A Day on the Columbia River

We drive by, drive over, look down upon and live around the Columbia River.  It's the view from our restaurant windows, the draw for our tourism, the moderator of our weather and the source of much of the livelihood of The Columbia River Gorge.  Seldom do most of us have an opportunity to really experience it, to see what the river sees of us. 

Yesterday, on a November day that could only have been a gift from the weather gods, a couple of us got to become part of the river for just a few wonderful hours - courtesy of an avid angler with a small but capable fishing boat.  After putting in at Hood River, we motored toward The Dalles, going slowly to absorb every beautiful thing.

Some reflections:

• The river appears amazingly clean.  There was little of the litter of daily life along the river. 
• There are very few places suitable for launching a boat due to the almost verticle banks along much of the river in The Gorge - resumably a product of the scouring action of the Bretz Floods.
• Very few Gorge  restaurants are actually "riverside"  The Windseeker in The Dalles, the deck of the Hood River Inn in Hood River,and the Crab Shack near Stevenson, Washington are notable exceptions.
• The landscape as viewed from the river is unbelievably powerful:  The basalt cliffs and hanging valleys, landslides and alluvial fans, synclines and anticlines, the surprisingly varied fall colors of the deciduous flora, and above all Mt. Hood peering down on the river from totally unexpected directions. 
• Many Canada Geese seem reluctant to leave The Gorge, and there were still many mallards floating along the shores.  A lovely Blue Heron, thin, elegant, awaited the arrival of his next snack as though frozen in place.
• The trains and highway traffic that run along the river distract very little.  Their movement catches the eye but the sounds are pretty much lost in the movement of the river, the sighing of the breeze and the purr/growl of boat motors.
• Lewis and Clark were HERE, saw much of this as it still is.  Goosebumps.
• Barges are REALLY BIG when you're sharing the water with them.
• What impacted most, was the total peace one feels on the river.  Brought down to a level with it, moving with it, hearing it gurgle, swish and slap, breathing the river smell of it, all else seems so far away, so impossibly foreign and irrelevant.  The river is an ancient, living, moving, breathing force, and all we can be is that "litter of daily life" carried along by it for the blink of an eye.  Aaaah, the insignificance of us!

If you've never spent a day on the Columbia, do it NOW!, lest you forget and never trace the shadows of its islands and its shores.  It is bucket-list worthy!!!

For additional sightseeing tips, go to http://www.travelthegorge.com/what_to_do.asp

Links of Interest

Windseeker Restaurant
Hood River Inn
The Crab Shack
Friends of the Columbia River Gorge
Riverkeepers