A Symphony of Water and Rock

 

The Columbia River Gorge

Forming part of the border between Oregon and Washington State, the majestic Columbia River Gorge stretches some 80 miles long and in places is 4,000 feet deep. The river itself, nearly 1,200 miles long, drains about 12 percent of the continental United States and ranks as the country’s fourth largest.

We left Seaside mid-morning for the two-hour ride to the gorge. For nearly the entire way we follow the river, it’s broad expanse the perfect maritime highway for the scores of ocean-going ships that ply its waters each day. Petroleum products, automobiles and shipping containers flood in from overseas. Grain brought down from the interior by barges and trains, long logs, and finished lumber make the reverse journey.

Near Portland both sides of the river are lined with massive mills and wood yards, with 100-foot-long tree trunks piled in seemingly endless rows. Federal rules prohibit the export of raw logs so sellers process the cut trees to remove the bark and then ship out only “poles.” More than a billion board-feet of “poles” is shipped overseas annually.

On our drive over we had the opportunity to see several of the Northern Cascade Mountain’s snow-capped volcanic peaks. Through the haze at one pullout we could see Mount Hood to the southeast, Mt. St. Helens off to the east, and Mount Rainier to the Northeast. They speak to the powerful tectonic forces at work in this land which is part of the wider Pacific’s “Ring of Fire.”

The Vista House

One of the best vantages from which to check out the gorge is the art-deco Vista House, built on the summit of Crown Point, some 750 feet above the river, in 1917. The view downstream reaches nearly 40 miles to Portland. Washington State stretches before us on the opposite bank. The soaring high tension wires associated with the Bonneville Dam, some 24 miles upstream can also be seen. Some 15 miles beyond that the soaring peaks yield to flat, dusty, treeless desert.

The Vista House is part of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area that includes the original highway built in 1917, and more than two dozen spectacular water falls fueled by the frequent rains on the western slopes of the Cascades. The tallest, at some 620 feet, is Multnomah Falls, the second highest in the country. More than 2 million people visit it annually.

Unfortunately for us, it appears half that number decided that a picture-perfect fall Saturday was the time go. Traffic was backed up for a mile from the parking area as stubborn drivers waited with blinkers on, blocking the entire road, for a spot in the jammed parking lot. There is no way for other vehicles to get past them on the narrow road. After moving barely a quarter mile in 45 minutes, we decided to stay in line and just get a few photos from the car as we pass.

Horsetail Falls

Farther along we stop at Horsetail Falls, a beautiful 176-foot cataract, spectacular in its own right. The soft hiss of falling water tumbling into the attractive pool at the bottom is in marked contrast with the traffic at Multnomah Falls, and the occasional noise from the highway and rail line that also hug this side of the river.

One thing we had not expected at the Gorge was the sight of mile after mile of burned over forest high up along the southern slopes and ridges. In some places flames consumed trees right down to the road. It jumped the river and burned even more forest in Washington. Started by a boy playing with fireworks, the Eagle Creek Fire destroyed some 50,000 acres and threatened the Gorge’s landmark waterfalls in the fall of 2017. Signs of the forests regeneration are just beginning to show.

Our last stop today was the 197-foot tall Bonneville Dam, built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1938. There are two main sections that meet mid-river at Bradford Island. The project provided 3,000 badly needed jobs during the Great Depression and generated the electrical power to fuel a growing Northwest. Locks in the dam allow ship and barge traffic to pass both up and downstream. At the visitor’s center there are special underground rooms where visitors can watch spawning salmon and other fish transit the fish ladder on their trips upstream.

Bonneville Dam.

While the scenery and geologic timing may be different at the Gorge compared to the Grand Canyon, the fundamental forces at play remain the same. Volcanic activity puts down layers of igneous rock, uplifting occurs in the earth’s crust, the effects of millions of years of erosion by wind and rain cuts a spectacular route through the bedrock. The Columbia Gorge is sometimes described as “a symphony of water and rock.” Lucky for us, on a beautiful October day, it was music for both our eyes and our ears.

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Burned over mountain tops along the Columbia River Gorge.