Part 4: Lewis & Clark RV Caravan - Helena, Montana, through Boardman, Oregon- - preceded this post if you are interested in hearing about days 38 through 45 of the Lewis & Clark RV caravan.
7/7 - 7/10/21: Cascade Locks, OR
Today may be the longest head-on windiest day we've ever driven. For Jeffrey it was 130 miles of fighting the wheel to keep Max going straight as we paralleled the Columbia gorge. At times it was a fairly consistent wind and at others there were unexpected gusts. Surprisingly, nobody in the group had any issues and we all made it safely to the campground in Cascade Locks, reveling in the lovely cooler 70ish temperature.
The Columbia gorge
Mount Hood
On the way we visited the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum, which contains numerous exhibits highlighting the geology, flora, fauna, history, and economic development of the Gorge. We also caught one of their native raptor shows and got to meet Josephine, an injured Great Horned Owl. She was found unresponsive on the side of the road over 15 years ago and was saved and rehabilitated. She is mostly blind from her injury and thus can't survive in the wild, but she has a sweet calm personality and it's now a great ambassador for her species.
Sweet Great Horned Owl Josephine
A nice luxury tour bus picked us in the morning for a full day of sightseeing. Our guide, Trudy Barbison, rode along with us to describe the area and points of interest. Our first stop was Multnomah Falls, a natural water feature fed by mountain springs.
We also passed an interesting formation called Beacon Rock, where Lewis & Clark camped and realized that there was a tide in the water and hoped that meant they were close to the Pacific.
Beacon Rock
Next up was the Bonneville Island Lock & Dam, also home of the Bonneville Fish Hatchery. Addition to the functions of the lock and electricity generated by the dam, it also has an impressive water ladder system to help the salmon and other fish transit past the dam to get to their spawning areas and, in turn, help their offspring get safely back to the ocean instead of being destroyed by the dam's turbines. Salmon are anadromous, meaning they are born in fresh water, live their adult lives in salt water, then return to fresh water to reproduce.
Underwater view of one of the fish ladder sections
Lamprey eels in the fish ladder (attached to the viewing glass)
The nearby salmon hatchery center further populates the salmon's numbers and also houses exhibits of several other native fish -- the most impressive being huge sturgeon. One is 10 feet long and fondly named Herman.
Our group looking at the Herman the sturgeon
Lunch was aboard a Steernwheeler boat so we got a nice cruise of the Columbia with our sandwiches! No surprise that it was very windy, but the sun helped cut through the wind chill off the water.
Viewing the Bridge of the Gods from the boat
We closed the bus tour with quick stops at Chanticleer Point (which had a lovely view of the entire Columbia Gorge), and Vista House (another georgeous view that includes a bathroom so it is especially popular with tourists -- though it is currently closed due to Covid-19 ☹️).
Today is our big exploration of Mount St. Helen. Our on-board bus guide told us that many years ago it was often called Mt Fuji due to its beauty and lovely shape. It wasn't too tall so it was easily accessible for visitors and offered many fun outdoor activities. It had been dormant for 123 years until March 1980 when it awoke with earthquakes and a smoke plume from its top.
A bulge started to grow on one side, as much as 5 feet per day. As determined later, this was an accumulation of gas due to vents that were obstructed by the earthquake and smoke plume. Local residents were quickly evacuated and the mountain then stayed relatively quiet in April -- enough so that on Saturday, May 17 authorities arranged an organized caravan so that residents could retrieve stuff from their abandoned homes. Another group was set to caravan on Sunday, but the mountain blew early that morning. One side of the mountain slid away and sheered off the bulge of gas, causing huge ash plumes followed by a hot pyroclastic flow. Mt. St. Helen lost over 1300 feet of height.
Our bus tour took us to the main stops in the vicinity of the mountain -- the Mt St. Helens Visitor Center, the Coldwater Recreation Area, the Johnston Ridge Observatory, and the Forest Learning Center. Sadly, the exhibit areas of these places are almost all under renovation, but the rest rooms and gift shops were open so we were "relieved" (yeah, that was a bad pun 😜). We also stopped at the Fire Mountain Grill for a yummy lunch on their wrap around patio.
Our group visiting the Coldwater Recreation Area
Sadly, when Mt. St. Helens erupted 40 years ago the area lost 19 bridges, 200 homes, and 57 people in the pyroclastic flow and lahar flooding (a mix of premature snow melt mixed with ash, pumice, and destroyed trees).
At present, the new growth of trees, grasses and flowers has begun to recover the landscape. What struck me as amazing was that we walked in forested areas where no tree is over 40 years old, making us the confirmed oldest things there!
Foxglove flower, used to make the medicine "Digitalis"
Our final day at Cascade Locks was a "day of exploration" on our own, so we decided to drive up to the Timberline Lodge on nearby Mount Hood and have lunch. It was a lovely drive and we got many cool photos of the mountain as we got closer and closer.
View of Mount Hood from Trillium Lake
Snow sports are available all year as there are snow makers to keep the powder fresh. The place was hopping with a lot of casual visitors like us, but we were easily outnumbered by the skiers and snowboarders.
Us above the Lodge with Mount Hood as our backdrop
After lunch we took a short hike up the walking trails to see over the lodge into the distance where we could spot Mount Jefferson 47 miles in the distance. This mountain was named after President Thomas Jefferson by Lewis and Clark when they saw it on their way west. It was somewhat hazy due to smoke wafting in from area fires and we were removed of the smoke that followed us most of the way back to Texas last summer.
Timberline Lodge with Mount Jefferson in the distance
One other thing we accomplished today was signing up to do another Fantasy RV trip in 2022, a 34-day tour of the southwest National Parks. Yippee! 😁
7/11 - 7/14/21: Astoria, OR
Our final stop on the caravan is near Astoria, Oregon, where the Lewis & Clark expedition finally reached the Pacific ocean in November 1805.
Hungry and needing shelter from the Pacific winter, they first stopped on the north side of the Columbia river in a place they named "Dismal Nitch" for 11 days. At the time, this was the closest they could get to the ocean given the weather conditions. Realizing it was a poor choice for a winter camp, they relocated to a nearby spot they named "Station Camp" for 10 days before the local Clatsop indians encouraged them to cross over the Columbia for more suitable grounds on the south side.
Metal relief showing the explorers
They spent 3 weeks building Fort Clatsop and stayed a total of 106 days (December 7, 1805 through March 23, 1806), having only 12 of those days without rain, 6 of which they actually saw the sun. That made it extremely difficult to dry out their belongings as well as animal skins needed to replace their tattered clothing.
Fort Clatsop (a smaller version of earlier Fort Mandan)
Of note, english Captain John Meares, who approached this area in 1788, was unable to locate the Columbia river's entrance. Therefore, he named the headland Cape Disappointment as he didn't see the "great river of the west" he was searching for. It was Boston trader Captain Robert Gray who found and sailed up the Columbia in 1792 and named it for his ship, thus claiming it for the U.S.
Our bus guide also show us downtown Astoria, providing stories of past explorers and residents, plus the fire of 1922 that destroyed most of the waterside area.
On the Washington side of the Columbia we got a tour of Quarantine Station located near the mouth of the river. It was one of 40 places of entry established in the 1890's to perform health checks of incoming immigrant ships. Many of these ships were horribly unsanitary and contained passengers suffering from a variety of "pests" and diseases. This station was closed in the 1930s.
Lastly, we toured the 125-foot Astoria Column built in 1926. The exterior is painted with a summary of the triumphs, conflicts, and turning points of the American Indian, U.S., and Oregon history. Visitors can climb the 164 steps and are encouraged to fly a little biodegradable balsa-wood "some assembly required" airplane from the top. Needless to say, those of us that ascended the column had great fun watching each other's flight attempts.
The brave climbers approaching the Column
Our final day started with a group breakfast at a popular Astoria restaurant, the Pig & Pancake. They handled our 40+ hungry RVers like champs and the grub was delicious. Jeffrey ordered a cinnamon bun that filled the entire plate!
From there we carpooled to our "final" Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center at the Cape Disappointment. Clark and a subset of the Corp men took a few days to travel to this cape to try to find a fur trading vessel that would transport some of the group or specimens/journals back east -- but by November the fur trading season had ended and there were no more ships in the area. This north shore was also not a good location for the winter camp.
Our final ranger talk
A lighthouse was built here in 1856 and it's now the oldest one still operating. This area is also the birthplace of the Coastguard and this is still a key training area. In the late 1800s a jetty system was built to narrow the mouth of the Columbia to make the river safer. Its dangerous waters have caused over 500 shipwrecks.
We formally closed our caravan adventure with a lovely dinner at the Silver Salmon restaurant in Astoria. There were several contests on the trip and Jeffrey and I won a prize for best photograph!
Out photo of wild flowers with a backdrop of Mount Saint Helens
The lovely handmade tray with inlaid Mexican tile that we won
It was sad to see this trip come to an end, but we were all grateful to have shared this grand experience with such a great group of fellow travelers ♥️ Here is a wonderful verse -- courtesy of new RV friend, Terry Smith -- that sums up this adventure beautifully:
We followed those rivers, up and down,
Through plains and mountains, forest and town;
Learning more history than we ever knew,
We marveled at those who came by canoe.
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