Yesterday and today are being combined because yesterday's misadventures weren't worth a whole entry by themselves.
The distance between Castle Rock and Troutdale is only 70 miles so we got here early enough to stop first at the local Camping World in the hopes they would have the part we need. They didn't. But they did sell us a part they said would work until we could get the real deal. It didn't. In fact, it did just the opposite of what was needed so we still have no hot water. It worked exactly the same way as the wire cutter handles Jim had cleverly jammed in the hoses.
We wasted more time and effort dragging the RV to Lowe's (because the previous people in our site had not yet vacated it) only to find they were out of the size hose Jim needed for the repair job. Turned out it didn't matter since he managed to maneuver the original hoses enough to connect them.
After researching the way a water heater bypass valve works on the internet today, I discovered that there was no way we could make do with something else. No one in the vast city of Portland has one (605,000 population) so Amazon.com has come to the rescue and has one on the way to be delivered here on Monday (we hope). Fingers are still crossed.
All the commotion with the water system took up the half day we were going to spend sight-seeing yesterday as well as all of this morning. We finally got under way at noon with the intention of seeing as much as we could of the Columbia River Gorge.
We started out on the Historic Columbia River Scenic Highway which is a twisty narrow road with lots of cyclists going in both directions. (Portland is the cycling capital of the universe and the 13th cyclist of the year was killed by a car yesterday. Jim said he didn't want to be responsible for number 14.)
We did hang around long enough to get a good picture with the Columbia River in the background.
I overheard a guide saying that trying to see the waterfalls on an August Saturday would be really difficult. It certainly was. In fact, even the interstate exit leading to Multnomah Falls was closed because of the congestion, and that was much later in the afternoon.
Having heard the forecast for a multitude of people, we decided to go in the other direction. We drove the 20 miles up to the top (or nearly the top) of Larch Mountain where there was a great view of five volcanoes.....Mounts Rainier, Adams, St. Helens, Hood and Jefferson. Mount Rainier was 97 miles away and was still bigger than Mount Adams at 54 miles. Rainier puts all the others to shame.
Taken on the 4,055 foot top of Larch Mountain with Mount Hood in the background. Hood is easily recognized from this side because it's got a pointy top.
We had a nice walk through the forests to get to the top of Larch Mountain....at least it was nice until we got to the steps up the final assault. No one said there were well over 100 steps. We screwed up our courage and made it to the top where the view made it all worth it.
The next step was to drive down 4,000 of those 4,055 feet to the Columbia River. Out of curiosity (besides needing to know when to get fuel) we always watch our estimated fuel range. We gained 58 miles on the trip down. If we could keep doing that we'd never need to buy fuel.
We'd already decided we wouldn't try to see any waterfalls today which turned out to be a good thing since the view of the parking lots for Multnomah Falls from I-84 was definitely not something we wanted to tackle. We continued along I-84 to Bonneville Dam and Locks where we stopped at their very nice visitor center. Besides their interesting tour (which was more talking than seeing stuff), they've got underwater viewing windows so you can see what's going on with the fish trying to get up the ladders. The dam and locks were built during the Depression so they've had nearly 85 years of research and experimentation to figure out what works best for the fish trying to get back up-river to spawn. We really enjoyed watching the salmon and lampreys milling about.
Coho salmon in the fish ladder. They're supposed to be going to the left but at least half the ones in the background are going right. This is actually an area of the ladder where they can rest before getting back in the rushing water.
A Pacific lamprey attached to the glass by its sucker-disc mouth. Lampreys also go upstream to spawn. They look like eels but aren't even related to them. They're a primitive fish. They spend most of their lives in freshwater but go to sea for the last one to three years of their lives. During their saltwater phase they become parasites and latch onto salmon and other fish to suck their blood and body fluids. In the center of the sucker-disc you can see their very sharp teeth which cut through the host fish's scales. We saw several salmon in the fish ladder with circular scars caused by lampreys.
After the tour of the dam we went to the Bonneville fish hatchery. They manage mega-thousands of salmon from eggs to adults. They also have a surprising number of rainbow trout which they keep only so people can see them.
Rainbow trout at the Bonneville fish hatchery. Really beautiful fish.
The other species of fish kept at the hatchery is the white sturgeon. Like the trout, the sturgeons are kept for interest rather than for breeding them. This fish (named Herman) is over 75 years old, 10+ feet long and 450+ pounds. Sturgeons are prehistoric fish, having been around since the Jurassic age. They have a glassy-eyed stare like a shark.
A different kind of wildlife. Yard art at the Bonneville Hatchery gift shop. Really cool.
Tomorrow will be a surprise. What we'll do depends on the weather.
Congrats on the 48!
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