Day Sixteen

While Graham slept in, I washed the bikes. This can be an arduous task – using the motel wastebasket for a soap bucket and transporting rinse water back and forth from the bathtub with our fold up bucket. Fortunately the motel had an outside hose that I could use (didn’t get permission but the motel police weren’t out at 6 a.m.). By 8 we were headed north to Mt. St. Helens. The mountain is about 50 miles NE from our motel, but we could tell right away that we weren’t going to see the mountain – low clouds. We went to the visitor’s center and took in the movie and the displays. I remember the eruption but had not comprehended the devastation that it caused back in 1980. Literally one fifth of this huge mountain was blown off. There are several visitor’s centers but we opted for the State Park site that was closer to the entrance It was determined that we were as far away from home as we were going to get – straight shot - 2350 miles according to my Gamin Zumo 550. Actually this picture of Mt. St. Helens was taken on Thurs. from the east side (good side)on our way toward Spokane.



We made the 50 mile trip south to the Mount Hood area and stocked up on groceries for the next two days near Gresham. We stopped at one of the parks on the south side of the Columbia Gorge for lunch. The Hood Mountain Loop encircles Mt. Hood – 90 miles total. This was one of the must do rides that I had researched. We went east on I 84 to the city of Hood River and took 35 south then caught 26 back to the interstate. The roads were excellent with gentle, sweeping turns and not much traffic until we got towards the end on the west side. The east side had huge amounts of apple orchards. Several wineries were also in this area. Mt. Hood has several ski and recreational areas on the south and east side. I read at the Mt. St. Helens visitor center about Indian folklore about these two mountains. Passed down from generation to generation were stories of the two mountains (apparently both volcanic active at the time) being mad at each other and throwing fire and rocks at each other across the gorge. Mt. Hood is very majestic, sitting by itself with no comparable mountains close. This picture was also taken on Thurs. from the north side of the Columbia Gorge about 40 miles away from Mt. Hood.



We crossed the Columbia close to Portland and began riding the north side of the gorge and decided to find a campsite early – knowing that they have been filling up quickly. We found a great little campground – Beacon Rock State Park – and it even had a pay shower ($.25 for 3 minutes, unusual for the State Parks we have seen so far).



This is a picture of the Columbia Gorge looking east.



A nice camper stopped by and brought us some fire wood. This has been the only camp area where it has been posted for no collecting of firewood. Dinner was grand. Earlier, we purchased some salmon fillets. We grilled the fillets over the open fire and heated up a can of corn and baked beans (we especially like the Bush’s variety) and sampled the local flavor of brew – Full Sail. All in all a good day of riding. The weather was perfect. It started out a little chilly but by the end of the day we were in t-shirts and enjoying the sun. Tomorrow we head east and north towards Glacier N.P.