A trip down the Historic Colombia River Highway was filled with sightseeing stops but also lots of other tourists. Wow, we think the school vacations have begun and it was suddenly busy everywhere. First stop was at the Portland Women’s Forum Overlook to see back to Portland and up the Columbia River towards Hood River.
Next was the Vista House which was built in 1917 for tourists to stop, get refreshments and admire the view. Some things don’t change.
I loved these shelves in the ladies toilets. If they had these in 1917, how come they never caught on?
Next was the very tall Latourell Falls.
And then after a break for dinner, onto Bridal Veil Falls (not quite as tall as the one at Yosemite).
The next morning we decided to walk a 6 mile loop in which you could see six different waterfalls and some lovely wildflowers but also the effects of the 2017 Eagle Creek fires which devastated some of this area.First we rushed to get away from the crazy crowds at Multnomah Falls which attracts people as it is the tallest waterfall in Oregan.
As we climbed the switchback corners higher, the number of tourists thinned a little. Next we saw the Dutchman Falls and then the Wiesendanger Falls.
Followed by the gentle Ecola Falls. Now the number of tourists started to reduce drastically just as the number of wild flowers increased.
With a quick slurp from the Wahkeena Springs we began our descent. We passed the Fairy Falls which were really pretty.
And then meandered alongside the gradually descending river through fire affected forest to green and lush parts of the forest too.
Finally we reached the Wahkeena Falls and rejoined the hustle and bustle of tourists once more.
We stopped at The Bonneville fish hatchery to see the famous Herman the sturgeon who is over 75 years old, weighs over 500lbs and is over 10 feet long. Would have been rude not to!
Here they rear millions of chinook and coho salmon to compensate for loss of breading grounds with the Bonneville dam and also the John Day dam.It would be unusual not to visit a couple of the local breweries (even i it did require a revist the next day to retrieve my handbag -oops).
Hood River is a Mecca for windsports as the cool air from the west meets the hot air from the east and creates a wind. Apparently great for kitesurfing, windsurfing and sailing – not so helpful for keeping your hair out of your eyes while spectating!
Or as Pete discovered, dust from your brakes while replacing your brake pads (we finally got the correct ones).
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