Columbia River Gorge
Arriving at the Dalles dam at approximately 9:00am, the Sea Bird had just passed over one of the most well-known trading sites of indigenous peoples in the Pacific Northwest. Wishram, as it was known in former times, lies nearly ninety feet under water in Lake Celilo behind The Dalles dam. This manmade lake stretches 24 miles up the Columbia River and has silenced, forever, the raging waters of Tumwater – the name given to Celilo by its first inhabitants.
As sunrise brought light and a slight hint of color to the basalt cliffs that surround this entrance to the Columbia River Gorge, we finalized our plans for the day. The delay of dam traffic throughout the night had pushed our arrival time back, creating an opportunity to be creative in our exploration of this entrance to one of the more scenic areas along the Columbia River.
We were met by two coaches that would transport us to the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, a very impressive museum and interpretive center divided into two halves. One side of the museum’s displays focused on climate, biology, and human history of the gorge. The other half of the building, called the Wasco County Museum, walked the visitor through the settling of this area. A door led into a small room filled with the sound of roaring water from Celilo Falls and old film footage of Indigenous peoples’ dip net fishery from precarious platforms hovering over fifty-foot waterfalls. Living history was recorded around this film including portraits and the words of the people who were once called the Salmon people.
Around the corner, we could follow the history of the non-native settlers of the area, who also discovered the beauty and tremendous resources that would represent their future.
After much too short a time, we returned to our coaches, moving towards the western area of the Cascade mountain range. Our passage followed a highway along the great river of the west, the Columbia, as it pierced through this large set of mountains making its way towards the Pacific Ocean. Slowly our coaches began a steady climb up to a well-known lookout at Rowena Crest. There we had an opportunity to look both east and west over the Columbia River. After a spectacular view, and a few photos, we returned to our coaches and made the short journey back down to Hood River and the Sea Bird to enjoy our midday meal. During lunch our vessel continued west on the Columbia making her way to Cascade Locks where our coach would meet us for an afternoon excursion along one of the most famous stretches of the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Highway.
The mountain, river, and waterfall landscape of the short distance between Troutdale and the Dalles is one of the most photographed sections of the Pacific Northwest; photographers come from all over the world to capture this tremendous combination of mists, mosses, and basalt! The preservation of this awe-inspiring landscape became so important that in 1986, Congress designated it protected under the title The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. Today, we made the usual and accustomed stops; first at Multnomah Falls, descending 620 feet through two plunge pools, surrounded by big leaf maples in a many shades of yellow.
Continuing east we made a stop at Latourell Falls and walked the short distance to a wonderful lookout facing a narrow lacey fall of water cloaked by more yellow maple leaves and a coating of chartreuse lichen on a platform of basalt cliffs.
Our final stop of the day was at Crown Point Vista House marking the western end of the Scenic Highway. Located approximately 730 feet above the Columbia River this lookout offers a commanding thirty-mile vista looking both east and west along the great river of the west. We took a moment to reflect on what the Corp of Discovery might have thought as they moved these final miles just 199 years ago; making their way, just we are today, towards the mighty western waters of the Pacific Ocean.
Arriving at the Dalles dam at approximately 9:00am, the Sea Bird had just passed over one of the most well-known trading sites of indigenous peoples in the Pacific Northwest. Wishram, as it was known in former times, lies nearly ninety feet under water in Lake Celilo behind The Dalles dam. This manmade lake stretches 24 miles up the Columbia River and has silenced, forever, the raging waters of Tumwater – the name given to Celilo by its first inhabitants.
As sunrise brought light and a slight hint of color to the basalt cliffs that surround this entrance to the Columbia River Gorge, we finalized our plans for the day. The delay of dam traffic throughout the night had pushed our arrival time back, creating an opportunity to be creative in our exploration of this entrance to one of the more scenic areas along the Columbia River.
We were met by two coaches that would transport us to the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, a very impressive museum and interpretive center divided into two halves. One side of the museum’s displays focused on climate, biology, and human history of the gorge. The other half of the building, called the Wasco County Museum, walked the visitor through the settling of this area. A door led into a small room filled with the sound of roaring water from Celilo Falls and old film footage of Indigenous peoples’ dip net fishery from precarious platforms hovering over fifty-foot waterfalls. Living history was recorded around this film including portraits and the words of the people who were once called the Salmon people.
Around the corner, we could follow the history of the non-native settlers of the area, who also discovered the beauty and tremendous resources that would represent their future.
After much too short a time, we returned to our coaches, moving towards the western area of the Cascade mountain range. Our passage followed a highway along the great river of the west, the Columbia, as it pierced through this large set of mountains making its way towards the Pacific Ocean. Slowly our coaches began a steady climb up to a well-known lookout at Rowena Crest. There we had an opportunity to look both east and west over the Columbia River. After a spectacular view, and a few photos, we returned to our coaches and made the short journey back down to Hood River and the Sea Bird to enjoy our midday meal. During lunch our vessel continued west on the Columbia making her way to Cascade Locks where our coach would meet us for an afternoon excursion along one of the most famous stretches of the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Highway.
The mountain, river, and waterfall landscape of the short distance between Troutdale and the Dalles is one of the most photographed sections of the Pacific Northwest; photographers come from all over the world to capture this tremendous combination of mists, mosses, and basalt! The preservation of this awe-inspiring landscape became so important that in 1986, Congress designated it protected under the title The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. Today, we made the usual and accustomed stops; first at Multnomah Falls, descending 620 feet through two plunge pools, surrounded by big leaf maples in a many shades of yellow.
Continuing east we made a stop at Latourell Falls and walked the short distance to a wonderful lookout facing a narrow lacey fall of water cloaked by more yellow maple leaves and a coating of chartreuse lichen on a platform of basalt cliffs.
Our final stop of the day was at Crown Point Vista House marking the western end of the Scenic Highway. Located approximately 730 feet above the Columbia River this lookout offers a commanding thirty-mile vista looking both east and west along the great river of the west. We took a moment to reflect on what the Corp of Discovery might have thought as they moved these final miles just 199 years ago; making their way, just we are today, towards the mighty western waters of the Pacific Ocean.
