BTW, I do need to acknowledge that we have sold Sojourn!!   As most of you already know, we're going to be doing quite a bit of travel that doesn't involve a sailboat for the next few years.  We decided that 8-9 years was enough with Sojourn - time to move on.  We put her with a broker and she sold pretty quickly.  We haven't met the new owners but they're already sailing her up to their home waters for the summer in the Chesapeake.  The new owners know many of the same "cruising folks" that we do, so that's a neat connection.  I'm sure I'll follow Sojourn occasionally just like I look at the flight tracks of all our old airplanes occasionally just to see where they are without us!!

Hood River, Oregon

Another busy touring/hiking day.  We started out by driving west along the Columbia River Gorge.  It's a beautiful wide waterway. 

 

Towering hills on both sides.

 

This is the power plant - we'll see it more in-depth on tomorrow's outing.

 

There is a long list of waterfalls to see today - Multnomah Falls is sortof the most famous and accessible one, right beside the highway.  Unfortunately, everyone else in a 4 state region picked today to see it.  No parking available and just a silly amount of folks.  We gave it a drive by.

Back on the road, we needed some petrol...this was a cool little general store.  They had everything from local honey to vodka.  In Oregon, they pump your fuel for you unless you protest.  The pump had a padlock on it when we drove up....maybe we were the first customer of the day since I believe this is an extremely safe area.  (Most of our AirBnB's come with the directions - "there's a key by the door if you want to use it".

 

We stopped at everything we could along a "scenic corridor map" I found online.  This was the view of the gorge from the Women's Forum overlook.

We drove 14 miles up Larch Mountain for the promised 360 degree views with 5 mountain peaks.  It did not disappoint!  

Beautiful wildflowers along the trail.

 

Driving down the mountain to the next vista.

Another stop - the Crown Point View House.  It is an observatory built in 1916 to honor the Lewis and Clark explorers.

 

The view from Crown Point.

 Next is going to be a bunch of photos of waterfalls and gorge views.  I've got to admit, I lost track of which-waterfall-was-which....Several of these were close by the historic highway 30 that we were traveling.  But a couple required a mile or more hike to see. My watch registered 18K steps for the day - and it registered 50 stories climbed.  I think that's a lot of up-and-down!

Not that it matters to anyone, I'm going to list them here so I can research them later if I want....

Laourell Falls (lower and upper), Sheppards Dell, Bridal Veil, Multnomah, Horsetail

  

 

Just a pretty bridge structure.

 

This is part of a historic roadway at Shepperds Dell falls.  Was built in 1910 - now is just a path to the falls.

 Views of the gorge. 

 

Nearing the end of the day, we saw a sign for the Mitchell Point Overlook.  A quick detour brought us to a cool area - I found this info later about it:   Originally built in 1915, its historic tunnel was a marvel carved with arched windows, but modern highway expansions forced its demolition in 1966. Today, the overlook features a stunningly faithful 655-foot replica tunnel designated exclusively for pedestrians and cyclists.

 Views from the overlook were stunning as well but the sun was getting pretty low....our clue that it's time to stop for the day.

 

Hood River,Oregon

It was a bit foggy and overcast when we left the AirBnB.  Luckily, the first activity was a waterfall hike, not involving long-distance viewing.  The Little Zig Zag falls hike was very peaceful and along an old road bed from the early 1900's.

 

Just another roaring mountain stream.  Pretty popular.

 

The fog/clouds were lifting -we could see Mt. Hood part of the time.

I wanted to go to Trillium Lake because there was supposed to be a beautiful view of Mt. Hood from the lakeside.  We were displeased when we drove up to a checkpoint - a concessionaire handles the entry fee at this location (on Federal Lands!). Apparently, they do not accept Duane's Senior National Park pass.  We decided to go on and pay the $10 fee but it was not without a bit of angst.....anyway, the view from the lake was beautiful but the park was very busy.   I guess the weekend traffic and kids being out of school has conspired to give us crowds.

 

Selfie with Mt. Hood in the background.

A little closer shot.

Next we drove up the steep base of Mt. Hood to the historic Timberline Lodge.  The view just kept getting better.

I wanted to hike a short 2 mile section of the Pacific Crest Trail (The PCT) to overlook White River Canyon.  Took us a little while to figure out the trails as this is really a ski mountain for most of the year.

The views were incredible!   Windy and we had to wear our jackets again.

We actually got grit in our teeth from all the blowing sand.

A PCT marker.  We only hiked a short distance - the PCT hikers are beasts.

By the time we were walking back, I was ready to be back sitting down! 

 

 Snow melt from the glacier on the mountain.

Back in the car, a different view of Mt. Hood as we drove away.

We were looking for a place to eat our sandwiches - saw a sign for Sahalie Falls trail.  You can see the falls from the main highway, but we opted for a nice 2 mile long hike.  Plus had a nice place to eat our lunch!

 Views of Mt. Hood....different from every perspective.

 

We did have a bit of time before we could check into our next AirBnB.  We noticed a sign that promised a mountaintop overlook.  10 miles of winding road.  Views were incredible! 

 Time to start driving to the next destination - Hood River.