Bonneville Dam. The final water control at Columbia River

Where we camped

Marine Park Campground

We spent 4 nights at Marine Park campground in Cascade Locks. The campground is between a active set of train tracks and the Columbia river. The reviews of the campground constantly call out the train traffic as a nuisance. The traffic didn’t bother us. I enjoyed hearing and seeing the trains. The entry into Marine Park has a height restriction of 12 feet. Vehicles enter through a railroad underpass.

Bridge of the gods

The only bridge over the Columbia between Portland and Hood River. I think it’s fun to stay close to state borders and bicycle between states. Then I have a cool story about how I rode to Washington today (from Oregon). The bridge is awesome, no toll for cyclists or pedestrians. The bride has no bike lane and a speed limit of 15 miles per hour and about a third of a mile long. The bridge decking is grate allowing foot traffic to see the river (~140 feet) below. The bridge of the gods is the third oldest bridge on the Columbia. I rode across the bridge multiple times. Each time crossing the bridge brought a feeling of satisfaction, I was starting or ending a ride with incredible views in all directions(up, down, left, right)

Columbia River Fishing

The fishing on the Columbia was amazing. I personally didn’t fish, however I watched many pull hundreds of fish from the river. The docents at the Bonneville dam, informed me that fishing when the American Shad were running was referred to as combat fishing. Apparently combat fishing is the fight the fisherman must endure to keep the chad off the hook. I have never seen so many fish caught by so many people in a short amount of time. From the campground I watched an angler pull a fish out of the water every 30 seconds, he would drop maybe 15 feet of line in the river and walk up the dock against the current. From what I could tell, he simply had a lure. He caught so many fish he was giving them away to people that were on the dock. At one point his dog came over and helped him with the landed fish.

Cascade Locks

We took a tour on the sternWheeler. Donna and I both enjoyed it. The tour took us through the Bonneville Dam lockage, giving us up close view of the operation of the locks. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour, we were on the boat for a few hours, went through the locks both ways, were invited up to the captains helm were we listened to all operational communication of the locks staff and other vessels. The captain also got a ear full from the Army corp of engineers operator. The boat staff were writing on the walls of the locks. In short, Army corp operator says over radio, “hey captain of SternWheeler, call me on this phone number”, Capt. calls him, operator informs him of staff writing on the walls. Capt in the nicest possible way answers all questions politely (think shrug emoji). Army corp operator ends call by stating that when he goes places he doesn’t appreciate seeing graffiti on walls. Capt, never agreed or disagreed, was never defensive. The whole conversation was the closest representation of Moral Nihilism I have ever witnessed.

Pictures and Videos from the SternWheeler and lockage tour

Videos

Bonneville Dam

I was able to tour the Bonneville Dam. Walking through the Dam powerhouse feeling the water rush through the penstock is incredible. It’s fun to think about the head pressure and the amount of engineering that went into creating the water controls along the Columbia. The Dam has a power house on the Washington and Oregon sides of the river. The amount of engineering that goes into keeping fish happy and healthy through the dam is neat to see. The spillways from the generators were operational and the mist that was created from the water exiting was visible for miles. Approaching the dam from a few miles away, it was hard to process the “debris” in the air as mist, it appeared as dust at first.

Bonneville Dam Pictures

Full Photo Dump