Columbia River Gorge

We headed to the Columbia River Gorge with our trailer behind, which I knew would limit our parking opportunities. We had to skip Vista House, but managed to see most of the water falls: Latourell Falls, Sheppard's Dell and Multanomah Falls, which you can see from an exit off I-80.

We then went to the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia. This dam only generates about a fifth the power of the Grand Coulee, but it is impressive none the less. The fun part of visiting this dam is to watch the salmon and other fish swim up the fish ladders.

Our final stop of the day was the Columbia Gorge Interpretive center. It gives the history of the area from Indian days forward. It was particularly interesting to hear of the difficult choice those on the Oregon Trail had to make this close to their goal of the Willamette Valley near the coast. Either they had to float their prairie schooners over the Rapids or take a toll road ($8 a wagon) around Mount Hood with a narrow steep drop on the far side where they had to winch their wagon down the slope.  They also had an excellent exhibit on the Eagle Creek Fire which happened in September, 2017, which has forced closure of some of the Historic Columbia River Highway.

Eagle Creek Fire 

After the center, the landscape quickly changes from forests to dry semi-arid coulee. We camped at Maryhill State Park, an oasis of green in the brown grasses.