A Walk Along the River

My friend Betty, who lives in and old stone house in the south of France, was over for a visit last year. I drove down the Columbia River Gorge to where she was staying in Mosier, Oregon. Betty's husband, Jean-Yves, is an avid windsurfer, and that's what brings him to Mosier. That stretch from Hood River to Mosier to The Dalles is prime windsurfing riverfront, as the wind often whooshes through the Gorge at a rate sufficient to raise some energetic white caps on the river.

Those are windurfers down there on the river, in case you didn't notice.

We had been sitting around and talking, and someone suggested going for a walk. Betty and her hosts took us to the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail, which starts on the edge of Mosier and goes all the way to Hood River. And that's how I got acquainted with the trail, and brought Husband to meet it when we had a spare hour on one of the four trips I took through the area this summer.

The layers of rock are so clear; this is a great place for amateur geologists.

The trail is in a beautiful region where you can see the layers of earth created by the volcanic activity of the Cascade Mountains.

Looking east

The trail goes high above the "new" highway which follows the gorge at the river's edge.

There's actually a house on the other side of that island in the river, with a little pier.  That's the kind of place that would have caught my fancy and imagination for all kinds of stories when I was a kid.

Notice the VERY long train in this photo, typical of what you'll see as you're enjoying the sights along the river

On the north (or "Washington") side of the river, as well as the south side, railways fight the highways for space along the river. And in fact, that is what has caused the need for tunnels on both sides of the river.

Husband wanted to run through the tunnels, just for fun.

The sign at the start of the trail reads thus:  "The rugged landscape of the Columbia River Gorge posed significant obstacles to the design and construction of the Historic Columbia River Highway. Here, between Hood River and Mosier, a right-of-way conflict with the railroad forced engineer John A. Elliott to to locate the road away from the river and to design tunnels through steep basalt cliffs.

And yes, there IS light at the end of the tunnel!

"The 17-foot-wide Mosier Twin Tunnels easily accommodated two-way traffic by Model T's. But as automobiles became larger, accidents were common--despite widening to 20 feet. Although signals eventually regulated one-way traffic, waiting vehicles were vulnerable to falling rock from the bluffs above.

He waits for me to catch up.

"With construction of a water grade thoroughfare in the 1950s, the tunnels were closed and filled. Thanks to the efforts of Oregon's Senator Mark O. Hatfield, restoration of these famous tunnels as part of a hiking and bicycling path began in 1995."

The tunnels, two in a row referred to as the "Twin Tunnels," were finished in 1921. In that same year, a couple of travelers (Sadilek and Marvin) got caught in a blizzard and took refuge in the tunnels, which were also closed by an avalanche, and were snowbound from November 19 to 27, when they were rescued. It must have been a long, long eight days in there.

Watch your head!

Speaking of rockfalls and avalanches, the west end of the tunnels has a long section that runs under a concrete roof held up by sturdy concrete pillars, as the rock falls from the cliffs above are dangerous to hikers and cyclists. Once you emerge from that section, you're still going to want to keep an eye on the cliffs; the divots in the paving and rocks on the road are testament to the continuing saga of rocks that are pried off by water, ice, rain, winds and gravity.

It seems like there's a beautiful place anywhere you find a long and winding road.

If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend the trail for a good walk or bike ride. While I've not gotten to walk the whole length of it from Mosier to Hood River (or vice versa) I intend to do that one of these days. As always, the Gorge does not disappoint!