Day 78 - July 20 - Columbia Hills State Park, WA to Viento State Park, OR - Two Old Guys Take On A Continent

July 20, 2023

Day 78 - July 20 - Columbia Hills State Park, WA to Viento State Park, OR

What? Really?!

John’s Story

I’ll start with a few things from yesterday.

Found this barely flowering plant while walking around the campground last evening.

The wind is an issue here not only for bikers but for kayakers. Advice here about not going beyond a certain point on a windy day if you don’t want to crash land somewhere other than where you started.

Now for today. Jekyll and Hyde. Last night there was very little wind in the campground. I woke up at 2:00 AM and there was not a breath of wind. Before I could fall back asleep the wind came up in a big way. It buffeted the tent and was very noisy in the trees. It did not bode well for the morning ride. At 5:00 AM it was still going strong, too strong to cook breakfast on the stove. We decided to pack up and ride 7 miles to The Dalles for breakfast in a cafe.

No breakfast in camp for the hungry boys.

The video doesn’t do justice to the wind.

We had to climb over 300’ to get out of the campground and back to the highway, with the strong wind in our face, and the climb continued once we reached the highway. It looked like it was going to be another day like Walla Walla to Umatilla. At the top of the climb out I had to talk Ed off the ledge as he was already talking about packing it in for the day after just 1.3 miles.

The reward for the steep climb out of the campground, a few miles later, was the long downhill to the bridge across the Columbia River to The Dalles. That part of the ride should have had a tailwind, but I noticed that I wasn’t getting any help. On the way to the bridge the wind had died away. When we got to The Dalles there was not a breath of wind.

The Dalles Dam from the bridge. We crossed back into Oregon for the final time.

We walked our bikes on the narrow sidewalk on the bridge. There was equipment blocking the sidewalk at a couple places.

We found the cafe and had a great breakfast. Still no wind. From the cafe we found our way to a bike trail along the river, and the wind returned with a vengeance. We had to switchback up the trail to return to US 30.

This boat was racing down the river making some great splashes as it bounced from wave to wave.

Another nice example of columnar basalt at the top of the ridge.

We knew there were some steep climbs on US 30 today. Ed suggested that we might ride on the shoulder of I-84 to Hood River to avoid the climbing. I talked him off that ledge, too. Instead we continued on US 30.

US 30 is an old highway and winds along the gorge high above I-84. It provides great views that you cannot see from the interstate. And the trees often blocked the wind. And the winding nature route of the road placed you in the wind shadow of the rocks when you turned in certain directions. The wind was there, but it was not a constant slog, and it was often muted and muffled by the terrain and the trees.

And there was very little vehicle traffic.

About 500’ up the first 620’ climb. That recumbent rider down there is not Ed. There were other bikers on the road today, not touring but just out joyriding.

Looking across from the top of the climb.

Ed was beside himself at the view at Menaloose Overlook.

Where’s Waldo? Find the kite surfer among the whitecaps.

Part of old US 30 has been turned into a beautiful bike trail.

The double tunnel along the bike trail. I love it when a tunnel shows up where a steep hill should be.

“Windows” along the tunnel to admit light.

Most of the ride on old US 30 was far above I-84. Poor high-speed travelers with no views.

So much different from the busy highways.

On our way into Hood River we encountered Gary traveling in the opposite direction. He has just finished a tour across Oregon on unpaved trails. He had hoped to get a one-way car rental to go home to Seattle (that’s how he got to the start of his tour), but the smaller cities around here don’t allow that, so he was trying to figure out where to go from here. We told him we were headed to a brewery for lunch, and he decided that was a good idea, so he joined us. He decided he would head west to the Portland Airport, so he rode with us to Viento State Park for the night.

Ed got his wish to ride on the shoulder of I-84, because that is the only way to get to Viento State Park. We enjoyed 6 miles of horrendous headwinds and heavy traffic. We arrived at Viento and headed to the RV site that Ed had reserved so we could have electricity and water at our campsite. Immediately we were approached by a park ranger who asked why we weren’t staying at the hiker/biker campround across the highway. Ed was suspicious that the ranger just didn’t want us in the RV spot. The ranger persisted and said he could cancel the $43 RV reservation and change it to a $5/person tenting fee. We crossed the highway and found a brand new hiker/biker campground with nice flat tent pads, restrooms with flush toilets, showers, charging stations, shelters. Beautiful!

When we got to the hiker/biker campground we found a group of people from Oregon Parks, the Oregon DOT and others on a tour of all the new biker infrastructure they are building. We had our picture taken by one of them. They plan to have a ribbon cutting ceremony in a few weeks and put the information on the Viento State Park website. No wonder we didn’t know about it!

In the new hiker/biker campground. Since we got here with Gary, Kevin from last night also showed up, and now a young local kid on a day trip. We are creating a community here.

There has been a big change in the look of the gorge today. It has changed from desert brown and virtually treeless to green and forested. We must be nearing the ocean!

Ed’s Story

As John probably noted, I also woke up in the middle of the night with heavy winds blowing. I thought “great, this is going to be another killer day.” It was too windy to cook breakfast.

We had to climb almost a 300 foot hill to get out of the state park. The wind was fierce. It stopped me in my tracks at least once. When I got to the top of the hill, I was already to give up. I didn’t want another day like the ride from Walla Walla to Umatilla.

The wind dissipated as we cross the Columbia River. We re-entered Oregon… for the last time.

The “again” is courtesy of my daughter Jane. The next state I see will be Michigan when I get off my plane in Detroit.

We got to Momma Jane’s pancake house. I had coffee and a killer chocolate chip pancake. I could not eat it all.

My wife originally wanted a magnet with “Momma Jane’s” on it, but later decided she wanted the truck.

My daughter wanted me to bring her a pancake.

We rode along a bike path for several miles after breakfast. We were right next to the river. The path was curvy, and you would go in and out of the wind.

So close to the river, you could almost spit into it.

We worked our way along the route until we got to Rowena, Oregon. The climb was ahead of us. I was dreading the climb, believing that the winds would really interfere with me, especially due to my slow speed, similar to coming out of the campground.

I was pleasantly surprised. Although it was a long hill, it was not worse than any of the others we climbed. The wind only bothered us several times when we moved away from the tree coverage.

A man on a trike passed me on the way up. He must’ve had a motor on it because three wheelers don’t climb very well due to their weight. He turned around at the top and passed me again going downhill.

I came across a woman biker. I made a comment about how she is just doing this for fun. She replied, and so are you. I said yes I am in an insane sort of way.

There were some wonderful views along the road. I’m sure John has already posted the pictures.

I thought “Oh my gosh, I have to ride up there.”

View from a bridge near the top of the climb.

Once we got to the top, we turned around and headed downhill. We ended up in Mosier where we had an OJ and a snack before tackling the 420 ft hill.

We were surprised to find this road to the top sealed off, so no car traffic could be on it. It was very pleasant riding up the hill without any cars.

About 40 to 50 bikers on E bikes heading downhill passed us as we were going uphill. They weren’t working hard at all. After passing through the twin tunnels, we came to the top and then headed down to Hood River.

We found a brewery, had lunch and a beer, and then went to Safeway to pick up some groceries. After that it was almost 6 miles on very windy Interstate 84 with high traffic until we arrived at Viento State Park.

As John probably noted based on comments from Ranger Juan, we moved from our reserved spot to the hiker biker campsite on the other side of the interstate.

The Ranger indicated he would change my reservation and refund me the money. The site I selected originally was like $42 for the two of us while at the hiker biker site it would have been $10. I guess I just have to wait and see if this happens.

The new site is nice with showers, covered areas, and charging stations. It also has a water bottle fill up machine. First I’ve seen at any of these sites.

It is much cooler today than yesterday. At this time yesterday it was 99°; right now it is 84° here.

Tomorrow’s ride is 45 miles to Troutdale, Oregon. The amount of climbing is unknown but our itinerary says about 2,800 feet. We will wait and see.

We are spending two days in Troutdale. It is our last rest period.

Until tomorrow happy biking!

Today's ride: 44 miles (71 km)
Total: 371 miles (597 km)

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