred years to the Lewis and Clark expedition, for it was here in the middle gorge that, after traveling for many cloudless days, they were soaked with rainfall. This was a pattern that continued for nearly three months without pause. Let us hope most sincerely that this does not happen again. Fortunately for us, we have dry clothing and comfortable quarters, which makes this adventure far different from the one the Corps of Discovery experienced.
Bright sunshine, brisk wind, Mount Hood standing sentinel in the distance – what great prospects for a perfect hike in the gorge! We finish breakfast and board motor coaches to the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum, where we whet our intellectual appetites for a first-hand encounter with the terrain. Then we go to the east trailhead of the Historic Columbia River Highway to begin our adventure. This portion of the highway, no longer open to automobile traffic, is a scenic wonder to those who walk along it. Around every curve a new vista appears. The river, the cliffs on the opposite side, and close at hand the abundant wildflowers make our outing a delight. Seeing the rock walls and tunnels of a bygone era provoke us to think about the historic aspects of this place.
And then, too soon, we return so that we can have lunch and set out on a different adventure in the Columbia River Gorge. Westward and downriver our ship proceeds, into darker skies. It begins to rain. Our plans for standing on the bow in fine weather and viewing the middle gorge become modified. Raingear, and a hat securely tied to keep it from blowing off, are the order of the day.
Our thoughts go back nearly two hundred years to the Lewis and Clark expedition, for it was here in the middle gorge that, after traveling for many cloudless days, they were soaked with rainfall. This was a pattern that continued for nearly three months without pause. Let us hope most sincerely that this does not happen again. Fortunately for us, we have dry clothing and comfortable quarters, which makes this adventure far different from the one the Corps of Discovery experienced.
