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Northwest Loop via bicycle with WomanTours July 31 - August 30, 2009 |
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Portland, OR to Dayton, WA
a larger map of the route can be viewed by clicking here or on the map
Terrain Map |
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Day 1 - August 1, 2009 Portland to Troutdale, OR - 22.5 miles |
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Today was our shortest mileage day for the entire trip so we had a late breakfast and didn't get started until after 8 o'clock. Then we stopped at the Salmon Street Fountain just 2/10s of a mile into the route for a group picture. We had a few hills but nothing over 6%. The biggest challenge was following the directions on the 3-page cue sheet. We rode on bike trails or in bike lanes most of the time as Portland is very bike friendly. There was even a cyclist specific stop light at one point that told us when we could cross the street and turn left. I was concerned about a flyover ramp that merged with the main road and we had to turn right being careful to yield to onramp traffic coming from the right at the bottom of the ramp, but it wasn't any problem. Fortunately there wasn't much traffic as it was Saturday. I got in very early and had to wait a little while for my room so I went to Wal-Mart to get a battery for my watch, but the clerk wouldn't install it and I didn't have the right tool so I didn't buy a battery. I have the time on my bike computer and an alarm clock for my room so it isn't too bad to be without a watch. |
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Garmin chart for today's ride elevation (green) and grade (gold) |
floating houses we saw along one of the trails today |
our first dinner cooked by our chef, Linda -- a salad, a one bowl pasta dish. and chocolate cake or Marion berry pie for dessert |
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Day 2 - August 2, 2009 Troutdale to Hood River, OR - 54.1 miles |
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Garmin chart for today's ride |
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This was a much longer day and there was a lot of climbing, some of which was VERY serious with grades of 14 and 18 percent, but it also was VERY beautiful as we rode through a lot of the Columbia River Gorge including 22 miles on the Historic Columbia River Highway (HCRH). This highway was originally constructed between 1913 and 1922 and is the first scenic highway in the country. It is now recognized as an All-American Road, National Scenic Byway, National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, and a National Historic Landmark. On certain sections (between Troutdale and Dodson and between Mosier and The Dalles) bicyclists share the roadway with motor vehicles. Shoulder widths vary from zero to five feet. Traffic volumes are generally light, with the heaviest traffic along the Sandy River to Corbett section. Grades are moderate. Other portions are closed to motor vehicles.
The Cascade Range formed 35 million years ago as plates of the earth’s crust collided. Then, 20 million years ago, molten basalt gushing from cracks near the Idaho border covered 80,000 square miles and shifted the Columbia River north to its present location. During the last Ice Age, melting ice dams released massive floods that scoured this canyon perhaps 100 times – waters so high, they surged over the top of Crown Point. Helped by these floods, the Columbia cut through layers of stone faster than her smaller tributaries, creating the greatest concentration of high waterfalls in North America. Lava no longer flows and the Ice Age is long pass, but the Gorge remains dynamic. Landslides continue to move mountains and tiny crystalline droplets, caught by winter’s freeze, crack the cliffs etching another season into the Columbia’s Gorge. |
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We started the day by climbing 5 miles up to Chanticleer Point and had good views of the gorge, but it was too hazy to see Mt. Hood. Then we had a 5-mile descent before climbing again up to Crown Point. Neither one of the climbs was difficult, however, because the Highway’s design standards required maximum grades of 5% and minimum turning radiis of 100 feet. In some locations engineers “developed distance” by looping the road back and forth on itself. We then rode at the level of the river and saw the beautiful waterfalls pictured below. The old highway is very scenic and wasn't very crowded except around Multnomah Falls. We then rode on I-84 for about 5 miles then to avoid the Toothrock Tunnel we accessed the adjacent HCRH State Trail at exit 40. The bike path had a very interesting way of getting us down to a lower level quickly. There was a two story stairway with a groove on both sides of the steps to facilitate pushing your bike up or down. I definitely prefer riding down a hill. After exiting the bike path we had a 1.5 mile climb on Herman Creek Road. The first climb topped out at 14 percent and on the second one my Garmin registered 22 percent, but I think it was an error because I couldn't climb a hill that steep. By the end of the 4th hill I was totally exhausted and had more to go so I turned around and flew down the 1.2 miles I had slowly and painfully climbed and got back on I-84 which had miniscule 3-4 percent grades. Everyone eventually got back on I-84 for 11 more miles, and we could have stayed on it all the way to the Best Western Hood River Hotel--instead we rode through Hood River. |
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Vista House as seen from Chanticleer Point and up close on Crown Point The architect designed Vista House to “recall the
ancient and mystic Thor’s Crown.” Braced against the famous Gorge
winds, this small building embodies strength. The structure is faced
with ashlar-cut sandstone; the interior walls are Alaska Tokeen Marble
and Kasota Limestone. We climbed up to Chanticleer Point and the Vista House, but then the Historic Highway descends over 600 feet to near river level. Committed to maintaining a 5% grade, Samuel Lancaster designed graceful viaducts and a series of winding curves, called the figure eight loops. |
view of Columbia Gorge from Crown Point |
Latourell Falls 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.. Guy and Geraldine Talbot loved the Gorge and wanted to preserve its splendor. In 1929, they donated the land surrounding Latourell Falls to the State of Oregon. |
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Shepperd’s Dell Falls In 1915 George Shepperd donated 11 acres and a waterfall to the public as a memorial to his wife. Used as his family’s place of worship, this beautiful state park is known today as Shepperds Dell. |
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 |
Bridal Veil Falls Type: tiered Height: (upper falls: 60-100' - lower falls 40-60') A short 2/3 of a mile round trip trail from the parking area winds down to the base of the lower tier.
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Wahkenna Falls 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." Timber tycoon Simon Benson donated the site of Multnomah Falls along with 300 acres including Wahkeena Falls to the city of Portland in 1915. Today portions of this land belong to the state parks and national forest systems. You must walk 4 tenths of a mile round trip to view this falls.
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Horsetail Falls 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.
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Multnomah Falls Type: plunge Height: 620 feet 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. The first picture is a view of the falls from the road, the 2nd a view of the entire upper falls, and the 3rd a view of the entire lower falls. The bridge you see is named the Benson Bridge and was crafted by Italian stone masons. It 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. |
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This stairway located on the bike trail at Eagle Creek provides a groove to facilitate pushing your bike up or down. Denise helped me and is now taking her bike down.
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salmon & steelhead dinner provided by Barbara & Tom Selstad
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Day 3 - August 3, 2009 Hood River to Biggs Junction, OR - 44.8 miles |
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There are two Garmin charts for today's ride because I was the last rider that reached Rowena's Crest and I asked the sag driver to boost me up a few miles. As it turned out I rode in the Subaru the 5 miles down from Rowena's crest. The 17-foot-wide Mosier Twin Tunnels easily accommodated two-way traffic by Model Ts. But as automobiles became larger, accidents were common—despite widening the tunnels to 20 feet. With construction of a new road in the 1950s, the tunnels were closed and filled. Thanks to the efforts of Oregon’s Senator Mark Hatfield, restoration of these famous tunnels as part of a hiking and bicycling path began in 1995 and today from Hood River to Mosier the Historic Highway and Mosier Twin Tunnels have been restored for pedestrian and bicycle travel. We started the day by riding on this trail named for Mark Hatfield. Then for about 3.5 miles we climbed up to the Rowena Crest and had another good view of the gorge. In the Dalles I visited the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Wasco County Museum. We ended today's ride with 10 miles on I-84. I don't mind riding on the interstate when it isn't under construction AND there is a good shoulder. I got stung on my right arm below my wrist. I didn't see the insect so I don't know what it was. The sting burned very bad for a while and then wasn't very noticeable so I didn't do anything for the injury that night. |
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view from Rowena's Crest |
the highway descending from Rowena Crest on the east side (note the beautiful arched stonework) |
Snowball Earth |
glacial extent in the pacific northwest |
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Columbian mammoth |
1926 Ford |
two scenes of a wagon on the Oregon Trail
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Day 4 - August 4, 2009 Biggs Junction to Umatilla, OR - 87.8 miles |
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Garmin chart for today's ride |
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We had breakfast at 5:45 and left about 6:15. The temperature was over 100 degrees in the afternoon, and we had 88 miles t ride. We started by crossing the Sam Hill Memorial Bridge over the Columbia River and riding into Washington. We crossed the bridge as a group with Denise in front and the sag vehicle bringing up the rear. We had a 2 mile 5-6% climb after leaving the bridge. We passed the Maryhill Museum which has a replica of Stonehenge as a war memorial. We were told to stop at the M&T Bar and Grill in North Roosevelt for lunch, but since we started at 6:15 we got there before its opening time of 10 o'clock. I stopped at the Roosevelt Mini-Mart for some soda and ice cream. When I stopped for the sag at mile75 on Christy Road In joined another rider, and we rode together the rest of the way. However, we got lost at the 85.7 mile mark and couldn't find the correct T for the right turn. After wandering around for a while and calling the sag several times I asked to be picked up as I didn't feel good.I planned to go back to a park that I passed and wait for the sag there in the shade, but it popped into view almost immediately. When I got off my bike I discovered I couldn't walk straight so it was good that I quit. I got stung again today by something that flew up my shorts and stung me right below my panty line. Also my first sting became swollen, painful, and was itching very badly in the sun. |
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Linda bought several large pecan rolls at Cousins--each serves 8 people--and put them out for breakfast |
We have been following the Lewis & Clark trail since we left Portland and I finally took a picture of the road sign today. |
our first sign welcoming us to Washington - we entered and left Washington today and re-enter it later for several days |
the Columbia River from the Washington side |
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Day 5 - August 5, 2009 Umatilla to Walla Walla, WA - 53.3 miles |
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I didn't ride today for 3 reasons (1) I was having trouble with both the front and back gears on my bike and Denise didn't want to work on a recumbent, (2) both of my insect stings were painful and the sun made the one on my arm very painful, (3) I thought I needed more rest after my reaction to the heat yesterday. I drank lots of water, but didn't replenish my electrolytes. It was cooler today and the riders also had some shade part of the time. We passed the Hat Rock State Park and the Whitman National Historic Site and I wanted to stop but since I was riding with Linda in the van couldn't. I might drive back here on my way home. On the way into Walla Walla Linda dropped her bike and mine off at one of the local bike shop--Allegro. I don't know what Linda's problem was, but I wanted them to work on my gears. We then went to Walgreens where I picked up two prescriptions and some Benadryl and hydrocortisone cream that my doctor had told me to use for the insect stings and Linda picked up things items for the WomanTour first aid kit. |
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I didn't ride and have no pictures other than of the excellent bike shop where I had my bike repaired: Allegro adjusted both my front and back gears and they are working great! Several of the others riders took their bikes there also and got excellent service.
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Day 6 - August 6, 2009 Walla Walla - REST DAY The name Walla
Walla is of Indian origin and means "many waters". Both the
Cayuse and Walla Walla tribes called the Walla Walla Valley home. |
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This was our first rest day and after sleeping in I picked up my bike, and the gears are great! I also got a battery for my watch at a jewelry store. She said there was no charge, and I said thanks for installing it, but surely there is a charge for the battery. She said I could make a donation to a local charity they supported if I wanted to so I gave her $5. I then cleaned my bike and was in my room typing on my computer when it died. A message scrossed across the screen stating that it was going into hibernation and it shut down and I couldn't turn the computer back on. I used the computer in the lobby to send an email to Samsung explaining the problem to them and worked on the computer a little while. It was nice to have a printer, but I didn't have any of my software or my files so I couldn't update my web page or download the Garmin info. About the only thing I could do was read my email. Walla Walla is a very nice town and there are some things to do there, but I didn't do anything as I wanted to stay out of the sun. I used ice on the stings, hydrocortisone cream, and took 2 Benadryl tablets every 6 hours. |
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no pictures |
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Day 7 - August 7, 2009 Walla Walla to Dayton, WA - 28.8 miles |
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Today was a very low mileage day so the snacks were not put out until 9 o'clock, and we started much later than usual. Of course we still got in VERY early. The temperature was in the 60's all day and it sprinkled rain occasionally. I wore a long sleeve top to keep my insect sting out of the sun, but there was no sun and I needed the long sleeves for warmth. I had my rain jacket but was hot when I had it on and took it off whenever possible. Once we left the city of Walla Walls we saw nothing except wheat farms. For 17 miles there were rolling hills then for the next 8 miles the road was flatter. We were staying in 4 different locations, the Weinhard Hotel, the Weinhard guest house, the McCann Manor, and the Purple House B&B. I and 3 others were staying at the Purple House, and she didn't want us to show up until 1:30. That wasn't much of a problem for me as I had a flat tire on my back wheel a few miles outside of town and rode in with the sag as I didn't want to change it in the cold rain. Glynna, the sag driver, changed it for me inside the lobby of the Weinhard Hotel. The tire had a big piece of glass stuck in it and the cut went all the way through so I bought a new tire from WomanTours and put it on. The front tire was also low so we were suspicious of it, and I decided to watch it. By then it had stopped raining and I rode around Dayton taking some pictures until 1:30 and checked into the Purple House. The rooms were beautiful, but my room was on the 2nd floor and the owner expected us to keep our bikes outside. I explained that I didn't want my seat wet, and she later told me that we could put them in the garage beside her car so two of us put our bikes there and the other two left their bikes at the Weinhard guest house where Nancy, Denise, and one rider were staying. |
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Garmin chart for today's ride |
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Washington wheat fields
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mural on the side of a building in Dayton
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Lewis & Clark route in Columbia County |
Construction of the territorial courthouse was completed 2 years before Washington became a state in 1889. Restoration was completed in 1993. |
Dayton’s Depot built in 1881 is the oldest existing railroad station in Washington . The stationmaster lived on the 2nd floor.
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The Union Pacific moved the depot to its present site on roller logs which were pulled by horse and winch. |
The Purple House B&B |
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July 30-31 Portland, OR
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August 8 -14 Dayton to Halfway, OR 377 miles |
August 15 - 21 Halfway to Sisters, OR 296 miles |
August 22 - 29 Sisters to Portland, OR 436.8 miles |
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for pictures of other vacations return to the 