A Little Work and More Hiking

We got to do our first unsupervised “job” Monday evening.  We are in charge of cleaning the picnic shelter and putting up the reserved signs when the shelter is reserved. It just involves using a pressure washer to clean off all the bird droppings and spider webs. Since we never owned a pressure washer, and there was no instruction manual, we put our 2 brains together and finally got it working. Next time it will be a snap!

We were off yesterday so we drove down the Historic Columbia River Highway again to the Wahkeena Falls Trail. We made it a 5 mile loop and came back on the Multnomah Falls Trail, a very popular place, crawling with tourists.  Luckily we only saw a few people on the trail until we got close to the falls.

This was one of the prettiest trails we’ve hiked. It followed a rushing stream most of the way, and there were numerous waterfalls.

It was also quite a challenging climb, but we got a great view of the river, interstate and Bonneville Dam in the far background.

Just a few more pictures from the trail. We’ve never seen so many waterfalls in one place!

 

Today we woke up to the weather we’ve been expecting, drizzle and fog. We have to go to work, so hopefully it will be something indoors.

Angels Rest Trail

You should always be wary when the trail description says “Angels rest but you won’t on this 2.3 mile climb.”  It sounded like a good challenge, so we hiked it this morning.

They weren’t kidding, either. It was a tough uphill the whole way, but as usual, the view from the top was worth it.

This is another of the many trails you can access from the Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway. Unfortunately it was very hazy, so the pictures didn’t come out real well.

This is looking over to the Washington side of the river. 

We ran into a fair number of other hikers and it’s always funny how the ones coming back down the trail are smiling and talking, while those climbing up are gasping for breath or asking how much farther they have to go.  And I  include ourselves in both of those groups!

A Ride on The Columbia

It was a great day yesterday. We got to go for a ride on the Corps of Engineers boat with 3 of the rangers to gather up some river water.  

Here is Jim showing Ranger Tim how to collect the samples.

They then send it to Oregon State University to test for the larvae of zebra and quagga mussels, which are invasive species that can threaten native fish and clog water-intake systems at power plants. They were found in Nevada’s Lake Mead in 2007, and have spread to other western lakes and waterways. We saw many signs, inspection stations and boat washes at various lakes we’ve camped at this summer.

The fun part of our trip was getting to pass through the Bonneville Lock.  It is a strange feeling when the gates close behind you and you’re sitting in a small boat with the water rising or falling. 

This is where you loosely tie off your rope as the water level changes.

   

And the point of no return once the gates close.

While we were stopped collecting samples, we got to see a barge and the Columbia Gorge Sternwheeler go by.

On our way back through the lock we shared it with a sailboat. Since his mast was so tall, they had to open the swing bridge to let him through. This is the same bridge we have to cross to get to the ranger’s office or to get out off the project on the Oregon side. It can delay you anywhere from 15-30 minutes. We’ve only been caught twice so far in the 2 weeks we’ve been here.

    

Then last night we sold our other bike to an engineer from Portland, another one of those geeky recumbent riders. We’ve ordered a couple Rans crank forward bikes, and they should be shipped Monday. There are lots of trails to ride around here, so we are hoping to get some  good use out of them.

Settling In

We’ve been here a little over a week now and it feels like home on Robins Island. We’ve met the other volunteers, went out for pizza with a few of them last night, and went back to work today after 3 days off. When we got to the ranger’s office, we were told our supervisor was out sick, so we watched the safety training video and left. Went to the Bonneville Visitor’s Center and got some information on the area. They have a library for the staff and we borrowed a few books about Columbia Gorge hiking trails, Lewis and Clark, and ranger stories. Now we need to find time to read!

Our days off  just flew by, and today was no different. We’ve been to Camping World 3 times now,  trying to get our sewer connection hooked up properly without leaking. We haven’t spent any time in RV parks with sewer hookups, so we normally go to the dump station to dump the tanks. We have gotten to be pretty comfortable with that, but putting out sewer hose on a semi-permanent basis is a bit different. Then we turned the rig around for better views and to keep the hot afternoon sun off the refrigerator side of the rig, so we needed longer hose to reach. Think we may have finally gotten it right today.

We visited the fish hatchery the other day, and it is a really neat place. This is Herman the sturgeon, who lives in the giant pond there, along with many smaller ones.

There is also a trout pond, gift shop, and of course the hatchery.

Jim had an appointment with an ophthalmologist yesterday and needs to have a laser procedure done and possibly his other cataract removed. At least we will be here for awhile to tend to those things.

We took a nice hike tonight on the Eagle Creek trail to Punchbowl Falls, another trail just a couple miles away. We only hiked 2 miles to these falls, but the trail goes for 12 miles, with 6 waterfalls along the way.

   

Upper Punchbowl Falls

 

Lower falls.    It was another beautiful trail.

 

We had highs in the upper 70’s today,  so looks like the heat wave is over. Been here 10 days now and nothing but sunshine. We are waiting for the rainy Portland weather we’ve heard about, but hope it holds off for awhile. The wind in the Columbia Gorge is very impressive, though.  One of these days we will go watch the sail and kite boarders on the river.

A Long Week

It was a long and busy week.  Here we are in our volunteer vests, working at the Willamette Falls Locks, in Oregon City, southeast of Portland.  There was a family reunion there Saturday, and since the Corps of Engineers owns the locks, which are now closed for repair, someone from the Corps had to be there. We got to go along for the ride and help out.  Don’t we look official?

The reason the picnic was at the locks was due to the fact that the original family member who came to the US in 1888  from Denmark had worked there.  There was a woman from the Willamette Falls Heritage Foundation who gave tours of the locks and another Corps volunteer who manned the historical museum. They were a wealth of knowledge about the history of the area. The falls were the first in the country to be used to produce long distance electrical transmission in 1889, even before Niagara Falls. There are 2 paper mills adjacent to the locks, so the area is very industrial. 

We also took a defensive driving course so we can drive the Corps vehicles, and Friday we rode with Jennifer to all the Corps areas along the river on both the Oregon and Washington side to read the traffic counters at each of the recreation areas. They get funding based on use, so they keep track of how many vehicles pass over the counters every month.

Next week we have to take a safety course, and we are going to get hard hat tours of the dam and powerhouse. We have yet to visit the fish hatchery or take the tours at the visitors center, but we will get there one of these days.

We have managed to do a little hiking in between. There is a beautiful trail to Wahclella Falls just a short distance from the Bonneville Dam entrance. We are still having highs in the 90’s but in the morning and evening it is pleasant enough to get out, and the trails are shaded, so it hasn't been too bad.

     

Today we hiked the trail to Horsetail and Ponytail falls,  just about 7 miles down the road  on the Historic Columbia River Highway. We still can’t believe all the hiking there is to do nearby.

Don’t think we will come close to running out of new places to see in the 3 months we’ll be staying here. And we like living on our gated island! I’ll write more about that one of these days… 

Bonneville Lock and Dam

We survived our first day at work. Just got our ID badges, car pass, hard hats and gloves, and got to meet a lot of very nice people who work for the Corps. Everyone made us feel very welcome and we are looking forward to actually starting to work.  Jennifer, our volunteer coordinator, drove us around to learn where things are, but on our way to the visitor’s center to get our vests and some other goodies, the truck broke down and we had to get a ride from security back to the office. Since there were no other vehicles right then, we postponed that until tomorrow morning. Then we get to go to the big employee picnic.

Hope it’s a bit cooler tomorrow.  Portland hit 106, a record, both yesterday and today, which has really surprised us. It rarely got into the 100’s in Pensacola!  We did go for a hike yesterday morning before it really heated up. There are trails everywhere around the Columbia Gorge area, some of them just a short distance from Robins Island. We climbed the ridge trail that follows the gorge. What great views of the Columbia River, the dam, and the islands.

This is Robins Island, our temporary home.

You can see our Lazy Daze in the back row.

This is a view of all 3 islands and the dam. Robins Island is in the far left, on the Oregon side. It is really pretty around here!

Robins Island, Columbia River, Oregon

  Today we arrived at our new home for 3 months, Robins Island, 40 miles east of Portland on the Columbia River. Many of you already know that we are going to  be Natural Resource volunteers with the Army Corps of Engineers at the Bonneville Lock and Dam through October. We report for orientation Wednesday, so we have one more day before we go back to work. We have high hopes this will be more fun than our real jobs were!

Unfortunately, Oregon is still having a heat wave, so it is around 100 here today. We met one of the other volunteers and he said this was only supposed to last a few days. In fact last Friday he said it was only in the 70’s.

Our site is very nice, with good views of the river and mountains. There are only 7 volunteer sites here, no public campground, so it is very quiet. Having water, electric and sewer at our site for 3 months is going to spoil us. This is a great location, being so close to Portland to the west and Mt. Hood to the east. We hope to explore the area on our days off.

 

If any of you happen to be near Portland while we are here, let us know. We would love to have visitors!