Columbia River
Looking out of our cabins this morning we were surprise to see that there was hardly a tree to be found. How quickly we had left the lush vegetation of the west side behind and found ourselves on the dry east side of the Cascade Mountains. The “rain shadow effect” was clearly evident here. As the moisture-laden clouds from the Pacific hit the wall of the Cascades, they are forced up and over the top. On the way up, the air cools and loses its ability to hold as much water, so down it falls on the west side of the mountains, creating the lush forests for which Washington and Oregon are known.
We had barely finished our breakfast when the first adventure for the day began. We were invited to lock through John Day Dam with one of the tugs that was going up river. John Day lock with a vertical lift of 113 feet is the highest in the world. The tugs can push four barges up or down the river, and the locks on all the dams are the same dimensions—86 feet wide by 675 feet long. A tugboat with four barges in tow takes up a space 84 feet by 665 feet. This tugboat had only 2 barges in tow, so there was still room for us. We got to witness their tight maneuvering first hand as they slid into the lock behind us!
Our day ended similar to how it began. At sunset, we watched a grain barge being pushed downstream and out of McNary Lock as we waited to go upstream. Thirty-five percent of the nation’s wheat travels on these rivers. Tomorrow we will be just south of the dryland wheat farmlands of the Palouse region of Idaho and Washington, very possibly the origin of this grain.
After going through McNary Dam we reached the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers. We will travel on the Snake River throughout the night, going through 4 more locks and dams in order to reach our eastern most point (475 miles from the Pacific Ocean) by morning. We are having a much easier time of it than Lewis and Clark.
Looking out of our cabins this morning we were surprise to see that there was hardly a tree to be found. How quickly we had left the lush vegetation of the west side behind and found ourselves on the dry east side of the Cascade Mountains. The “rain shadow effect” was clearly evident here. As the moisture-laden clouds from the Pacific hit the wall of the Cascades, they are forced up and over the top. On the way up, the air cools and loses its ability to hold as much water, so down it falls on the west side of the mountains, creating the lush forests for which Washington and Oregon are known.
We had barely finished our breakfast when the first adventure for the day began. We were invited to lock through John Day Dam with one of the tugs that was going up river. John Day lock with a vertical lift of 113 feet is the highest in the world. The tugs can push four barges up or down the river, and the locks on all the dams are the same dimensions—86 feet wide by 675 feet long. A tugboat with four barges in tow takes up a space 84 feet by 665 feet. This tugboat had only 2 barges in tow, so there was still room for us. We got to witness their tight maneuvering first hand as they slid into the lock behind us!
Our day ended similar to how it began. At sunset, we watched a grain barge being pushed downstream and out of McNary Lock as we waited to go upstream. Thirty-five percent of the nation’s wheat travels on these rivers. Tomorrow we will be just south of the dryland wheat farmlands of the Palouse region of Idaho and Washington, very possibly the origin of this grain.
After going through McNary Dam we reached the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers. We will travel on the Snake River throughout the night, going through 4 more locks and dams in order to reach our eastern most point (475 miles from the Pacific Ocean) by morning. We are having a much easier time of it than Lewis and Clark.
