Columbia River Gorge

It has been raining and raining here - but we finally lucked out and hit a string of nice days. I am taking a week of vacation, but Catherine and I had a sudden change in plans. Thankfully, Ian was willing to come camping with me.

We went to see the wildflowers at Rowena Crest on the east side of the Columbia River Gorge. On the way there, we took a short hike to see Falls Creek Falls, but the Forest Service Road leading there was not in good shape. We also got lucky in that a pickup truck was ahead of us, and a pothole filled with water nearly swallowed the thing - so I backed up until I could turn the van around. We went with plan B, Panther Creek Falls.

After that we drove to Rowena Crest to scout the place out for sunrise photos. Unfortunately, the flowers were a bit past prime - but not so far past to stop me from going back. We headed to our campsite, a place managed by the Corps of Engineers (near a damn of the Columbia River). It was free, but had no fire rings - so we left. Next stop was an Oregon state park. They had spaces and fire rings, but literally every square foot had goose poop in it...on to campground #3. We crossed the Columbia River into Washington, and that campground was just right (or so we thought).

We both slept like garbage because the trains on both sides of the river, with sound magnified by the cliffs on our side, ran every 15-30 minutes. We got up at 2 am to go photograph the Stonehenge WWI Memorial and the Milky Way.

After that, we made the 30 minute drive to Rowena Crest where I photographed the sunrise. The lack of clouds made the sky pretty drab - but we had the place to ourselves that with the very still air and chilly temps made for a pleasant stroll.

Cheers,

Marc