Experiencing Oregon - Part 1

We finally got underway as scheduled, about 10 am on Sunday, April 25.  With the Honda in tow and a sunny day ahead, we aimed the RV south toward Oregon.  Mt. St. Helens was clear and beautiful as we passed and the hills were bright green with spring grass.

We crossed the Columbia River, turned left and proceded up the Columbia River Gorge on I-84 with Mt. Hood looming ahead.

Ainsworth State Park was our first stop.  It's near Bonneville Dam on the original historic highway.  Our campground was heavily forested, quiet (except for an occasional train) and a convenient location for short side trips.

The community of Cascade Locks was seven miles away, at the southern end of the Bridge of the Gods, the most photogenic bridge on the Columbia River, in our opinion.  The bridge was built before Bonneville Dam and had to be raised 36 feet following the dam's construction to clear the high water.  The dam also eliminated the need for the old Cascade Locks, shown in the foreground of the photo.  The locks transported river traffic around a section of major rapids that are now under water. 

The Columbia River Gorge is one of the most scenic areas in the Northwest, especially when the weather cooperates.  The Gorge is noted for fog, rain, wind, snow, ice, etc., so we were fortunate to have a very nice day.

Multnomah Falls and several other falls were within a few miles of our campground along the old highway, so we took advantage of the nice weather to spend a little time at the falls.  We hiked the trail to the foot bridge for a great view of the upper falls and the Columbia River.

After a night of pounding rain, we were ready to move along.  We had our morning coffee, put things away, disconnected and prepared to depart.  Unfortunatey, our leveling jacks decided to stay a while longer.  They refused to retract, leaving the RV high and dry.  We called our emergency road service and they had a fix-it crew come to our rescue in a couple hours.  The guys had a hard time finding the root of the problem but, after a couple hours of testing things, they discovered some loose and deteriorated wiring.  They fix the wiring and assured us that the problem was solved.  We hope so.

By the time our RV was ready to roll, it was late afternoon.  So, we extended our stay at Ainsworth State Park and tried to sleep through another night of torrential rain.  The next morning was sunny and we continued our adventure up the Columbia River toward The Dalles, Biggs and eastern Oregon.  To be continued . . .