Columbia River

The day before yesterday, I rode from Washougal to Bingen. It was 50 miles along the Washington side of the Columbia River (the Oregon side, at that point, being unbearably hilly as the mountains start to encroach on the Columbia). The big milestone (no pun intended) was crossing the 1,000 mile mark since my departure from Davis.

The views of the gorge, as the Columbia carves through the mountain ranges are spectacular. The river is so wide, it feels almost like a long lake: It features windsurfers and parasurfers.

That night, I stopped at a simple little private campsite, right off the road. I shared company with about 15 tunnel engineers, all in their twenties, who had spent the day rafting. They were a good fun group to hang out and have a few beers with at the end of a long day.

The following day, I made a big push from Bingen to Crow Butte State Park. Despite a little rain in the morning, I made 92 miles, largely in thanks to the wind at my back. Crow Butte is a little campsite on an island in the middle of the Columbia, so it felt quite remote despite being quite close to highways on both the Oregon and Washington sides of the Columbia.

I've yet to encounter any bicyclists on my Lewis and Clark trail. This is undoubtedly a result of a combination that it isn't quite as busy as the California and Oregon coasts, as well as the fact that this time, I'm going in the same direction as most riders and therefore I'm less likely to encounter them (unlike the coast, where I was going against the wind, and saw hundreds of riders going the other direction).