Day 10 - Mountains, Indians and Waterfalls
9th August 2019
Another early start today. It appears that the families that stay in Bend like to be up and out and exercising the whole family at the crack of dawn. There was much activity in the communal areas, which mainly consisted of very fit looking mums and dads convincing their less than enthusiastic kids that a 50km bike ride before 8am was fun. We checked out and set off (in the car) for the day ahead.
We stopped for a light breakfast and coffee before picking up Highway 97 North towards Hood River.
The terrain changed very quickly after leaving Bend. No longer the pine forests, but now the open yellow farmland. More cattle around, ranches with horses and…alpacas. My new favourite animal. The baby ones are so cute and fluffy that I spent quite a lot of the time saying ‘look’, ‘awww’. Most annoying! There were quite a few mountains in the distance, which we managed to identify using the road map. Black Butte (sniggers from the men in the car) and Grizzly Mountain. Despite the temperature nudging 90 degrees, there was still a fair bit of snow on these mountains.
The most direct route to Hood River was via the ‘Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs’ area. A little history for you - during the 1800s, the old way of life for the Indian bands in Oregon (who lived along the Columbia River) was upset by immigrants from the east. By 1852, up to 12,000 settlers were crossing Warm Springs territories each year.
In 1855 the superintendent for the Oregon Territory, received his orders from the government to clear the Indians from their lands. He did so by negotiating a series of Indian treaties including the one establishing the Warm Springs Reservation. Under the treaty, the Warm Springs tribes relinquished ten million acres of land around the Columbia River, but reserved the Warm Springs Reservation for their exclusive use. The tribes also kept their rights to harvest fish, game and other foods off the reservation in their usual and accustomed places.
Traditional ways of life changed greatly after the Warm Springs tribes relocated onto the Warm Springs Reservation. Salmon wasn’t as plentiful as it had been on the Columbia, and the harsher climate and poor soil conditions made farming more difficult. They quickly found that their former economic system was no longer workable. In addition, federal policies to assimilate the Indian people forced them to abandon many of their customary ways in favour of modern schools, sawmills, and other infrastructure foreign to the tribes.
To me, this seems such a terrible loss of history and a disregard for it’s importance. We drove through the area, and it was totally barren. We didn’t see many buildings or evidence of life. We did see one Indian lady when we stopped for fuel, and she was quite old, but very distinctive looking.
We soon found the forest lined roads again as we started to climb up towards Mt Hood. This area is a ski region in the winter and we passed signs warning us to attach snow chains.
We soon caught sight of the Columbia River.
This is a wide old river, and divides Oregon and Washington State. It was a hive of activity - paddle boarders, kayakers, kite surfers, sailing boats and paragliding.
We stopped in Hood River town. A lovely place! Clean and full of interesting shops and cafes. The people here look healthy. There were some wonderful 1930s buildings too. We stopped at a cafe (Boda’s Kitchen) to have a sandwich, and I was craving salad, so I had salad and chicken. The salad was tomato and peach and tasted soo good.
Back in the car and we were following the Colombia River Gorge Natural Scenic Route. This is the old Highway and is a single lane through the trees. It follows the river quite closely, only occasionally interrupted by the railway.
We approached a bridge called ‘Bridge of the Gods’
A large steel constructed bridge connecting Oregon to Washington. We were going to cross it, but there was quite a queue. So we stopped under it, bought a bag of cherries and took some photos.
The next stop was the Bonneville Dam. This was a bit of a surprise, as we thought it would be a bit dull, but it was really impressive. It spans this huge river. It has two huge locks, and a fish ladder (more on that in a second). It was built in 1938 to produce hydroelectric power.
The dam blocked the river for migrating salmon - so to cope with fish migration problems, the dam features fish ladders to help native salmon get past the dam on their journey upstream to spawn. We were able to go into a viewing area under the dam to watch how the fish use these ladders to swim upstream.
Next stop was the Multnomah Falls - a 620 feet waterfall, the highest in Oregon. There are around 10 waterfalls along this stretch of road, with great sounding names such as ‘Bridal Veil Falls’ and ‘Horsetail Falls’. The visitor area was packed, but we found our way through the crowds, which moved off quite quickly. The falls were really a pleasant sight. You could take a walk up to a small bridge to get a nicer view.
Our final stop along the highway was the Vista House. Built in 1916, it was constructed to provide travellers a place to rest and refresh themselves as they made their way down the magnificent Columbia River Gorge. It is a beautiful round building and very grand! It offers amazing panoramic views.
It makes the construction of that dam even more amazing.
Now onto our final stop and rest point for the day - Portland.
Portland is Oregon’s largest city. We arrived around 5:30 and checked into our hotel. A brand new Radisson - which is really nice. Big beds, big fluffy towels, big showers. Very welcome.
We took a walk around the City and took in the interesting buildings. The homeless bums are here, which is no surprise, but on the whole it feels safe and is very clean. We went into Powell BookStore - the ‘largest independent bookstore in the world’. It is huge. Divided into sections by colour over 4 floors, it is amazing. And it sells used and new books all on the same shelf. Brilliant place.
We had dinner in Pine Street Market which has a big seating area and lots of small independent stalls offering all kinds of food. Oli had pizza (!!), I had a Salmon bibim bap, and Andrew had Mexican meat platter. It was a nice place to be.
Then onto Voodoo Donuts. My friend, Jo had recommended this. When we walked past on our way to dinner the queue snaked around outside. Now it was a bit later we just walked in. A donut each and a stroll back to the hotel.
Can’t wait to get in that massive bed.
