Airestreaming at Ainsworth State Park, Oregon.

May 31, 2026 · 4 minute read/687 words

Where we camped

The whole Airestreaming crew loved this park. The trails for walking with the dogs were amazing to say the least. The temperature and humidity were perfect, the sun shined but was behind the trees, illuminating the emerald greens of the forest. Colin was surprised by the excellent bike riding to many of the waterfalls and the Vista House. Donna convinced Colin to do many hikes with and without the dogs. Donna and Colin visited every waterfall along the corridor and hiked with both herds of people and all alone. The waterfalls were a real treat. We would often find ourselves all alone or with a small group of people skivvie dipping (sorry no pictures; respect the privacy). The waterfalls are really special here, I am started to lean toward this trip being a waterfall viewing session due to the amount of falls we have seen.

This area checked off two must visit places for us. The “waterfall corridor” and “the gorge”. I was also able to visit the end of the water controls along the Colombia River, Bonneville Dam. The American chad (fish) were running and I was able to see hundreds of fishermen pull many fish out. A ranger at the dam referred to the fishing style as combat fishing, meaning that the fish were so easy to catch you had to fight them off your line. From what we witnessed this was true, one stand out case was at the cascade locks where we watched a person throw a lure on the end of ~15 feet of fishing line and walk up and down the “canal”. Every few minutes he would pull a large fish out of the water. He was catching so many fish he was trying to give them away.

Starlink

Starlink has improved over the years by leaps and bounds. It’s turly amazing that we used to worry about any trees blocking the sky, as more satellites enter the constellation, the service continues to get better. I had the highest confidence that this site would not allow us to work. I was proved wrong. Take a look at the video and the images below showing the obstructions. Starlink had minimal interruptions after a few hours of determining the best path to point its beamforms.

Waterfall Corridor

The Trolley

Our fist day we were enticed by a flyer at the campground showing a trolley that drove the water fall corridor. The cost was $39 per person. The service was awesome, not worrying about parking a vehicle while getting a view into the area was awesome. The trolley is a hop-on-hop-off type allowing users to visit many stops in a day. Donna and Colin took the trolley from start (Ainsworth campground) to the end (Vista House) and back, stopping at Multnomah Falls Lodge for lunch. The food here was very good, I was surprised, usually restaurants in pretty places are not great. I was also scared to order what I really wanted (Braised Pork) due to the cost being so low, I had convinced myself it would not be good since it was inexpensive. The trolley service allowed us to plan our next day, what we would see first, what needed further research, and which falls we could ride our bikes to. The trolley’s designated stops are well timed and the trolley never leaves the stop early. If you are on time, you will catch your ride back.

Vista House

The Vista House quickly became a destination for Colin on the bike. The history on display was insightful and I learned things I didn’t know about Lewis and Clark. The Vista House is a beautiful piece of architecture overlooking the Colombia River.