Now and then, I realize that we live in postcard country. We did a short camping trip in the Gorge, just got back. Little park that caters to windsurfers, just this side of Hood River. Water access isn't open to vehicles until next month, so the place was mostly empty. Here's what it looks like at the Columbia.Double-click on the image and have a look.
The only drawback is, in the Gorge you are never far from an active railroad track, and the trains sound their horns at the crossings; at a decibel level required by federal law loud enough to rattle your teeth. One crossing of which was really close to where we were parked. I could hit the passing trains with a rock thrown underhand, and they zipped past every hour or two all night. Even so, after a while, you tune them out ...
Lot of ground squirrels for the dogs to get all excited over, too.
2 comments:
Hello Steve,
The Gorge is wonderful and accessible.
If you stopped by your usual site before heading East, you likely found it closed to the public. My fault. I helped secure the place for the nonprofit I work with. We take over the park and island one weekend a year.
As you note, the trains were there in abundance, I too have learned to tune them out. However, if you'd been in the park or on the island (where I "slept") you might have missed out on your rest. On Saturday night the local kids whooped it up from 10pm til after Midnight. Haven't heard "toga, toga, toga..." in quite some time. Harder to sleep through than the East-bound freight.
Ron
We did indeed stop by our usual site and found it reserved. We usually check online, there are a lot of sailing events on that section of the river and the campground fills up, but later in the season, most of 'em.
We saw the tents on the island. Given the wind there most of the time, I always though that would be like camping on Mt. Everest -- fabric whipping and flagging constantly, but more power to you.
It's a great spot, though.
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