The Magnificent Columbia River Gorge

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What is a National Scenic Area? It is not a National Forest, National Park or Wilderness. Instead, it is an area of rare beauty where rural and scenic resources are protected while community growth and development is encouraged.

This area was explored extensively by Lewis and Clark at the request of President Thomas Jefferson. It is amazing what they accomplished with their crude tools and forms of navigation and travel. For the past week we have been exploring the Columbia River and today we began our exploration of the magnificent Columbia River Gorge.

We started our trip into the Columbia River Gorge on the Washington side of the river heading east on Hiway 14. This is supposedly one of the most beautiful drives in Washington. Our first stop was at Cape Horn. Cape Horn is a vista with a gorgeous panorama of the west end of the Columbia River Gorge. It is believed that the gorge was formed some 40 million years ago during the ice age.

The entries that follow will begin now and take you through to Astoria, Oregon, the end of the gorge, where the Columbia River meets the Pacific.

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