The Gorge

August 13, 2013 – Tuesday
Today was a travel day to the Columbia River Gorge, specifically Troutdale, OR. It is a small town that lies at the western edge of the Historic Columbia River Highway (HCRH). We arrived at the Sandy Riverfront RV Resort in early afternoon as it was a relatively short and somewhat boring, 150 mile trek from Packwood. This park definitely sets the high watermark for parks we have stayed in. Although lots are a bit close we are nestled between about a million bucks of motorhome on each side. We look like trailer trash in this place! The rest of the day was getting groceries and doing laundry.

August 14, 2013 – Wednesday
We explored the Gorge today via the HCRH. This seems to be Oregon’s Route 66. It parallels I-84 for about 20 miles with a dozen or so waterfalls and various places to turn off and view the Gorge and Columbia River. There continues to be a preservation movement to save this road, or now what is left after they built I-84. It starts and stops along the river. From Troutdale, the first thing to see is the Vista House, a building built in the 20s as a rest area for traveling to and from Portland along the Columbia River Highway. When you consider the state of auto travel back then, this was like a Taj Mahal of rest stops.

We visited several of the falls along the route. The biggie in popularity is Multnomah with a restaurant, gift store, and paved trail. We had to park and hike a ½ mile to it because of the crowds. In our opinion, although pretty, there were others prettier. It is the second tallest falls in North America. To us it is not the height but the way the water cascades down that defines its beauty. Some pictures follow.

Although we made it to Bonneville Dam and Locks we got there too late to see much, although we did see Herman the sturgeon at the fish hatchery. He is 70 years old, 450 pounds and 10 feet long. Nearly all salmon caught on the Columbia River today are hatchery reared.

August 15, 2013 – Thursday
Time for a history lesson, according to Dan. The northwest, essentially what is Washington and Oregon today, were exploited by the French, Spanish, English, and a few Russians for firs and fish. Jefferson wanted in on this action so he sent Lewis and Clark this way to find a path across the US. The only way to get ships up this way was around Cape Horn, but Lewis and Clark found the Columbia River and eventually established the Oregon Trail.

There was a problem. About a 1000 years before L&C got here a big rock slide blocked the Columbia at what is today the Cascade Lock. The river finally cut through it but left some very treacherous rapids, which had to be portaged. On both sides there were all types of methods to get emigrant's stuff down the river. Finally in the 1896, the locks were completed at Cascade. They was used to move ships around the rapids until the 1920s. As a Public Works Administration project, dams were built at Bonneville, The Dalles, and two more further up river. These each had locks, although their main purpose was to make electricity; they also altered the depth of the river such that the rapids at Cascade disappeared. So Cascade Locks is just a little resort town now. This opened up the Columbia as a major shipping lane.

So there is your very condensed history lesson. How about making electricity from water? After visiting the Bonneville dam again today we learned how. Yes, the water flows across some turbines that spin generators, but did you know those generators must maintain a constant speed to make the electricity? At Bonneville there is a 60 ft water head. They maintain water flow using shutters to the input of the turbines. The blades of the turbine are of variable pitch to compensate for the load placed on the generator. There are actually two power plants. We visited the older one on the Oregon side yesterday. We visited the newer one built in 1978 on the Washington side today. Combined they make about 12 giga-watts of juice.

Here is another interesting story. The new plant required a new channel be cut in the river, but there was the town of N. Bonneville sitting right where they wanted to put the channel. So the government relocated the town of about 500 down stream about a mile. Can you imagine the undertaking, not to mention they had to also reroute Wash Hwy 14 and the railroad. It got done in about four years. The people were pretty ticked and we heard it was not just a swap. They got the land free, but had to pay for their new house.

The picture that follows is actually the Bonneville Dam spillway. This is the excess water not needed to make electricity. We often though this is output form the powerhouse. Each dam also has a fish ladder to allow the salmon and trout to migrate back up river to spawn.

Volcanos and Glaciers

August 11, 2013 - Sunday
We awoke today to heavy overcast and fog. Our decision was to make our way over to Mt. Rainier NP and seek low altitude and indoor activities. We started at the Stevens Canyon entrance and hiked a couple shorter trails, the Grove of the Patriarchs and Silver Falls; couple miles round trip each. The GoP was a collection of really old and very large trees; Douglas Firs, Hemlock and Cedar. Some of these old boys are over 1000 years in age and over 5 feet in diameter. It was amazing also to see where these behemoths had fallen from wind or being dead. The forest is very moist with many varieties of fungus, moss, and lichen everywhere. It was almost spooky. A couple of pictures follow.

Across the street, on the Eastside trail, was the route to Silver Falls, about 1 mile away. The trail was pretty flat until the turnoff for the falls where it drops to river level. Silver Falls was another cascading falls. The canyon was very scenic, and the falls were pretty.

The mountain is still socked in. There appears to be a real possibility we will visit Mt. Rainier National Park, but not see Mt. Rainier. Have a look at these pictures and see what we mean. Mt. Rainier is over 14,000 feet high with 25 active glaciers. We understand it is more common not to see the mountain due to clouds and fog. Paradise, a location directly south of the mountain, gets on average 54 feet of snow. As you guessed, all that snow doesn't melt at high altitudes thus forming glaciers.

Mt Rainer became a National Park in 1899, the fifth NP. The mountain is an active volcano, having erupted 10,000 years ago. It and St. Helen are part of the "Ring of Fire" that encompass the Pacific rim. It is also the first park to experiment with allowing people to drive their own vehicles. We know how that worked out! The park was a zoo today. No parking to be found at most of the popular areas.

We finished up in Longmire, at the western side of the park. This area was the original entrance in 1899. Longmires were the first people involved with the park and built a Lodge. Unlike some other NPs, the railroads did not have tracks out here and did not build the lodges. They have a museum and restored stuff from the park's early days. Well, we are about to head "home" and now it's clearing.

August 12, 2013 - Monday
It's again cloudy and we cannot see the mountain. So our plan today is to take a drive to Mt St. Helens. Although we were strongly considering the drive to Johnson's Ridge, it's like 300 miles RT. If the clouds don't lift we will be bummed. So plan B, we'll go to Windy Ridge, about 70 miles RT, then back to Rainer if it's clear.

You all recall Mt St Helen blew her top, actually her north side, in 1980 sending ash all over the place. Now, 30 years later, the area is recovering. There is substantial tree and plant growth. The lakes are recovering as well. The devastation is still apparent where trees standing are gray/white. Others are uniformly knocked over in a single direction, from the blast. The blast gas was 800 F. The ash deposited 200 feet thick and devastated 270 sq mi of forest. Spirit Lake, site of Harry Truman's lodge, was filled with first ash, then mud as all 8 feet of snow melted instantly. Some pictures follow.

Off to Mt Rainer for a quick visit. Now that we can see it, this place is beautiful. Being late in the day most of the crowds have gone home. We took a walk to Nisqually Glacier Overlook at Paradise. This glacier is still active and looks more like a big dirt ball than ice.

Headed to the Gorge tomorrow.

Riding the Rails

August 7, 2013 – Wednesday
Our plan today is to make it to Hayden, ID so we arose early, but we got a little delayed at the dump station. Got to chatting it up with someone already there dumping tanks. You know, this is like the morning chat around the water cooler in the office, for RVers. Well, maybe not, but it delayed our departure a little. For a place to camp close to Glacier, you can’t beat Johnson’s Campground for location, price, and overall nice folks.

The scenery along US 2 is awesome. We had heard they were doing repair on 2 up by Libby. In Kalispell, Lynn saw a sign for closure of US 2 up that way, so we made a detour down MT 35 and along the west side of Flathead Lake to MT 28. MT 28 had some pretty big grades and wasn’t much to write about, but MT 200… Wow! It was an easy tow and gorgeous as you travel along the Clark Fork river with mountains along side. We got to Alpine CG about 3:30 PM Pacific Time.

August 8, 2013 – Thursday
We made a morning run to Wal-Mart for groceries and a Mobil 1 oil change, then to a car wash. The truckie deserved a little TLC, so today was its day. Our stop in Hayden, ID is to visit family, so we are heading there next, to spend the afternoon and evening. We had a nice dinner on the patio of the White House Restaurant with Gayle and Paul. It’s been a while since we have seen them and it was great getting caught up on things.

August 9, 2013 – Friday
Today is to be an adventure. Paul is taking us over to bike the Hiawatha trail, a 15 mile railroad bed converted to a bike trail. The rail line was used by the Milwaukee RR from the early 1900s until they went bankrupt in the late 70s. The route takes you through tunnels and over trestles. The scenery is breath taking and it’s downhill, so you don’t really work too hard. The first tunnel is a dooesy, 1.7 miles through a mountain. There are no lights so your bike has to have a headlight and it is cold; maybe 50 degrees. It really is more like a cave than a tunnel. Lynn had trouble adjusting to riding in the darkness and could not keep her balance, so we actually walked it.

Along the way are interpretive signage telling about the Milwaukee Line. Imagine the 1910 time frame as these guys had to span canyons with the trestles, and cut through the mountains for the tunnels. That first tunnel took over two years to complete. There was an interesting story about a guy name Johnson that set 25,000 pounds of dynamite to blast away some of mountainside down the line. Sounds like a lot of TNT right? Yep, and when it blew it showered the construction camp below with huge rocks wrecking it. Fortunately, no one was in camp at the time, but they had to find another location after that.

Definitely two thumbs up on this one. If interested, check out
http://www.railworks.com/railworks-great-works/bike-trail-showcases-railroad-construction-wonders
Some pictures follow.

We then went back to their place for dinner and to catch up on Polina’s day camp activities. It sounded like she had a good time. After a great dinner we had to say good bye, but first Polina wanted to see the camper. After a tour of the inside, she asked to see the outside, the top to be more exact, so up the ladder she went! I could really use her courage up there when it’s time to wash the roof.

August 10, 2013 – Saturday
Next on the itinerary are visits to Mount Rainer and Mount St Helens, so we traveled to Packwood, WA today. About 200 miles were along I-90 which was mostly boring. However, as we approached the Columbia River gorge the scenery made a drastic change and became really pretty. The truck got a work out on I-83 and US 12, lots of 5-6% grades 2+ miles in length. It pulled it OK, sometimes as low as 3rd to get up the hills. US 12 was spectacular, although a bit white knuckle with the bends and grades. White Pass at 4800 feet was the highest, a climb from about 2500 feet. At our campsite you could see Mt Rainer if not for the clouds.