Hood River & the Columbia River Gorge
“If you can dream it, you can become it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” – Goethe
I think of this quote each time I come to this area and have the opportunity to experience the highway that was “lifted out of the ordinary” — the Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway, constructed between 1913 and 1922. This was the genius of visionary Sam Hill, local entrepreneur and a character of magnitude. He enlisted creative engineer Samuel Lancaster to make his dream a reality. With a labor force that included masons as far away as Italy, this scenic roadway stretched nearly 100 miles from eastern Oregon to the Pacific Ocean. Today, many of us aboard the National Geographic Sea Bird walked or saddled bicycles over a six-mile stretch of it, now used for pedestrians and bikes only. Eventually, bigger trucks and faster automobiles caused the highway to become outdated to the needs of modern times. The plan is to restore the entire length of this historic highway for recreational purposes.
Earlier in the day, we visited the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, a fantastic museum that explores 40 million years of geological history; 10,000 years of cultural history, and 150 years of modern history through interactive multi-media exhibits. We also had the good fortune to meet a couple of the local raptor residents including Hooty, an owl blinded in one eye, and Bud, a peregrine falcon who came to the center because of a broken wing.
We continued our journey up the Columbia Gorge in the afternoon, passing through the final lock of our trip at Bonneville Dam. We witnessed the skills of wind kite surfers near Hood River, the wind-surfing capital of the United States. In the afternoon we listened to a presentation on the fur trade given by Historian Junius Rochester, and viewed the beauty of this scenic stretch of waterway. Later, well-known Multnonmah Falls caught the attention of many shutters, and rightly so, with some outstanding credits: this is the highest waterfall in the gorge, and at 620 feet, the second largest continually falling falls n the U.S.
What a well-rounded day it was, learning more about the salmon populations from Naturalist Linda Burback, as well as a lively discussion on sustainable fishing at re-cap.
