Day 3 - August 2: Cascade Locks OR - Biggs Junction OR

 67 miles.  3362 feet up, 3281 feet down.

Already I'm at the stage in the trip where I can't recall what this morning was like.  I guess "hot" is an appropriate answer.  First up.......  we had a riverside room last night, so were treated to nice views first thing this morning.  

Today was matchy-matchy day; group picture.  

Then we were off........  My RWGPS wasn't working at the outset, but it eventually uploaded.  I ride with paper instructions as well, so not to worry.  Some early views along the route from the Frontage Road........

Next up was our biggest climb of the day.  I was very happy to have my new climbing gear.  We were over 10% grade quite a bit; up to 14% in a few places.  Whew; happy to have that over with!  At 7.2 miles we were back on to the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail for about 5 miles.  

Never far from the interstate, though.  In many places they had very cool fences to keep the inevitable rockfall off the bike path.

Nice river and forest views.  The infrastructure of this bike path was pretty impressive - bridges and walls.  And smooth as butter in most places.  Where there were a few tree roots coming through we were warned and they were prominently marked.  Nice.....

We had an extra little logistical challenge on today's ride.  Apparently the trail was closed for a section due to wildfire activity so at about 21 miles, in Hood River, we needed to load up the vans to shuttle everyone about 6 miles.  This was after about 6 miles on the interstate, I-84, from mile 13 to mile 19.  It was a fairly long delay.  Quite a few women had been doing some "route development" (i.e. they missed a turn), while some others were delayed fixing the first flat tire of the tour.  Interesting, though, that the skies have been clear and I haven't really smelled any smoke in the air.  It's all around us, though, apparently.  No pictures, but we did see windsurfers out on the water enjoying the big winds that Hood River is famous for.   

  

Cy, our "highly trained professional"

We got out of the shuttles at about 28 miles, in Mosier, and continued on Historic US 30/Columbia River Highway.  We passed orchards and vineyards for a while, all while keeping the Columbia in (distant) view.  

The road was really quiet; hardly any cars.  We had quite a long, gentle climb.    

After about 6 miles of climbing, we reached Rowena Crest Viewpoint.  Very nice.....

This is the road we took back down to river level.

Beautiful, winding downhill back to river level.  Then lovely rock formations as worked our way towards the end of the gorge near The Dalles.

We rode on the lovely and winding Riverfront Trail for about 6 miles coming into The Dalles.  Throughout the entire gorge we've seen lots of examples of columnar basalt.

Powerlines in abundance throughout this area.  I believe this area has a lot of data centres - due to the availability of relatively inexpensive hydroelectric power.  The Google complex alone has two buildings, each approximately the size of a football field, and two cooling plants, each four stories high.  

Shortly after passing by The Dalles, we had the pleasure of riding on I-84 for about 10 miles.  I have a love/hate relationship with interstates - wide shoulders, good grades vs. lots of debris on the shoulders, high-speed noisy traffic.  This ride was all those things, but also lulls in the traffic, some lovely scenery and rock formations, and best of all - a significant tailwind the whole day.  

It's an interesting transportation corridor through the entire gorge.  Multiple highways on both sides plus a railway on at least one of the sides.  If your eyes are good enough, the highway traffic can be seen on the other side of the river in the second picture.

I was a little bit surprised that we hadn't seen windmills until now.  Lots on the horizon now.

Crossed the Deschutes River and left the official Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.

Into Biggs Junction, and that's a wrap.  Long, hot day!

The Ride:

Garmin:  97.61 km.  3236 feet up, 3146 feet down.

RWGPS - not valid

Maximum temperature:  44.3C

The Route:

Biggs Junction OR:  Population 5

Biggs Junction is located on the south side of the Columbia River at the junction of I84/US 30 and US 97 where it crosses the Sam Hill Memorial Bridge over the river from Washington.