Sunday, October 16, 2011

Day 2 - Columbia River Gorge and Mount Hood

So after our exciting start to our vacation, it was time to actually see something on Day 2. One thing about traveling to the west coast is that it is really easy to get up early and get started with your day because the body still thinks it's on EST. So we are up at 4:45 AM and out the door of the hotel by 6:00 AM. This is usually a good thing....however, sunrise was at 7:20 AM. We figured it would take a bit longer from our hotel to get to the entrance of the Columbia River Gorge than it did. We stopped and got gas before heading into the park area. One thing about national parks or state parks or anything like that is that there are no gas stations within the park itself or if there are, the gas prices are extremely high. When we stopped for gas, we quickly learned that it was the first day of hunting season also...so the market was packed with hunters who were stocking up on supplies before heading out. Again, somethings you just can't plan on....flexibility is the key!

Finally we headed out to the Columbia River Gorge and Mount Hood. First stop the Columbia River Gorge. We had tried to research the best route to follow but found that information was sparse so from what we were able to gather was that even though Interstate 84 ran next to the Gorge, the only way to see the waterfalls and folliage that makes the gorge so beautiful is to get off of the interstate and take Historic Route 30 directly through the area. Well we got off the interstate at Troutdale and quickly realized that it was still dark! So we waited for a few minutes for sunrise and headed into the gorge. The second thing that we quickly realized is that the gorge is covered in fog/clouds all morning and until the sun is high and hot enough to burn off that fog it is very difficult to see anything!



After the first couple stops, we were rather disappointed because the fog was so thick and it really obscurred everything, we actually thought about just driving through quickly and heading to Mount Hood first and then doubling back to see the gorge. We kept going forward and by the time we got to the waterfall section of the drive we were pleasantly surprised that the fog had lifted enough that we had really clear views! The waterfalls in the gorge were absolutely amazing! There are 5 waterfalls within 10 miles that can either be seen from the parking areas or by walking on a short hike to see. Each one was different and well worth the time to stop and take pictures and just enjoy the beauty. Multnomah Falls is the centerpiece of the gorge and the second highest year-round waterfall in North America. The upper falls is 542 feet and the lower falls is 69 feet. It is beautiful and arguably as impressive as Yosemite falls even though it is not as high, because there is a flow all year whereas Yosemite stops for several months. We took a short hike up to the bridge which separates the upper and lower falls for a close up look at the uppper falls. The hikes to all of the falls are short but they are steep and involve some effort to get to but certainly doable and the views that you get are well worth the effort! There is a gift shop and concession stand with food and specialty coffees and fudge for purchase at Multnomah Falls so we picked up a snack and went on our way. There were two more falls just beyond Multnomah Falls and then you exit the historic route 30 area and head back onto Interstate 84. Now there are a few other things to see on the route and they can easily be accessed by exited I-84 and getting back to Route 30.








Eventually you turn off of I-84 onto Route 35/26 and continue in a loop around Mount Hood. Now by this time it was about noon and we never thought about continuing cloud cover over Mount Hood. One of the Rangers at the Columbia River Gorge had informed us that she thought the clouds might lift enough that we "might get a glimpse" of Mount Hood. Ok....never realized that this was a possibility or that this is a regular occurrence! It seems as though since we are in the Pacific Northwest and it's very wet and cloudy...the fog/cloud cover is always an issue. Well when we got to the spot that is supposed to have the best viewing area for the top of Mount Hood, Timberline Lodge, we could only see a very small portion of the mountain and certainly not the top of it. I have to admit that we were very disappointed but we snapped a picture and walked around a bit. We got back in the car and checked out the map that we were given and realized that there was another road that went around the other side of the mountain. We weren't hopeful that the cloud cover would be any better but thought that we might as well give it a try since we were there. This is a road that is paved the majority of the way, unpaved in spots and unmaintained in winter. Well luckily there was no snow and we were able to take our chances. Other than a small section where one lane of the roadway was closed due to the fact that the road had disintegrated and collapsed (there was a huge chunk missing!) we didn't have any problems navagating the roadway. About halfway around the road, the clouds lifted and there it was....the top of Mount Hood! We were able to get some awesome pictures of that side of the mountain and were happy that we decided to take the extra time to try the back road!



After our tour around the Gorge and Mount Hood, we headed back to our hotel to get ready for sweetest day dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in downtown Portland. Well when we get back to the hotel...(the same Hilton Garden Inn with the broken thermostat) we head up to our room and realize that our keys have been deactivated. Back down to the desk and a few minutes later we had reactived room keys and were back in business. Sometimes it's just the little annoyances with hotels...all in all it was not a bad place to stay and the price was reasonable but I'm not sure I would recommend it highly. We headed off to Ruth's Chris with a few minutes to spare just in case we got lost. Here's where we learned another lesson....always double check the address that the GPS chooses for you! We plugged in Ruth's Chris Restaurant and the GPS took us to a location that no longer existed. Thank goodness we had built in the extra few minutes, I was able to look up the Ruth's Chris in Portland and realized that they had moved to a new location in December of 2010 but obvioulsy the update hadn't hit the GPS!! We were only a few streets away and were able to make it there in plenty of time for our reservation but there were a few anxious moments! Dinner was very good and other than a slightly odd server, we had a great evening!

So lessons learned from today's trip:
1. Sometimes you can get up too early....check to see if there are any strange weather patterns that would affect your visit.

2. Be flexible and patient...sometimes conditions will change or you can find an alternate route and you will get to see what you wanted to see.

3. Always check your GPS to make sure that it has the right info to get you where you want to go!



Coming up.....Day 3....Mount St. Helen's National Monument and Mount Rainier National Park...

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