Road Trip Seattle to San Francisco - Day 7 – Columbia River Gorge – waterfalls and fish

[anji]

Road Trip Seattle to San Francisco - Day 7 – Columbia River Gorge – waterfalls and fish

Today we had just 65 miles to travel but knew it was going to take all day as there was just so much to see and do along the way to Hood River. The day was overcast with big clouds today.

We had breakfast at Café Ponte, a few doors away from our hotel, before checking out. First stop of the day was Monroe’s house from Grimm. This was again in a lovely neighbourhood. We wondered how they came to choose the houses for the show.

From here we headed off on the I84 for a short time before leaving it and joining the Historic Columbia River Highway and working our way upwards. We soon came to Chanticleer Point which was founded by the Portland Women’s Forum. This had great views down the Columbia River and we could see the Vista House along the river, where we were stopping next.

The Vista House was built in 1917 and the road obviously had far less traffic than it did today! The building is beautiful and has several levels to explore, as well as a café which we didn’t use. You can see right along the Gorge and how steep the sides were. The clouds continued to gather.

Our first waterfall was the next stop – Latourell Falls. A lovely straight waterfall into a small river below.

Bridal Veil Falls was the next one. This involved a bit of a hike from the car park of a mile or so with quite a few steps but nothing too strenuous. You could see how it got it’s name from the shape.

We wanted to stop at Multnomah Falls – the most famous one with the bridge – but it was rammed and there was nowhere at all to park. We took a bad photo from the car and decided to give it a miss.

We parked a bit further on past the Oneonta Tunnel on the road. We walked back through the tunnel (where the road was at one time) and climbed down the steps to the river. By walking along the river you would eventually reach the wonderous Oneonta Gorge – this involves literally walking in the river up to 3’ depth but it was muddy and slippery. I’d seen amazing pictures of this but it was just too far and wet to go.

Horsetail Falls was the last waterfall of the day.

The road eventually rejoined the I84 and we stopped at the Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery. The Fish Hatchery was very interesting with all different stages of fish life. There are also huge sturgeon there – at least 6’ long.

As we left here it started to rain. We drove the short distance to the Bonneville Dam – after stopping at the wrong place and getting chased off by security – and sat in the car for a few minutes for the rain to stop. The dam is enormous and a great feat of engineering.

There's also a fish ladder to help fish travel up the river past the dam to spawn and was ingenious. Every fish that travels up has to pass a window where it’s counted and the species logged.

Our hotel for the next two nights wat the Vagabond Lodge at Hood River. This cost us $130 each night and I’d booked a river view room. This was a total bargain compared to other hotels in the area and right next door to the Columbia Gorge Hotel, where Geoffa had recommended to go for a drink in the Valentino Lounge. Our room didn’t disappoint – lovely balcony overlooking the gorge and I hoped that the clouds would move along quickly. The hotel was along a dead-end road with two restaurants and just off the highway, about a mile out of town.

We stopped off at the local Walmart for a few bits before exploring the town. It has won a few ‘best small town’ awards and was a lovely place. We settled on dinner in the Subterranean restaurant. This was as it sounds and was a really friendly place with a good atmosphere.

I’d loved the sights we’d seen today – I love all things nature and although we’d not seen any wildlife (probably too many people) it was all so green and beautiful. We watched a bit of tv before sleeping in the very comfortable bed.

Index - https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...d.php?t=966569

[Disney Wishing]

That area looks lovely. Such great sights & scenery.

[jheaton]

Lovely photos-you managed a bit more exploring than we had time for in our 2014 trip
but we did get to Multnomah Falls

[Melbatb]

Looks so very lovely!

[anji]

Janet - it looks so quiet at both places You were lucky. This is the bad photo I managed to take from the car. Couldn't pull over as no room!

[jheaton]

great to see the fish, DH would have loved that

[Cannavar]

Thanks for the update and the photos! Really enjoying the reports.

[mick]

A good day some lovely views of the waterfalls

Joan

[Guest]

Ah! Vista House - when built in 1917 they were the most expensive toilets in all of America - all marble! It cost $100,000 at the time equivalent to $2,039,008 today!
The Gorge itself is so, so beautiful.

[anji]

Very expensive toilets - I did make a point of paying them a visit! This is the little shelf you could put down to put your bag on