Rain and the Hood River Fruit Loop!

Near Wahkeena Falls

On Thursday, we reluctantly left Rosarie's warm hospitality and drove back to Portland from Boise. What started as sunny blue skies and a few puffy clouds soon turned to dark heavy clouds and a steady intense rain about half way through the trip. But Ken persevered while I slept. So sweet. In any case (and none to my credit), we arrived safely back at the RV still not having glimpsed Mount Hood again for all the bad weather.

Near Wahkeena Falls

On Friday, we took the camera in for a MUCH needed cleaning of the digital sensor. A short few hours (and several thrift stores) later and Advance Camera Inc. returned our camera free of dust and such that we managed to accumulate over 18 states last year and so far 13 states this year. Ah...what a breath of fresh air. But with the heavy clouds and on-again off-again rain all day, we had no blue skies with which to test the camera yet. We had dinner and plotted our next day's adventure to see Mount Hood.

Wahkeena Falls

SLUG!

On Saturday, we got up and out early at about 9am (for two folks on permanent vacation, that's early) and headed to the town of Hood River in the Hood River Valley east of Portland about an hour or so. The 'mostly sunny' skies looked suspiciously like mostly cloudy for much of the drive. Hmmm. We stopped at Wahkeena Falls on the scenic drive that parallels I-84...we were not disappointed. The short hike to the falls themselves was totally worth it. First we saw the biggest slug either of us has ever laid eyes on and it was crawling v.e.r.y. slowly up the side of a tree along the path. Clearly he was hamming it up so folks would take his picture. Naturally, we obliged.

Historic Multnomah Falls Lodge

We also saw one small waterfall after another on our way up the hill and then found Wahkeena Falls cascading down the crevice in the cliff throwing mist all over us and the little stone bridge we walked over. We trekked on farther up the trail, but eventually turned around realizing the path only climbed zigzaggedly and interminably up the cliff face.

We walked back down the steep, mossy trail to the car and continued on the scenic drive where we next found Multnomah Falls again.  We stopped in to the lodge and visitor center before heading on down the road. The weather improved not one bit, with plenty of chilly dampness to go around.

In an old wooden railroad tunnel
near Multnomah Falls, Oregon

We passed several more small waterfalls, including Horsetail Falls, and though we didn't stop, they were all very pretty. Eventually we came to an old wooden railroad tunnel near yet another stream running out of the mountains toward the Columbia River to our north. We stopped to walk around through the tunnel and across the stone bridge on the other side and take some pictures.

We continued on to Hood River, Oregon, where we discovered the 'Fruit Loop', a tour of the local fruit and farm stands throughout the Hood River Valley. What fun!

Mount Hood completely obscured by clouds
somewhere in the background

We first drove up to Panorama Point County Park, a teeny tiny little parking lot offering a spectacular view of the farmlands in front of picturesque Mount Hood. Well, we're sure it would be picturesque if we could actually have seen the mountain, but, alas, we could not. Shrouded, once again, in heavy clouds, we had to console ourselves with the sweeping vista of the greenery and lush farmlands below it...very pretty.

Apple Valley Country Store,
Hood River, Oregon

With the time approaching the lunch hour, we left quickly and headed to the Apple Valley Country Store outside of town. We found jam and jelly samples to tide us over as well as a delectable Marionberry Pie for dessert later (thankfully in no way related to the former crack-smoking, tax-evading mayor of Washington, DC of the same name of the 1980s and 90s). The friendly clerk pointed us to the store's restaurant another 12 miles farther out of town for lunch. We headed to the Apple Valley BBQ restaurant in Parkdale, Oregon, and enjoyed a lovely lunch of pulled pork sandwiches. We also watched the sky begin to clear into what could be described, at a stretch, as 'mostly sunny' skies.

We sped off to see Mount Hood in all its glory as we could glimpse only the tiniest sliver of the peak of the mountain from Parkdale with clouds obscuring everything below. Just a few miles away we found actual sunny skies shining down on us, but with no view of the mountain. We pressed on and crossed numerous times over the beautiful Hood River, hoping to find a clearing where we could stop to see Mount Hood. As if to spite us completely, we drove straight into a wall of mist and fog so thick we had to slow down. With this impenetrable pea soup all around us and the rain beginning to fall, we could barely see the cars in front of us and certainly not the mountain. Our hopes of seeing Mount Hood diminished with each passing mile. We raced on, trying to get ahead of the fog, but to no avail. This dense fog/mist/rain combo continued unabated for the next 40 miles or so. Grr.

Pam, Ken, Dea, Jeremy

Eventually, we gave up, spent some time in a couple of shops in a town at the base of the mountain before heading over to visit my cousin, Jeremy, and his wife, Dea. We spent the evening chatting over a wonderful home-cooked meal, and then the tasty marionberry pie. We had first met them 3 years ago when they were on their own cross-country tour and came to the DC area and stayed with my parents. We swapped stories about national parks and all of our travels, and had a great time with the two of them. What a fantastic day!