Viewpoints

The scenery was simply captivating to my Iowegian eyes. There was diversity in every direction I look that was so beautiful. One evening while taking a drive, we passed by hill upon hill of fruit trees and vines in every direction. This one shows Mt. Adams on the Washington side of the Columbia gorge in the background.

Just a few miles different and the scene is totally different with wheat fields as far as one could see with Mt. Adam again in the background.

 

On another day we headed south to see Mt. Hood, the highest point in Oregon. Coincidentally, it was the day before a publicized high altitude rescue occurred here. 

On another day we drove north into Washington to visit Mt. St. Helens, a mountain that has been in my consciousness since my youth when it erupted the last time. The entire time I spent on the ridge named after a scientist killed in the eruption, I felt woefully small and insignificant in the grand scheme of life. It was a different feeling for me but one I was glad to experience. 

On yet another day we experiences lots of waterfalls coming from mountains, through those areas of fruit trees and wheat fields until they collapsed over the edge into the Columbia river basin. This one is named Horsetail Falls.

Latourell Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

Mulnomah Falls.

On a related note, due to the immense crowds flocking to see these waterfalls, some now require a timed entry pass to have a SHOT at parking somewhere to see them. I emphasize a shot because at the above falls, there is something like 40 parking spaces for the thousands of people who visit it on a typical summer day. Because of this we made perhaps one of the best decisions we made on the entire trip and essentially bought tickets with a place called Sasquatch Shuttles. Essentially they gave us a place to park our car and shuttled us around on school buses to the various (all ways packed parking lots) near each falls and dropped us off. This gave us time to hike, look around, take pictures and then easily catch the bus to the next stop. Meanwhile hundreds of people waited long periods of time for a spot to open up or got into fights jockeying for an opening parking spot before the car previously occupying it could get out of the way. (Yes I did witness that more than once.) The whole experience was worth every penny.

The Columbia River gorge where the river bisects the Cascade mountains is just a beautiful place. Above is the fanciest rest area you will every see, complete with marble floored bathrooms along one of the roads that winds along the inside face of the gorge.

For much of our time in Oregon and Washington, the skies were just cloudy enough they weren't overpowering and indeed with highs in the mid 70's everyday, it was a great week to be there while back home sweated it out. Occasionally it was overcast like the days we went to see both Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens along with the day spent chasing waterfalls in the Columbia River gorge, but I didn't mind. It was perfect hiking weather.