Day 14 of #ridingeverydayinNovember

I'm still committed to #ridingeverydayinNovember.

The weather forecast for today called for a dry day.  The temperature was a mild 58 degrees within an hour of sunrise.  It was a perfect day to ride the Columbia River Gorge.  I had hoped to do this route last year during the #ridingeverydayinNovember challenge to be able to share the scenery with the other participants, who are scattered across the country, and across the ocean!  It never worked out last year, but it would today!

I started in Troutdale.  Luckily for me, it smelled pretty good there today.

There was a thin cloud cover that hid the sun, but the road was dry. I pedaled up along the banks of the Sandy River. Lewis and Clark mistook the Sandy River as the major tributary of the Columbia River.  It seems that they visited the mouth of the Sandy River shortly after an eruption of Mt Hood, which sits at the Sandy's headwaters. Today it was much more calm.

I pedaled up through Corbett and continued to climb along the Historic Columbia River Highway and finally reached the high point for today's ride, Women's Forum Park, that perches on Chanticleer Pt.
From here I had my first view of the Columbia River since Troutdale.  Despite the forecast, and the fact that the climate gets drier as one travels east. it looked to be a bit wet in my direction of travel.

The Vista House

                (clicking on any photo in this blog will display it full size)
Despite appearances it really didn't rain, it was more like a heavy fog. I made my way from Chanticleer Pt to Crown Pt and the Vista House where there were some good views of the Columbia River.

I rolled down to the Vista House and took short break to check out the informational displays

I continued to roll down the hill.  Normally this is a 30-35 mph descent, but today a carpet of wet leaves in some sharp corners made it wise to go a bit slower.  I arrived at Latourell Falls and took a quick pit stop for a photo.

I continued eastward.  Traffic was light and the route was colorful, even with the grey sky.

There are 77 waterfalls on the Oregon side of the Columbia Gorge.  I knew I wouldn't get to anywhere near all of them today.  I was going to be happy to get to some of the easy ones.  I passed by Shepards Dell Falls and Bridal Veil Falls, but neither presented a good photo opportunity from the road, and I didn't feel I had time for too much off road exploration today. When I got to Wahkeena Falls I took a quick stop to get a couple of photos.

The next falls worthy of a photo stop was Multnomah Falls. I spent a bit more time here.

I continued on for another mile or so to Oneonta Tunnel.

The Oneonta Tunnel was recently reopened after being closed for over 60 years.

Oneonta Falls is near here, but the short hike to view it is in the river that has cut it's way down through a fault line crack in the lava. In places you can almost touch both side walls.

crashmacduff.wordpress.com

I've hiked it numerous times before, but today was not the day to do it again.  I turned the bike around and headed back.  In hindsight, I should have continued a very short distance east and taken a photo of Horsetail Falls.  I guess that will have to wait until next time!

Names in the "Birthday Club" are noteworthy even today.

I began the climb back up to Crown Point.  It is the same elevation from either way, but I've always preferred the climb from the east side.

Before too long I was nearing the Vista House.

I made the final turn and looped around to the parking lot.

From here on it was all downhill back to Troutdale.  Nothing on the Historic Highway exceeds 5% so downhill speed isn't too bad, but you can reach 35 mph without too much effort.  I just rolled easy.

I got back to Troutdale, loaded my bike up, and headed toward home, making a stop in Portland for dinner.

It was a good day on the bike.  Comfortable temperatures, (mostly)dry, and no winds in the Gorge!

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.....MTB.....Lifecycle..Total
Today ......41...............0...............0.............0..............41
Jan.........765..............0...............0.............0............765
Feb........248..............0...............0.............0............248
March....183..............0...............0.............0.............183
April......228...............0..............0..............0.............228
May.......200...............0..............0..............0.............200
June........199..............0..............26............0.............225
July.........246.............0...............0..............0.............246
Aug.........502.............0...............0..............0.............502
Sept.........974.............0,,,,,,,,,,,,,,44.............0............1018
Oct.......... 962.............0..............45.............0............1007
Nov..........298..............0................3.............0.............301
_________________________________________
total.......4806.............0.............118............0...........4924