July 18, 2006
Day 29: To Viento State Park
The morning was suprisingly cool. I got on the road at 8:30, assuming it would be mostly downhill to The Dalles. Wrong. Two big hills and several smaller climbs break up the 1250 foot descent to The Dalles (92 feet elevation). For the next two days I will ride the Columbia River gorge.
I got lost trying to find the park that has the great view of the city and Mt. Adams. It took a while to find but the view was worth it.
I stopped for an early lunch at a Chinese restaurant downtown. While buying groceries I was surprised to see a large number of Latino people. Most of Oregon is almost 100% white people. I think the surrounding pear orchards hire a lot of Latino workers. I headed west out of town on the Old Columbia highway. It's a combination of country roads, bike trails, and expressway. Someday the expressway parts will be bypassed by bike trails.
As expected I had a strong headwind in the Columbia Gorge. During summer a strong wind always blows west to east in the Columbia Gorge.
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The first major attraction is Rowena Crest, a 600 foot climb. Very easy after all the climbing I've done lately. The view from Rowena crest is spectacular. This is still east of the Cascades where the climate is somewhat arid.
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Then down the hill to the little town of Mosier where the bike trail begins.
The highlight of this section of bike trail is the Mosier twin tunnels. They aren't really very long. I saw many local cyclists on the trail.
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The bike trail also has a few places with good views of the Columbia river. Unfortunately the noise from I-84 is almost always audible. The noise spoils the otherwise tranquil setting. The train track is also quite busy.
This section of bike trail ends at the town of Hood River. I visited Hood River once 8 years ago. Since then the town has become even more upscale and trendy. It's an extremely popular place for windsurfing. The town sprawls for several miles to the west of downtown. West of town I had to get on I-84 for 5 miles to Viento State Park. Viento is Spanish for wind. A very appropriate name for a park in the Columbia Gorge. I found another touring cyclist while wandering the campground looking for a vacant site. I ended up sharing his site. He was also riding a recumbent bike. An IBM programmer from upstate New York.
It was sunny all day but the high temperature was only about 80F. Perhaps I'm already getting a cooling effect from the Pacific Ocean. The landscape becomes increasingly lush west of Hood River. It was nice to see Douglas Firs, ferns, and moss that I hadn't seen in weeks. Unfortunately the campground is very close to I-84 and the train tracks. It was noisy all night long.
Distance: 58.9 mi. (94.2 km)
Climbing: 3190 ft. (967 m)
Average Speed: 9.1 mph (14.6 km/h)
Maximum Speed: 35.7 mph (57 km/h)
Today's ride: 59 miles (95 km)
Total: 1,310 miles (2,108 km)
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