June 17, 2007

June 17, 2007

This morning we drive west along the Columbia River Gorge towards Portland. The gorge is scenic with barren cliffs and steep hills along both sides of this wide river. In the distance we can see Mt. Hood directly before us. This conical volcano disguised as a pretty snow-capped mountain towers above the surroundings and threatens nearby Portland.

Our first stop is at the Gorge Discovery Center. It has very nice exhibits on the Lewis and Clark expedition that followed the same path we are doing today. It also has a bunch of information about the history of the area. The item I find most interesting is that scientists have discovered that periodic floods ravaged the Northwest US during the Ice Age. An advancing glacier would temporarily block river flow out of NW Montana until the resulting lake grew to monstrous proportions and nothing could hold it back. These biblical floods gouged huge canyons (coulees). Grand Coulee, WA, now a dry falls, was during these floods the largest known waterfall ever to have existed on earth. It was almost four times wider than and more than twice as high as Niagara. Grand Coulee and the Channeled Scablands of eastern Washington are now on my must-see list.

On our drive west we are running into a fierce headwind that is slamming the RV around. Aimee read in the Gorge Discovery Center that a constant west wind blows thru here like a wind tunnel because it is the only open gap across the Cascade Mountains. There are a bunch of windsurfers in the river taking advantage of our misfortune. As we travel farther west the gorge is getting higher and steeper and greener. We are also seeing waterfalls now cascading from the southern cliffs.

Our next stop is the Bonneville Dam where we take a dam tour. The dam ranger shows us the dam power plant. He also leads us to the fish ladder that lets salmon return upstream to spawn. We are a little early as the spawning period peaks in August and September. We mostly see monster shad jumping upstream. These shad though are the size of Coho Salmon. They are dam big. Some huge Pacific Lamprey Eels have attached themselves to the fish counter windows. Like salmon, these parasitic fish migrate from the ocean to spawn at the end of their life.

It is still Spring in the Pacific Northwest. So the grounds of the Dam site are abloom with wildflowers of all varieties and colors. I have a grand time trying to capture their beauty.

Ten miles further West, we stop to see 600-foot Multnomah Falls. It is a quick photographic stop as the parking lot is completely full. We spend the rest of the afternoon south of Portland visiting Aimee’s cousin Todd and his family.