Monday, September 17, 2018

Plans

Left camp at 9:15am to cool temps in high 50s, lo 60s. Plans today include to cross from OR to WA (Bridge to the Gods), drive WA Rt14 east to Hood River/White Salmon River and satiate Willemke's desire to "see apples and pears and peaches."  

This means driving the scenic Fruit Loop (Rt35) and hoping to view Mt. Adams,WA (at 12,281ft) and Mt. Hood, OR (at 11,249ft)

Drive

We crossed over Bridge to the Gods in Cascade Falls, OR, then drove along historic Rt14, a beautiful road following the Columbia River Gorge along the WA coast.  Fisherman and fishing/guide boats by the dozens.

Hood River Fruit Loop (Fruit Stands)

Along Rt14, we crossed over Hood River Bridge and followed Rt.35, along a nicely mapped "Fruit Loop." It is very hilly but a very fertile area with grapes (winery), pears, apples and peaches.  Many have been picked, but there were many trees just groaning under ripe fruit. We stopped at very nice family fruit stands:

1. Packer Orchard and Bakery, 

A view from the orchard of Packer Orchard and Bakery
shows Mt. Adams in WA.

2. Hood River Lavender (picturesque lavender farms where on one end of the farm we could see Mt. Hood and on the other end, we could view Mt. Adams in WA).

Mt. Adams from Hood River Lavender Farms, OR

Mt. Hood from Hood River Lavender Farms, OR

3. Draper Girls Farm and UPick. 

4. Lavender Valley (Closed).

5. Apple Valley Country Store and Bakery.

A STORY:
Before we moved from North Haledon, NJ to Lackawaxen, PA in July 2017, I needed to decide what to do with 60 years of National Geographic Magazines.  My Dad stored them in old fruit boxes, one of which is pictured here.  MT HOOD Hood River Pears.

I eventually saved the WWII years, 1940-1945, any issues dealing with NASA's Mercury, Gemini and Apollo Space Programs.  And Cheryl Lynn took home 30+ issues to use in her classroom. I contacted National Geographic, local town libraries, posted them on Craigs List and LetGo and no takers, so I dumped them in North Haledon's recycle dumpsters. BUT I SAVED THE BOXES!


Multnomah Falls, Mt. Hood/Columbia Gorge, WA

We returned through the touristy Town of Hood River, OR, crossed Hood River Bridge again, drove west on Rt.14, crossed over the Bridge to Gods in Cascade Falls, WA and drove southwest on Rt.84 to Multnomah Falls right off Rt. 84 in the Columbia River Gorge. It's the 2nd highest waterfall in US at 620 ft high. There were hundreds of people there viewing the falls and walking what trails were open.

Quite a hike to the bridge. The trail is closed at the mid-bridge due to the fire damage of last year. 

Multnomah Falls from the Parking Lot. 

  

Hood River might be a "touristy" town, but imagine your
 Main Street looking like this with Mt. Adams, WA
daily in splendid, magnificent view!

Tomorrow, we plan to camp outside Ft. Clatsop National Histrionic Site on the Oregon side of the Columbia River and take in the sites where Lewis and Clark ended their western voyage and wintered 1805-1806. 

Clark's "O! the joy!" upon seeing the Pacific Ocean turned to nightmarish, meager existence as they bore the brunt of the terrible weather in early November. High winds, rain, hail and wet, wet, wet camps with awful living conditions on the north shore of the Columbia River.  More to come.