Poking around Oregon

After our trip on the Rogue we drove Garrett back to Portland so he could get back to his day job in Vegas.  Since we were already in the area we decided to spend a couple of days driving and camping in the Columbia River Gorge area.  After spending a few nights indoors and around so many people (well actually only 8 other people) Alexis and I both decided that we needed to get back to our simple life of homeless truck living.  We took the old scenic highway up the Gorge stopping at the mandatory waterfalls for a few short hikes, well that and a latte at Multnomah Falls.  We also stopped at Bonneville Dam to watch the salmon move up the fish ladders.  Our timing was fortunate as the king salmon migration was in full swing; we watched hundreds of king salmon along with silver salmon, steelhead, and one lamprey eel.  It’s pretty fun being eye-to-eye with the fish, they seem pretty surprised to see you but they do have bigger things on their tiny minds.

After the tour of the waterfalls and dam we headed for eastern Oregon via The Dalles, and yes "The" is capitalized as in the city of The Dalles--go figure.  Headed south from The Dalles we drove through some really pretty wheat country as we looked in vain for a place to pull over and camp.  Realizing that we wouldn't find a restful campsite in the wheat fields we headed for the eastern flank of Mt Hood and found a great little site in the woods.  We woke up and realized that we still had everything we needed for breakfast in our truck; after a nice breakfast we drove down to Hood River for a second cup of coffee. 

      

We has planned on doing a hike near Cascade Locks and spent most of the day hiking up to Indian Point and back.  Hiking up the 2500 feet or so to the point didn't offer many views except for the forest but the views from the top more than made up for it.  Driving back to Portland to visit with our friends Lincoln and Sara we stopped by the Bonneville Dam again, this time to check out the hatchery and the resident sturgeon Herman.  The photos don't do him justice but he is around 9 feet long; in the bottom photo you can just make out some really large rainbow trout (24") near him.  After a nice visit with Lincoln and Sara (and Berit and the new kid) we headed down the Oregon coast so Alexis could get some clam chowder.  Back in Corvallis we helped my parents prepare their boat for a trip to the San Juan Islands.