Day 5

Tuesday, 9 Jun 2015
Hood River, OR to Maryhill, WA
55.2 miles, 4h56m, 11.2 mph
Elapsed Time: 6h25m, Max speed: 33.9mph
Total Climbing: 2562ft, Max elevation: 741ft
Total mileage: 240.0


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        DeLorme. Topo USA. Data copyright of content owner.




Out of Hood River and straight back onto the Historic Columbia River Highway. Naturally there was some climbing in order to earn the views.


And the awesomeness continued.


The Historic Highway doesn't run east of The Dalles, so this was really the last chance to enjoy the history and such.


The Mosier Twin Tunnels are the main feature of this segment. Not much to write home about, but they did have these neat turn outs where you
could take a look outside. I bet they didn't have those fences in the '20s.


And the weather was excellent again. You can tell this is one of the new turnouts they built for the bike path because it looks
too new. And the year 2000 was stamped on the ground.



The last big deal on the Historic is the Rowena Crest Overlook. There was a long climb. The change in vegetation was noticeable.
I noticed that there were fewer trees and more grass.


The descent from Rowena Overlook has a whole bunch of of these loops. And yes, it was fun going down.


Nice views from the Rowena Overlook.


This was part of the descent. It wasn't really screaming because of all the braking to avoid flying off the road.


There is a bike path that runs most of the way past The Dalles. Here is a sign that explains how they are going to build a tunnel
under an active rail line without stopping the trains. The sign says the tunnel will be completed in 1997. On the left is the tunnel.


I met Linda for lunch at the Clock Tower Ales in The Dalles. This is the Mt. Hood burger. Not sure why. Does it look like Mt. Hood? Let's see...


No. It doesn't look like Mt. Hood. There's no bacon on Mt. Hood. No obvious bacon anyway.


This bear got in my dam photo. I can't believe how often this happens.


I planned to ride this bike path past The Dalles Dam and its dam visitor center up to the next exit on I-84. But no. I had to turn around
and ride back the dam way I came.


And back on I-84. This should be the last interstate riding for some time.


This is where the Oregon Trail settlers would first see the Columbia River, near Biggs Junction. No doubt they rejoiced and decided
this would be a good place for a truck stop with a motel that charges by the hour.


I scampered across the bridge into Washington. High above I could see my destination for the day--Stonehenge!


Well, fake Stonehenge. It's actually a WWI memorial that tells time to some degree of accuracy. It can probably tell you what month it is if you are there
at sunrise. It was partway up a nasty climb that I will be finishing tomorrow. We loaded up the SUV and drove back to our hotel in The Dalles.
And what happened to my gut? I can see it in front of me right now, but it's not in that photo.


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"Northwest Tour 2015" Copyright © 2015 By Bob Clemons. All rights reserved.