At 0600 hours the dauntless National Geographic Sea Bird faces a strong headwind as she sails up the Columbia, the Great River of the West, on our way to Hood River, Oregon. In a beautifully clear early autumn sky a newly waning moon rides high in the east above bright Venus, the Morning Star. The Big Dipper stands low in the north and Orion, the Mighty Hunter, is high in the south.
We are sailing into the spectacular Columbia Gorge and soon come to Cape Horn, a vertical wall of basaltic lava weathered into large rounded columns just above the river. This basalt flow is part of the Grande Ronde member of the Columbia River Basalt Province and one of the largest lava flows on Earth! Suddenly, out of a tunnel in the basalt comes barreling a long, long freight train. Passing Phoca Rock, we soon have Beacon Rock off our port side. This great monolith, the core of an old volcano, rises 800 feet above the river and here is where Lewis & Clark, in the fall of 1805, first notice the influence of the tides.
We proceed on into the lock at Bonneville Dam. Our sailors expertly throw a line over a floating bollard on our starboard side and this keeps our ship fast to the side of the lock as the great barn-door gate closes behind us and the lock begins to fill with water. The water flows in and the ship begins to rise in the lock. Meanwhile, we are gathered on the bow and we sing a rousing version of Roll On, Columbia Roll On, led by our expedition leader, Rab. Soon the water in the lock is at the level of the lake behind the dam, and the sailors take off the line and we sail forth 90 feet higher than before. Our sharp-eyed staff member, Jeff, spots a California sea lion bull; this animal has also come upriver through the lock.
We dock at Cascade Locks and board our motor coaches for the scenic drive to Multnomah Falls. On the way, steep cliffs formed of basaltic lava flows rise high above the road. With a drop of 620 feet, the falls is spectacular as it plunges over a precipice of basaltic lava and into its green plunge-pool below. Up the trail to the top, through 11 switchbacks, 12 hardy and determined hikers make it to the top of the falls.
Back on board we enjoy lunch as we sail on upstream to the charming town of Hood River in the heart of the Gorge. From here some of us visit the Draper Girls’ Farm. Here we enjoy orchards, apple and pear tasting, friendly pygmy goats, two happy pigs, and a cat. Over the flower gardens we have a clear view of the great glacier-clad stratovolcano Mount Hood. Others of us visit the Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum, a huge collection of perfectly restored airplanes, automobiles, and motorcycles—all in working order. The last trip is to the award winning Cathedral Ridge Winery where we enjoy not only the wine, but also the great view across the river to one of the world’s great stratovolcanoes, Mount Adams. We all meet back on board for a congenial social hour and Recap before dinner.
Our after dinner presentation is by our extremely knowledgeable historian, Junius Rochester, on the plants of Lewis & Clark; he tells a great story.
