On the last day of our trip, Meghan and I focused on the Columbia River Gorge – a scenic area just east of Portland. Today, we were going to freestyle it – we followed a guide from National Geographic.
On the last day of our trip, Meghan and I focused on the Columbia River Gorge - a scenic area just east of Portland. Today, we were going to freestyle it - we followed a guide from National Geographic.
Route Overview
Historic Columbia River Highway
We drove along the scenic route through the towns of Troutdale and Corbett, Oregon. Going through those roads led to the popular Vista House and Multnomah Falls. Our plan was to go see the waterfalls. However, since it was Labor Day, we were heading straight into traffic. We were not able to see the falls since there was no place to park our car, and we would be stuck in traffic for a while. Instead, we continued along the Columbia River Gorge to Bonneville.
Bonnevile Dam - Cascade Locks, OR
The Bonneville Dam was built in 1938 to improve navigation for boat traffic along the Columbia River, as well as supplying hydropower to the Pacific Northwest. In addition, an interesting sight is to see the fish ladders. The fish look like they're swimming on a treadmill through the powerful current.
The Road to Mount Hood
After visiting the dam, we continued into Cascade Locks, Oregon, to take the Bridge of Gods into Washington. We followed the Washington highway along the Columbia River until we crossed the Hood River Bridge back into Oregon. It was time for a well-deserved coffee break, since both of us were running on 5 hours of sleep.
Hood River is north of Mount Hood by about 30 miles. We headed southbound on Oregon SR 35, which provided a magnificent view of Mount Hood to our right. We followed this road until we found ourselves on the south side of the mountain. We followed NGEO's suggestion to visit Trillium Lake. What a view!
After an adventure-packed weekend, it was time to head home. We ended up fulfilling our tradition, and stopped at Voodoo Doughnuts after dinner in Portland. It was just the right amount of sugar to last us a 4-hour drive back up to Seattle!
