Portland

Monday, March 9: Bruce and I headed up the Columbia River for reportedly fabulous views of the Gorge, as it is called. The river is flanked by high mountains, wooded hills and sheer rock cliffs—or so I am told. The fog was so thick that views across the river were mostly non-existent. When the fog did finally lift, the snow and hail and sleet and rain were thick enough to substitute aptly for the fog. I’ll have to come back another day.

Bruce and I did manage to take a fabulously beautiful hike (during a temporary slowdown in the precipitation) up Eagle Creek Trail, just down from Bonneville Dam (the downstream-most impoundment on the Columbia River system). Eagle Creek is a crashing, crystal clear cascade—rendered emerald in the deeper pools—that has carved a severely steep canyon through the ages. The views are breath-taking and the trail is, in places, etched into the side of a cliff with no chance for survival should one mis-step. Fortunately there was cable to hold onto, else I would have been crawling instead of walking--see photo upper left.