September 28
41mi/66km
2500ft/760m elevation gain
It was a chilly morning as we set out on the Historic Columbia River Highway, but not for long. This route was originally constructed for automobiles between 1913-1922 as a scenic highway, but these days it’s a multi-use trail that roughly parallels the interstate. Unfortunately, we did have to actually ride the shoulder of the interstate for 6 miles, but it was actually more space than we’ve had on most of the highways we’ve ridden, and it was over soon enough.
At Hood River we stopped for a coffee, then continued along the route, which included some cool old tunnels.
Eventually the path ended and we were back on a road, but traffic was very light and the riding was quite pleasant despite being mostly uphill. As we move into the East Gorge, the scenery has changed. We woke up this morning amongst the tall, moss covered Douglas-firs. By the afternoon we were looking at grassy hills lined with Oak and Ponderosa Pine.
All day we had great views of the Columbia River. We saw Great Blue Herons, Canada Geese, American Coots, Turkey Vultures, Red-winged Blackbirds, Steller’s Jays, California Scrub Jays, and Mourning Doves.
We arrived in The Dalles and set out to find a new camp stove. Our old pocket rocket has become too cross-threaded to screw properly onto a fuel canister. We found a cheap but similar model at a local farm shop. We got a motel room, did some grocery shopping, showered, did laundry, watched a bike race, and grabbed Thai food from a nearby food truck. We checked out our route for tomorrow and are ready to tackle the Oregon Outback!
