The Dalles and Hood River

At 7:00a.m. Captain Coughlin lined up the Sea Bird alongside a rocky outcrop. The sky was just beginning to lighten up, sunrise was expected at 7:10 a.m. In the still morning we slid quietly up to the pictographs on the rock, the most outstanding being the 24-point elk close to the waterline. For possible millennia, he had been standing there, had seen the tremendous changes that have overtaken the river. Dawn threw a soft rose light onto the flanks of Mt. Hood, visible above the hydroelectric dam of The Dalles. Just recently there had been heavy rains which caused a road up to Mt. Hood to be washed out, and later today when we passed the Hood River we saw it flowing white as a glacial river, a huge amount of sediment was being transported down to the Columbia. We however, had a spectacular morning, noon and evening. The sky stayed clear all day and the Columbia River Gorge showed beginnings of fall colors. The breeze kept up with us and believe it or not, kept us cool! Despite early morning temperatures of around 45 degrees, by the afternoon we were in T-shirts and some were wishing for shorts! Crazy autumn days.