Mosier OR - Memaloose State Park

Time to leave the shade of Home Valley and move south and east to a slightly more arid region of the Columbia River Gorge, Memaloose State Park near Mosier Oregon. This requires crossing the Hood River bridge, for me, one of the more terrifying experiences of the trip thus far. When I saw the sign saying no wide loads, I didn't think anything of it. Once on the bridge, we found out this means about 6 inches from the yellow line (and two-way traffic) on one side and 6 inches from the guardrail (and the river) on the other side. (No pictures...I was too busy leaning in to the left--which of course keeps the RV from heading to the right and driving off the bridge into the river.)

We'd wanted to spend some time exploring the Columbia River Gorge and managed to cobble together five days at Memaloose state park. Memaloose (like many of the parks in the gorge) is sandwiched between Hwy 84 and a set of railroad tracks. I had read reviews on this place and found us a couple of sites about midway between the hwy and the tracks. In retrospect, if you're in an RV, opt for the sites close to the tracks. Those sites give you a fantastic view of the river, and the noise from the trains (they don't sound their horns in the area) that pass sporadically is a lot less than the constant highway noise. Inside the RV you aren't really aware of either sound.

Our first outing was to the Bonneville Lock and Dam, which includes the Bonneville Fish Hatchery. At the dam, Tom wanted to see the lock the boats use to pass through the dam. He also managed to latch us on to a tour to the hydro-electric power station.

On the way, to the power station, we also passed the fish ladders. There's some viewing windows downstairs. Most of what was passing was shad and lamprey (ick!) I'm glad I'm not a fish; they have to work awfully hard to get up that ladder! 

Unlike Tom, I am all about the fish hatchery. We saw the salmon fry but no adult salmon.

Who knew trout (steelhead) got so big!

My favorite, the sturgeon. Herman the sturgeon lives at the hatchery. He's 75 years old, over 10 ft long, and weighs about 450 lbs.

Our next excursion was on the Sternwheeler Columbia Gorge. The sternwheeler is an actual paddle wheeler that leaves out of Cascade Locks and heads west down the Columbia River.

We took the Landmarks of the Gorge Cruise. The only day the cruise was offered turned out to be the windiest day of that week. So with the wind whipping through our hair, cruised under the Bridge of the Gods.


We briefly took cover inside for breakfast then went out to witness the passage through the lock at Bonneville Dam. It was amazing how quickly the lock emptied and how far down the boat was lowered.

The transmission towers might give you a better idea of scale of Beacon rock

Once past the dam, we cruised down past Beacon Rock, which gave us another perspective of the hike we took a few days ago.












We enjoyed the beautiful scenery, searched for osprey nests, and even got to see a few great blue heron before finally reaching Bridal Veil, Multnomah, and Mist Falls (our turn around point).

We took refuge inside for lunch until once again reaching Bonneville Dam and the ride up the lock. Just as with the lock being lowered, the filling of the lock was remarkably fast considering the size of the volume of water that is needed to fill the lock.

One last little treat on the return to port was seeing all the cute, little sailboats that were being used for a sailing lesson. Initially, I thought they were windsurfers!

The next day, we decided to tackle the Historic Columbia River Highway Trail. As the name says, the trail use to to be part of the Columbia River Highway but has been closed off to cars and is now a hiking/biking trail between Mosier and Hood River. 4.5 miles of paved bike trail! Yea!...Wait! That sign says "moderate to difficult," and I've barely ridden a bile since I left Davis 30 years ago!

Well, off we go...uphill...downhill...ah wait, it's uphill. I didn't make it far, but I did get through the twin tunnels. Well, Tom got a little exercise, and we did get some pictures.

Final morning at Memaloose (Wendy's birthday), we head into The Dalles for brunch at Petite Provence. This time, I get the berry french toast. Tom will have to settle for the savory french toast.

Then we are off to our layover for the 4th of July, Hudson Parcher County Park.