Discovering the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge

This trip has been about touring some of the byways in northeastern Oregon. There was one more byway in Oregon I wanted to tour, but we couldn’t make it work with our schedule. Instead I suggested we drive along the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge to see what it had to offer. Most people drive the Oregon side because of the ease of the I-84 freeway. Checking out the other side of the river seemed a unique opportunity.

Saturday morning we left Pendleton traveling north on I-84 then up I-82 to Umatilla and across the Columbia River. After we crossed the Columbia we got on Highway 14 and followed it west all the way to Vancouver.

The first part of the journey was through rather desolate land. The familiar yellow brown mountains ran along the river. At the first opportunity, I found a road that went down toward the river in Paterson. In this section of the Columbia River, there are a number of islands. The road we took went down to a small boat launch. At river level it was hard to see much.

Farther down the highway we came to a viewpoint which had better views of the islands. It turns out the islands as well as some of the land on the shore are part of the Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge. Established in 1969, the refuge protects the habitat of many of the animals in the area. We didn’t see much wildlife as the day was very hot so most animals were staying still and keeping cool.

Continuing down Hwy 14 we came to Crow Butte Park which is on an island in the river. A causeway connects it to the mainland. We thought it was a state park, but it turns out the Army Corp of Engineers owns it. The island was created when the John Day Dam was constructed in the Columbia River backing up water behind it.

The park has both a camping area and a day use area. On this Saturday the camping area was pretty full. The day use area was also active as was the boat launch. It’s a pretty park with lots of mature trees to provide shade. They also have a small kiosk which sells snacks which is not a typical option in parks. There were some nice areas for kids to play in the water as well as quite a large playground. We also saw people fishing. Considering the number of people we saw, it seemed to be a pretty popular park.

One thing we noticed on this trip were the trains. There are railroad tracks on both sides of the river. On the Washington side we saw at least six different trains. I did not realize trains were used so much and ran so frequently. They were traveling both directions. One train, which had cars mostly filled with rocks or gravel, we saw three different times. With all the trains running, it seemed they sometimes had to wait for the trains going in the opposite direction.

As we continued on so did the dry hillsides. However, they were occasionally broken up by large patches of green. Those green patches might be vineyards or orchards. I’m not sure exactly what fruits were being grown, but some of the orchards were quite large.

We arrived at the town of Roosevelt and noticed a sign for a park. It was another small park along the river, and it was also very busy on a Saturday afternoon. Some people were camping there even though it didn’t look like there were official camping spots. There was also a large group there playing volleyball. Only a few people were enjoying the water, but everyone seemed to be having a good time.

At times the road would become somewhat boring. Even with the river beside us, the brown of the hillsides would become a bit much. We did see more interesting rock formations along the sides of the hills, but nevertheless the drive was beginning to feel long.

We eventually reached the John Day Dam. It is just upriver from Biggs Junction which is where we had crossed into Oregon on our way down the previous Monday. We also caught our first glimpse of the day of Mt. Hood.

Just past the road leading to Biggs Junction we came to Maryhill Museum of Art. This barren, out of the way location seems an unlikely location for an art museum. However, its history goes back to the 1920s although it did not open until a number of years later.

We didn’t have time to explore the museum, but its location offered amazing views of the Columbia River below so we stopped by and walked around the outside. The parking lot suggested that the museum was actually fairly busy on this day. Even walking around outside one encounters some art pieces. However we were there for the views, and they did not disappoint.

One unique thing I noticed here was the fences. I had seen this at times as we drove around. While we saw normal fence posts, we also saw rock “fence posts.” These consisted of large metal containers filled with rocks. The fence wiring was attached to the metal boxes. I presume these box “fence posts” would be so heavy they would not be blown over by the heavy winds in the area.

Shortly after leaving the museum we noted a sign indicating we were in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. This is an 80 mile stretch along the Columbia River. Highway 14 is also considered part of the Lewis and Clark Trail Scenic Byway. A stop along the river showed that the hillsides were becoming taller creating the gorge area.

As we continued west, I noticed a sign for an historic locomotive. Curious I drove down to the town of Wishram, and I do mean down. I drove through the town, which had seen better days, to arrive at the locomotive. The engine was a steam engine. What was odd to me was the tall fence around the whole engine. I guess they don’t want people crawling all over it or damaging it. However, it seemed unusual to have a train engine inside a cage.

Continuing past the brown rugged mountains, we saw windsurfers in the Columbia River. We reached a spot with cars lined up for quite a distance along the roadside. I knew windsurfing was popular in Hood River, Oregon, but I didn’t realize there was a popular spot on the Washington side of the river.

We stopped, and I grabbed my camera to try to get some pictures. A chain link fence stretched along the parking area so I had to get my camera lens in the holes. I wasn’t getting very good photos until I put on my telephoto. Then I could get a better view and photos. Here are some of the better shots I took.

Thinking that had been fun we continued on. A little farther down the highway we saw what looked to be wind surfers high in the sky. Amazed we quickly stopped to see what was going on. It wasn’t wind surfers we saw but kite surfers. Kitesurfing or kiteboarding is really fun to watch. The surfers hold on to a kite which they maneuver, and it carries them over the water. Of course I had to get my camera out again to catch the action. Unfortunately the light was quite challenging.

I realized that some of the boarders were doing tricks. They would come up to the sand bar and then jump into the air sometimes doing flips in the process. I tried to make a video with my camera, but I wasn’t successful so I tried it with my phone. That worked out OK. You can see them in the video below as they jump into the air.

The time was getting much later than I had expected by now. My intention had been to stop at as many places as possible, but I didn’t realize how long it would take just to drive that distance. We did stop a few more times. The first was shortly after we passed the bridge to Hood River, Oregon. We wanted to get a clear picture of Mt. Hood. We had seen her a number of times before this, but she was pretty hazy. Now we were close enough to get a good shot.

A second stop was to take a photo of the mountains on the Oregon side. I wanted to document that the landscape had changed. We were now seeing the hillsides covered in evergreen trees rather than the brown hills of the first part of today’s journey.

We stopped in the town of Stevenson for dinner. Not much farther down the road we came to the Bonneville Dam where I wanted to stop and take a photo. By this time it was about 6;30. The Visitor Center was closed so we just took our photos and continued on.

We didn’t stop again until we reached our motel in North Portland. We passed a number of interesting locations, but the time was too late. This is an area that needs more exploring, and perhaps we will make a future trip down to this part of the Columbia River to check it out.

After a much needed night of sleep, we had an easy trip back to our home on Sunday. This week in Oregon has been an educational and interesting trip. We spent a lot of time in the car and did not get to do the hiking and exploring that I had hoped we would do. As usual it seemed I planned for distances that were not as short as I thought. Six nights in six different motels was a bit taxing, but we survived and had some good experiences along the way.

With this trip over, we will stay home for a while, but more adventures are coming down the pike. In the meantime Andrea is going to take over for the next month and share about her summer adventure. It was quite a trip so be sure to check back next Wednesday to read about it. See you then.