Columbia River Gorge & Mt Hood

Flaming Gorge, Crazy Horse, & Mt. Rushmore on my own Columbia River Gorge & Mt. Hood with New England Hiking Holidays (www.newenglandhikingholidays.com) (June 2002)
Introduction Note: I had planned 3 hikes for the summer of 2002. This one with NEHH and two with a company I hadn't hiked with before--The World Outdoors. Plus I was driving so I had allowed some time to see some things on my own in addition to those mentioned here.
I got an early start on the first two days and drove 1,128 miles and realized I was going to get to Portland too early so I looked at the map for additional sightseeing possibilities and saw that I80 went very close to the Flaming Gorge. Therefore, I decided to take a detour and see some beautiful scenery instead of just driving along the interstate. I exited I 80 on US 191 S then took Utah 44 W and Utah 530 N back to I 80 making a big loop around the Flaming Gorge area . Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area The Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area (NRA) is centered around a large artificial lake on the Green River formed by the Flaming Gorge Dam. The gorge is managed by the US Forest Service as part of the Ashley National Forest. The most scenic area is in Utah where the lake lies beneath the steep red cliffs that it was named for in 1869 by John Wesley Powell. However, most of the lake lies in Wyoming as the river has been flooded for 91 miles above the dam. US 191 approached the reservoir from the mountainous east side and although it is generally about 15 miles away from the water it is very scenic climbing up to 8,000 feet and crossing an impressive, deserted landscape of peaks and valleys. US 191 crosses into Utah and goes over the dam, 500 feet above the downstream water level. Flaming Gorge Dam was completed across what was Red Canyon in 1964 after 6 years of construction. To the east, Red Canyon continues in its original state across a little-visited area of Utah towards the Dinosaur National Monument. West of the lake, road WY 530 becomes UT 44 and the land begins to rise as the Uinta Mountains approach; these are the only major east-west range in the USA and extend 100 miles westward to Salt Lake City. The character of the lake changes as it becomes enclosed by steep cliffs - there is a particularly scenic section as the road winds around Sheep Creek Bay, an inlet at the end of a long valley formed along the Uinta fault zone which has tilted red and white stratified ridges extending for many miles. Beyond the bay, UT 44 moves away from the water and climbs into a hilly forested area. After a few miles a short side-road leads to the Red Canyon visitor center, built right on the edge of the cliffs which are over 1,000 feet high at this point. Part of the exhibition room overhangs the gorge, giving great views vertically down to the water far below. There is a short nature trail leading to a promontory with overlooks up and down the canyon.
topography map in Red Canyon Visitor's Center	pictures of Flaming Gorge 1) click on a thumbnail picture to view a larger image 2) right click on the larger image to save the picture 3) click on your Internet Browser's Back arrow to return to this page		this postcard shows you the beautiful red walls and clear blue lake and is a GREAT introduction to my pictures
Cartcreek Bridge	Flaming Gorge Dam as viewed from the Reservoir		Dam viewed from the Green River Road
lake	Red Canyon	view from canyon overlook	view from inside visitor's center
The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area The Columbia River Gorge is a spectacular river canyon, 80 miles long and up to 4,000 feet deep, cutting the only sea level route through the Cascade Mountain Range. It is more than a natural wonder; the Gorge is a critical transportation corridor and home to 75,000 people. In 1986 President Reagan signed into law an Act creating the 292,500 acre Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. The Act did not create a wilderness or park. Instead, it allows for existing rural and scenic characteristics to be retained, while it encourages compatible growth and development within urban areas. It's easy to drive through the Gorge using State Route 14 on the Washington side and/or Interstate 84 on the Oregon side. Four bridges help you get from one side of the river to the other: Cascade Locks in Stevenson, Hood River in Bingen, The Dalles in Dallesport, and Biggs in Maryhill. The greatest concentration of waterfalls in the wet Northwest is in the Gorge and the most visited site in Oregon is Multnomah Falls in the Gorge.
The Highway’s design standards required maximum grades of 5% and minimum turning radis of 100 feet. In some locations engineers “developed distance” by looping the road back and forth on itself.	the highway descending from Rowena Crest (note the beautiful arched stonework)	balsamroot & blue lupine on the Rowena Plateau	prickly pear cactus
my first good view of the Columbia River Gorge	view from Chanticleer Point (Crown Point Vista House can barely be seen on the top of the cliff that juts out on the right)	same picture with my zoom lens and the Crown Point Vista House can more easily be seen	the historic Vista House at Crown Point State Park provides a gorgeous panorama of the Gorge
view from the Vista House	What Formed the Falls? Between 18 and 12 million years ago, floods of molten lava covered much of SE Washington and poured down the Columbia River valley building layer upon layer of dense, black, basalt. Over time the Columbia carved a spectacular canyon through these layers creating the only sea-level passage through the Cascade Mountains. Near the end of the Ice Age, about 15,000 years ago, dams of ice repeatedly created huge lakes across Idaho and Montana. As the dams broke, floods ten times the combined flow of all the rivers in the world scoured the Columbia River Gorge, further defining the steep, box-shaped canyon. Small tributaries like Multnomah Creeek could not cut through the basalt as fast as the mighty Columbia so they were left behind to plunge over Gorge cliffs in breathtaking waterfalls .
map of gorge	Type: horsetail Height: 176 feet This classic example of a horsetail formation (one that drops vertically & maintains contact with bedrock) along Horsetail Creek can be viewed from a turnout on the Historic Highway.
Plummeting 620 feet from its origins on Larch Mountain and fed by underground springs, Multnomah Falls is a "plunge" falls that drops away from the cliffside thus losing contact with bedrock. It is the 2nd highest year-round waterfall in the US and nearly two million visitors a year come to see this ancient waterfall making it Oregon's number one public destination.		view of road, Multnomah Falls, & bridge	lower tier & bridge
Benson Bridge, crafted by Italian stone masons, allows visitors to cross the falls between its lower and upper cataracts. Simon Benson, a prominent businessman and owner of the falls erected the bridge in 1914. He gave the 300 acre site to the City of Portland and in 1943 ownership of the site and lodge was transferred to the USDA Forest Service.		approaching Benson Bridge via the trail	upper tier
The Lodge is located beside Multnomah Falls and was built in 1925. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. Every type of rock found in the Columbia River Gorge is represented in the Lodge, and it originally had dormitories and four rooms for overnight stays. Inside the lower level of the Lodge today is a USDA Forest Service Information Center, a snack bar, rest rooms, and a WONDERFUL gift shop. In the upper portion of the lodge is a restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. The restaurant is assessible by elevator for people with disabilities.
Type: tiered Height: 242 feet A tier falls has separate falls that can be viewed all at once. The Yakama Tribe word "wahkeena" means "most beautiful."		Monkey Flower along Wahkeena Creek	this bridge at Shepperd's Dell is typical of the cast concrete bridges with balustrade railings complementing graceful arches spanning creeks and canyons along the Historic Highway
Type: plunge Height: 249 feet Multnomah & Latourell are "both" plunge falls. This fall is located in Guy W. Talbot State Park on Latourell Creek and is right beside the Historic Highway, the viewpoint is a short walk from the park's picnic area.	Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center I visited this Center before checking into the Skamania Lodge and meeting the New England Hiking group. For over 31,000 years, the Columbia River Gorge has supported flourishing civilizations. Evidence of the Folsom and Marmes people, who crossed the Great Continental Divide from Asia, were found in archaeological digs. Ancestors of today's Yakama, Warm Springs, Umatilla and Nez Perce tribal nations lived and fished along the river's banks for over 10,000 years. Lewis and Clark descended the Columbia River in dugout canoes in the fall of 1805 reaching their goal at the mouth of the Columbia, and they returned upstream the following spring on their journey home. In 1843, about 900 people braved the 2,000 mile Oregon Trail to reach the Willamette Valley. By 1849, approximately 11,500 pioneers poured into Oregon, forever changing life in the Columbia Gorge. Eventually steamboats, railroads, and highways replaced canoes and rafts, but the Columbia Gorge remains a major transportation route through the Cascade Mountain Range. (located across the Bridge of the Gods on Washington side of the gorge)
a rug depicting Lewis & Clark visiting a local Indian tribe	1921 Mack log truck and water wheel in one of the museum's display rooms	a display showing the way the Indians fished from platforms with dip nets	one of the bicentennial quilts displayed in the museum
Skamania Lodge where we stayed 3 nights	Bridge of the Gods at Cascade Locks	our first hike on Monday was in the Oneonta Gorge then we returned to the van, ate lunch, viewed Bridal Veil Falls and took a trail up to see more falls
	fox glove	Upper Latourell Falls Type: plunge Height: 75-100 feet Access: 0.8 miles along the trail from Latourell Falls. It is possible to walk behind the falling water.	Bridal Veil Falls Type: tiered (upper falls: 60-100' - lower falls 40-60') A short trail from the parking area winds down to the base of the lower tier.
Beacon Rock as seen from a trail on the Oregon side of the Gorge - to get to the Beacon Rock area from I-84, take Exit 44 and cross The Bridge of the Gods over the Columbia River to Washington then take S.R. 14 westward for 7 miles.	view of Beacon Rock from the river - the rock is an 848-foot-high remnant of an ancient volcano which has been worn away by the river's erosion - a railed path leads hikers to the top for a magnificent view but we didn't have time to climb the trail	2 views of Ponytail falls
Triple Falls Type: segmented Height: 100-135 feet Access: 1.7 miles from the trailhead of the Oneonta Trail. Triple Falls is of triplet form, not triple as the name implies.	bridge above triple falls	Bonneville Dam	2 pictures of the fish ladders that allow fish to climb over the dam
inside the dam there are viewing windows where you can watch the fish as they swim up the ladders	on Tuesday we hiked 6 miles UP Eagle Creek Canyon, saw 3 beautiful waterfalls, then hiked DOWN the canyon First Falls Metlako Falls Type: plunge Height: 100-150 feet The waterfall was named in 1915 after the legendary Indian goddess of salmon.		columbine along the trail
Eagle Creek Trail	Punchbowl Falls Type: punch bowl Height: 10-15 feet Punch Bowl Falls is short but it is exquisite and a classic example of a punchbowl formation. A short side trial leads to the base of the falls.		Eagle Creek High Bridge
layered basalt flow above the High Bridge	looking down at Eagle Creek below the Bridge	view of trail as it traverses a rock fall
stonecrop flowers on one of the scree slopes	Tunnel Falls there is a man-made tunnel behind the falls to allow people to cross the canyon and continue up the other side where this trail joins the Pacific Crest Trail	top of tunnel falls	bottom of tunnel falls
me in front of the falls	people can be seen walking on the path behind the falls in this & the next picture
Next stop--The Resort at the Mountain In Welches, Oregon & Mt. Hood Mount Hood is 11,235' high - naturally there are several good viewpoints and hikes. The NEHH Group stayed 2 nights at the Resort at the Mountain (however, I fell and dislocated an elbow so I spent the 2nd night in the hospital and then stayed an extra night before starting the drive home).

a view of Mt. Hood from Panorama Point (a short drive from Exit 64 on I84)	Mt. Hood as seen from Lost Lake (we hiked around this lake--approximately 3 miles--had lunch and then drove to the Timberline Lodge before going the Resort at the Mountain)	me at Lost Lake (Mt. Hood is barely visible in the background)
2 inside views of Timberline Lodge (a year around ski resort)		views of people skiing right outside the lodge in July

Crazy Horse Memorial, Indian Museum of North America, and Native American Education & Cultural Center When Korczak Ziolkowski accepted the invitation of Native Americans to carve a mountain memorial he determined that it would be a humanitarian project; Crazy Horse would be much more than "just" a colossal mountain carving. It would also tell present and future generations the story of Native American peoples by collecting and preserving outstanding examples of Indian culture and heritage--both yesterday and today--and, ultimately, the Memorial would also create a formal educational institution. The Museum has grown with the sculpture project, and 2002 marks the 30th anniversary of the Indian Museum of North America. Each year tribal members and others contribute Native American art and artifacts to enhance the collection and make it more comprehensively represent all North American tribes. Also, the Native American Education & Cultural Center is part of the Crazy Horse project and is enormously popular with visitors. The distinctive stone building was constructed in 1996 from rock blasted from the Crazy Horse mountain carving.
Crazy Horse is being carved in the round and will be the largest sculpture in the world (563' high & 641' long) when finished (it is part of a non-profit educational and cultural project paying tribute to the North Amerian Indian)	Crazy Horse's face was finished in 1998	sculpture as it looked in 2002 when I was there	a model of the finished sculpture which includes a poem written by Korczak which will be carved into the mountain in letters 3 feet high (an enlarged view of the poem is shown in the following picture)
	this sculpture of "Fighting Stallions" in African mahogany by Korczak is located in front of the studio-home & workshop open to the public	left blank	left blank
Mount Rushmore By the 1920s, an unconventional sculptor named Gutzon Borglum was carving a Confederate memorial on Stone Mountain in Georgia. In 1923 state historian Doane Robinson suggested carving some giant statues in South Dakota's Black Hills. He called in the master sculptor of Stone Mountain and Borglum selected 5,725-foot Mount Rushmore. The four American Presidents carved into the granite of Mount Rushmore were chosen by the sculptor to commemorate the founding, growth, preservation, and development of the United States. They symbolize the principles of liberty and freedom on which the nation was founded. George Washington signifies the struggle for independence and the birth of the Republic; Thomas Jefferson the territorial expansion of the country; Abraham Lincoln the permanent union of the States and equality for all citizens; and Theodore Roosevelt, the 20^thcentury role of the United States in world affairs and the rights of the common man. President Coolidge dedicated the memorial in 1927, beginning 14 years of work, although only 6 1/2 years were spent on actual carving. Money was the major problem in the Great Depression years. Pride in country--and the fact that public works created good jobs and good will--channeled $836,000 of federal money toward to the total cost of nearly $1 million. Gutzon Borglum, who regarded his masterpiece as far more than a tourist attraction, must have been delighted when the phrase "Shrine of Democracy" was coined at the 1930 dedication of the Washington head, followed by Jefferson in 1936, Lincoln in 1937 and Roosevelt in 1939. Borglum died in March 1941, and the final dedication was not held until 50 years later. His son, Lincoln Borglum supervised the completion of the heads. Carving stopped in October 1941, on the eve of our entry into World War II. "A monument's dimensions should be determined by the importance to civilization of the events commemorated...Let us place there, carved high, as close to heaven as we can, the words of our leaders, their faces, to show posterity what manner of men they were. Then breathe a prayer that these records will endure until the wind and the rain alone shall wear them away." - Gutzon Borglum

	the beginning of the Presidential Trail	I wanted to hike the Presidential Trail but as you can see in the picture above my arm was in a sling due to the elbow dislocation and walking around with the weight of the arm in the sling was tiring so I looked but did not participate.
L&C Lewis & Clark departed from Camp Dubois on May 14,1804, and in a span of 28 months they covered 8,000 miles, developed friendships with the Native Americans and learned how to survive in some of America's most beautiful and treacherous territories. Crossing South Dakota I stopped at an I-90 rest area between exits 263 and 265 near Chamberlain, SD and was surprised to find that it housed the: Lewis and Clark I - 90 Interpretive Center/Keelboat Visitor Center A full-size 55-foot Keelboat that the Corps of Discovery traveled on as they explored the Missouri River extends clear through the upper level of the Visitor Center and sticks out on both ends of the building. In addition to the keelboat and interpretive panels that explain the Corps traveling adventures through present day South Dakota there are several other displays. Lewis and Clark camped on the west bank below an island in the middle of the Missouri River near Chamberlain. Their journal says, "Passed an island about the middle of the river. It is a mile long and has a great proportion of cedar on it." The journal continues in a 9/17/1804 entry "One quarter of a mile in rear of our camp which was situated in a fine open grove of cotton wood passed a grove of plumb trees loaded with fruit and now ripe,..." Lewis and Clark named the area along the Missouri River "Camp Pleasant" when they camped in 1804 and again in 1806 ... "we had not proceeded far before Saw a large plumb orchd. of the most delicious plumbs..." Pleasing, rich scenery greeted the Expedition after three days of rain. The landscape was beautiful and spectacular. Immense herds of buffalo, deer, elk and antelope grazed on the prairies. Steep irregular hills and deep ravines challenged the physical spirit of the Corps while observing and hunting the game. The strange new animals . . . jackrabbit, antelope, mule deer, black billed magpie and coyote were well known by the natives and trappers, but this was the first detailed descriptions recorded for science by Lewis and Clark. "Plumb Camp/Camp Pleasant" September 12-18, 1804

notice the end of the keelboat extends through the building	you can climb up to the keelboat which extends from wall to wall near the ceiling and step inside it, open the storage compartments, examine the equipment, etc. (it is all very interesting)	a costumed reinactment of some of the Corps of Discovery members
	a buffalo hide on display	this large frame of a teepee made of concrete is located on the banks of the river and contains picnic tables	this is one of two doors that depict scenes from the Lewis & Camp encampment
for pictures of other vacations return to the Vacation Photos page