Visiting Multnomah Falls and the Historic Columbia River Scenic Highway

Our sister-in-law, Pam, visited us a couple of weeks ago.  She lives in the Sacramento, CA area and is the wife of Dave's brother, Terry, who passed away from cancer in December, 2008, at the young age of 57.  One of the places we like to take visitors is for a ride along the Columbia River Gorge, culminating with a stop at Multnomah Falls. 

The Columbia River Gorge area runs between Interstate 84 on the Oregon side, and State Highway 14 on the Washington side.  The Historic Old Scenic Highway is located just to the south of I-84.  The old highway was built between 1913 and 1922 and is now a historic landmark.  In 1926 the road became part of the then-new United States highway system, US Hwy 30.

There are several waterfalls and scenic areas along this route, all of which are now part of the Oregon State Parks system.    First we stopped at Chanticleer Point, also known as Portland Women's Forum State Scenic Viewpoint.

Pam poses at  Chanticleer Point.

Our next stop was Crown Point, where we visited Vista House, a memorable landmark along the Historic Highway.  It was built in 1918 as “an observatory from which the view both up and down the Columbia could be viewed in silent communion with the infinite.”

Vista House

The western view from Crown Point.  That steam/smoke in the very top of the photo is the paper mill in Camas, WA.

The eastern view.  That's Beacon Rock in Washington way the distance in the top middle of the picture.  You can also see I-84 down below.

After paying our respects to Vista House, we left Crown Point and traveled further east along the old highway.  This scenic area has lots of places to stop along the way.  Don't try taking a big motorhome on this highway, though--it's quite narrow in spots. 

The historic old highway is a scenic drive.  This route is popular with bicyclists.

We skipped some of the waterfalls that aren't visible without a hike, and stopped at Latourell Falls. 

Then it was on to our destination for the day, Multnomah Falls, the highest waterfall in Oregon, and the second highest in the nation.

We hiked up the paved path to the bridge above the bottom part of the falls. 

The hike continues to the very top of the falls, but we took our pictures from a  little ways past the bridge.

Looking from the bridge back down to the main visitor area.

Dave, Pam, and I enjoyed eating lunch at the historic lodge at Multnomah Falls.  The lodge was completed in 1925.  Besides the restaurant, the lodge contains a state park information center and a gift shop.

My photo of the lodge, taken 9/19/11

Below is an online photo that I found of the lodge, showing the fall colors, and the waterfall in the background.

We in the Portland area are lucky to have this scenic area located near enough to enjoy on a day or half-day trip!

From Smith Rock to Juniper Golf

Yesterday was a full day--no time to write a blog.  After our early morning eight-mile bike ride around the fairgrounds, we made another trip to Cove Palisades State Park.  It was nice to see the lake again and even more boats were out enjoying the warm weather.  We drove through Deschutes Campground and even though it has full hookups, it didn't "float our boat"--sorry for the bad pun.

We drove on to Smith Rock State Park, located only three miles north of Redmond.  What a great park!  The rock formations reminded of the "rocks" we saw last year in Utah.  This is a climber's paradise, but we didn't bring binoculars, so we didn't witness any climbing.  And, of course, we didn't do any climbing ourselves, except for climbing in and out of the car to take pictures.  

After touring the state park, we came back to the RV for lunch and a break, and then Dave went next door to play golf at the championship Juniper Golf Course.  I did some errands and then joined Dave at the golf course to ride around with him on the cart for his last nine holes.  By then the usual afternoon breeze had come up and the temperature was pleasant at the golf course.  

About 7 pm we finished up at the golf course and decided to head to McMenamins Old Francis School restaurant in Bend.  We had a delightful meal while enjoying the ambience of one of their patio areas. 

Each of the McMenamins restaurants is different in style and theme. The Old St. Francis School has undergone a transformation from a 1936 Catholic schoolhouse to a hotel complete with classrooms-turned-lodging rooms, a pub, brewery and bakery, a movie theater, private meeting and event space and a soaking pool.

This morning we drove up to Sisters, Oregon, had breakfast, window-shopped, went to a couple of bookstores, and drove through the city park campground to make sure that we could fit our motorhome into one of their spots.  It's a go for a future RV trip to Sisters!

Tonight is the opening night of the Deschutes County Fair, and we'll walk over there from the RV park.  Tomorrow--we head for home!  Despite the hot temps it's been a great week here in Redmond, Oregon!

Lake Billy Chinook and the Crooked River

This has been another hot day, but right now, at 6 pm, we are getting rain, thunder, and lightning.  Maybe the weather will cool down a bit.

Due to the heat, we went for another early morning bike ride.  We rode at Dry Canyon again, but this time we only rode eight miles.  Once the ride is accomplished, we feel like we've gotten our exercise for the day.

Lake Billy Chinook

We packed a picnic lunch and headed north and west on Highway 97 to Lake Billy Chinook and Cove Palisades State Parks.  The lake was a busy place today, but we snagged a picnic table near the swimming area.  We didn't swim, but I waded in the water for a little while.  The water was cold, but not as cold as I expected.  Lots of people were swimming and floating on rafts.   

Lake Billy Chinook State Park rents boats, included patio boats and houseboats. 

Houseboats awaiting rentalA large houseboat tied up at the dock 

Views of Lake Billy Chinook from above the marina 

A fine view of Mt. Jefferson from the lake

Cove Palisades State Park contains two campgrounds.  We visited Crooked River Park and found it to be a very nice oasis of green near Lake Billy Chinook.  The park is open year-round and contains 91 sites with water and electric hookups.  Deschutes Campground, which we didn't visit, is open only in the summer and has 82 full hookup sites.

After leaving the lake, we drove back to Redmond on Highway 97 and stopped at the Peter Skene Ogden Rest Area, which besides being a rest area, has a good view of the vertical basalt cliffs that are on each side of Crooked River.  As you can see in the pictures below, there wasn't much water in the river.

Peter Skene Ogden, born in 1790, was a fur trapper and explorer of the western USA and Canada.  Many places have been named after him, including the city of Ogden, Utah.

Portrait of Peter Skene Ogden 

Crooked River is part of the Columbia River basin, being a tributary of the Deschutes River, which is tributary to the Columbia River.  It, along with some other tributaries, helped form Lake Billy Chinook (and Prineville Reservoir, which we visited last Friday).

The Crooked River High Bridge is a steel arch bridge that was completed in 1926. The bridge was eventually unable to keep up with the growing traffic demands of U.S. Highway 97 and a new bridge was built.   The old bridge is open to pedestrians.

In the other direction, a railroad bridge crosses the river.

We ended our adventure with a drive to Crooked River Ranch, checked out the two RV parks there, and admired the green (and the greens) at the golf course there.  The Ranch properties have a scenic view of the Crooked River Gorge.

'Twas another fine day in hot Central Oregon!

Champoeg State Park, Oregon

Champoeg State Heritage Area is one of our favorite state parks.  We paid $24 for a full-hookup site with 50 amp power.  Only a few of the sites have full-hookups--the partial hookups (electric and water) also cost $24, and both types of sites cost a few dollars less during the winter off-season.  Verizon cell service is not great, with 0-2 bars in the B loop.  Champoeg is also a popular day-use park and parking is $5/day.

Site B24

The bicycle and walking path at Champoeg State Park goes through all areas of the park and includes both forest and meadow terrain.  We saw many different birds during our bike rides.  The park also contains a popular disk golf course.

This basket was looking pretty muddy after all the rain.

Champoeg (pronounced sham-poo-ee), was an important settlement in the Willamette Valley in the early 1840s and was the site of the first provisional government of the Oregon Territory. 

The town continued to exist after Oregon statehood. However, on December 2, 1861, the adjacent Willamette River rose 55 feet above its normal summer stage, flooding the town with seven feet of water.  Champoeg was never rebuilt after the disaster. The town site is now preserved as Champoeg State Heritage Area and Archaeological Site. A 1901 monument records the names of the 52 settlers who voted to establish the provisional government at the 1843 meeting. Dams installed since the 1930s make another catastrophic flood unlikely.

The original townsite isn't much more than a trail now.

A pioneer cabin was built by the DAR and is open for tours on weekends.

Riverside day use area

Oak Grove day use area

We saw a couple of sets of bleachers out along the bike path.  We couldn't figure out why they were there.  Dave's idea was to watch mud wrestling, and my idea was to watch the weeks grow.

Mud wrestling or weeds growing?  Cast your vote.

Now we are home again for a few days, and then we will head out on a short RV trip to McMinnville, OR. 

Mallard Creek Golf and RV Resort

Mallard Creek is one of our favorite RV parks.  It is located 7 miles outside of the small city of Lebanon, Oregon.  The views from the park are pastoral and serene.  We always enjoy our stays there.  This time we were there from Thursday until today, Monday.  The first night there were only four rigs at the park, including us.  By Saturday and Sunday, there were still only ten rigs.  The rainy weather forecast probably had something to do with the lack of RVs. 

The view from our site at Mallard Creek

Site #19

Our frustrations with our motorhome don't seem quite as dire as they did Saturday night.  We have some things to fix, but it's nothing we can't handle.  We are committed to this lifestyle and hope to continue to be part-time RVers for as long as we can manage.

While Dave was playing golf on Friday and Saturday, I went for a bike ride each day.  One of my favorite areas to ride around is Waterloo County Park.  It's one of Linn County's excellent parks.  The park has partial hookups, not full hookups, but it doesn't stop the people that camp there.  The rates are $24 for partial hookups, with a discount price for seniors 62 and over of $17 per night.  The Santiam River runs along the east side of the park.

The Santiam River on a dark, cloudy morning

I recently bought a new bicycle from Camping World.  It's a full-size folding cruiser (1 speed) bike.  I was having trouble with the hand brakes on my old bike, and determined that they contributed to my carpal tunnel problems.  My new bike has old-fashioned coaster brakes, and so far, I've had no carpal tunnel pain. 

My new bicycle parked at Waterloo County Park, OR

On Sunday afternoon, Dave and I drove to Albany, OR, parked at Grand Prairie Park, and rode our bicycles on the bike path along Periwinkle Creek and around the surrounding neighborhood. 

Periwinkle Creek 

We saw this sign at a house in the neighborhood.  Clever, huh?

Tonight we are at Champoeg State Park, southwest of Wilsonville, OR.  We have reservations here for the next three nights.