Columbia Gorge - Portland Oregon

From Mt. St. Helens we traveled south towards Oregon until we reached the Columbia Gorge. The Columbia Gorge was formed thousands of years ago by Glacial floods and is the only sea-level passageway through the Cascade Mountains. Although it was a bit overcast during our visit, it still allowed for fantastic hiking and photographing.

Following a large loop around the gorge, North-West in Washington to South-West in Oregon, we first stopped at a boat launch. It was here that we noticed people hiking up a large haystack style cliff. We immediately determined our next move.

As soon as we arrived, we started our two mile ascent. The view up to the top was gorgeous, even though it was a bit overcast.

After the hike we continued driving East and stopped at a visitor’s center/dam. This is actually the only visitor center that I’ve ever been to that had an underwater observation tank where we were able to see tons of salmon and other very large yummy looking fish. After walking around, we found out that the fish were actually being rerouted away from the turbines, safely passed through the dam.

Since it was Sunday and the Giants were playing, our next stop was to the closest city, Hood River, OR. At the time we were on the Washington side so we continued to drive around the gorge.

The drive around the gorge was awesome only because we drove parallel to a train for most of the ride.

Once we arrived in Hood River we noticed some windsurfers but they were way too far for any photos so our next move was a place to watch the game and have some dinner. We found the only sports bar in town that looked popping and thank god we went there. After talking to the owner for a bit we decided to try his homemade nachos topped with pulled pork that had been smoking for hours. Mmmmm it was the best plate of nachos that I have ever had!

The next morning we finished the Gorge by driving down the historic Columbia River highway. There were at least five different sets of waterfalls that we stopped at. This part of the trip seemed tedious to me at first, however, every waterfall we visited was surprisingly unique and majestic.

Our last stop on the historic highway was Crown Point vista house. The house had beautiful surrounding scenery and gorgeous stained glass windows.

Leaving the gorge was sad because going inland towards Portland wasn’t nearly as gorgeous than driving right next to river. By the time we arrived in Portland it had been passed five and almost everything was closed. The original plan was to visit the botanical gardens and walk around, instead we rode on the tram car that overlooked the skyline. When we were done we. decided that the gardens weren’t worth staying in the area for so we drove for the rest of the night and a few hours in the morning towards the Oregon Coast.