Hood River, Oregon – Friday, August 22, 2025
We are especially excited for today’s ride since we just tried a part of it out a month ago with my sister, Carolyn, and her husband, John, who live nearby in Portland. It is one of their favorite rides – especially since it not only has breathtaking gorge views and tunnels (!), but you get to stop at a winery known for their Spanish style wines. Unfortunately, we will have to skip the wine tasting – at least while riding today.
We leave right from the boat which is moored on the actual rock jetty of the marina. We are joined by Doug and Linda, another tandem couple from Dayton, Ohio, who have actually raced tandems – see photo evidence below. Today there is no car to help us climb out of Hood River up a steep serpentine road. We pass through the locked gate which tells us the historic highway 30 is only open to walkers and bikers. We keep climbing up through the forests which have been touched by wildfires. This whole area has been impacted by terrible fires – later in the day we will pass the Rowena fires which devastated a small community only two months earlier.
We climb up to some of the best views of the Gorge. You can see and feel the cataclysmic events that created these high cliffs – from the 200 foot wave of water caused when the Missoula ice dam broke eons ago, to the basalt cliffs formed by the volcanic activity that literally pushed up the Cascade mountains around the river. Through it all the river has always been here.
We are headed 28 miles upstream (by bike) to The Dalles (yes, it does include The in the name) where there used to be a 30 foot drop called the Celilo falls. Celilo was the oldest continuously inhabited community on the North American continent until 1957, when the falls and nearby settlements were submerged by the construction of The Dalles Dam. Native Americans have lived, fished, and traded here for more than 15, 000 years due to the abundance of salmon. The Celilo falls were a dramatic feature on the River providing a livelihood for the native Americans … and seen by the newer arrivals as an impediment to commerce.
Near the top of the first hill we enter the iconic Mosier tunnels which were carved into these cliffs in 1914 and enjoy the views out the portholes cut into the sides to provide light and air. It is amazing to think that Siri’s Dad actually drove this same road – in winter – as a kid to visit his relatives in Eastern Washington. We are glad there is no snow or ice on this 90+ degree day – well we wouldn’t mind a bit of snow to help cool us down.
We stop for ice cream sandwiches at the Mosier Market and check in with Bigfoot – then it is back to climbing. We make it up to Rowena Point and get a panoramic view of where we have been and now are headed. We cycle down the serpentine road and come to a road closed sign. We pass around that sign and another danger sign and come upon the devastation from the recent fire. Burned out cars and chimneys are all that remain.
We go under the freeway, past the burned underbrush and take the river trail into The Dalles. We go by two new Google data centers right next to one of the known encampments of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Quite the timeline all in one place – from the longest native American fishing village to now high tech infrastructure because of the cheap electricity from the dams.
There are many ways to look at the Columbia River – the geology (floods, volcanoes), the history of the people (native Americans, Europeans, Oregon Trail, recent transplants), the economy (salmon, Oregon trail, railroad, hydro dams, barges, cruise lines), the plants and animals (bighorn sheep, cattle, forests, wheat) and more. Today, we get to see parts of all of these stories along this one day ride.
We finish our ride at the National Neon Museum. We enjoy an energetic tour by the founder and his wife who have been collectors since they were teens. They now have expanded into other areas, like refurbishing an old-time carousel and the classic wooden horses.
A good full day on the road, in the gorge, with new friends.
Siri and David Adventures 