September 4, 2019
Horsetail Falls
Due to a planning error, we have a one night gap between our stay at the Empress and the first night of our four night stay in Bend, our base for the Sisters Folk Festival. We decide to fill it with a night in Maupin, sandwiched between a pair of day rides. Maupin, a river town southeast of The Dalles on the Deschutes River, works well for this. It breaks the ride to Bend nicely in half, and it is in the middle of some fine high desert cycling country.
For today’s ride, we’ve chosen to explore another stretch of the Columbia Gorge - we’ll drive east to Viento State Park, park the car, and start biking back west toward Portland. We don’t have a specific turnaround destination in mind, but just plan to bike as far as we feel like and see how it goes.
Segment by segment, the State has been gradually developing cycling paths to fill in the gaps of the Historical Highway, with the goal of eventually creating an integrated, high quality bike route all the way up the gorge from Portland to The Dalles. The ride strings together the remaining stretches of the Columbia River Historical Highway (Highway 30) with nonmotorized paved paths and stretches on the shoulder of I-84 where no other alternative exists. The entire system is known as the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail.
The newest segment, just opened early this summer, is a three mile section connecting Wyeth State Park and Lindsey Creek. this is an important addition, because it connects to the segment that already exists from Starvation Creek to Viento Park. Now, only five miles remain until the trail reaches all the way to Hood River (and beyond that, to The Dalles because those thirty miles are already complete). Work on the final section, around Mitchell Point, is scheduled to begin next year.
Years ago we on occasion would bike to Hood River from Portland and then back again the next day. We did this three or four times if I remember correctly, but it’s probably been a decade since the last time. The trail system wasn’t nearly as developed then, and we spent the last ten or twelve miles on the shoulder of I-84.
There have been huge changes since then, and today the ride is brilliant. The 25 mile stretch we rode today, between Viento Creek and Horsetail Falls, is really beautiful, and except for passing through Cascade Locks is very quiet. Nearly 15 miles were on smooth, paved nonmotorized trail; About ten were on quiet Highway 30 or other local side roads; and a few miles were on the commercial streets of Cascade Locks.
This is a ride I’d recommend to anyone, even those with grandkids whose safety they’re anxious about. There are two features to be aware of though. The ride is generally pretty easy - flat or easy rollers - but there is one moderate climb of about 600 feet. A bigger concern is the steep staircase near Eagle Creek. It’s got a narrow grooved track on the side to roll your bike along, but it’s not easy. Some will want to just carry their bike up and down, possibly with a helping hand.
Otherwise, this is a totally great ride.
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Video sound track: Tanglewood Tree, by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer
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5 years ago
But I was an Explosives Safety Manager for 27 years and sometimes I take things literally out of habit. All is good!
5 years ago
No map for today’s ride. I couldn’t draw it because the newest section of the trail was completed so recently that Ridewithgps doesn’t know about it yet.
Ride stats today: 49 miles, 3,400’
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