Bicycling the Lewis & Clark Trail
The Dalles to Hood River, OR

Friday, May 14, 2004
Distance: 30 miles
Vertically climbed: 1870 feet
Average Speed: 10.5 mph

Yesterday, we drove our car from our home to The Dallas OR, where Gary and Ann arrived just as we checked into the Comfort Inn motel. We unloaded all of our stuff including the Rans Screamer tandem recumbent bicycle and began the process of doing the final packing and preparation.

We all walked over and enjoyed eating dinner at the Shilo Inn, sitting outside on a patio looking at The Dallas Dam and the bridge across the Columbia River. We will cross the bridge when we complete our loop. We watched a hockey game after supper and went to bed at 10:00 PM.

Jim installed a plastic sheet under the rear bag that sits on top of the Blackburn rack. However, during the night we realized that it was too wide and we would not be able to get our panniers installed on the bicycle. So Mary Kay went to the front desk in the morning and borrowed a hack saw and Jim proceeded to cut the plastic sheet down on both sides so we could install our panniers on the Blackburn rack and load the bicycle. We ate a good breakfast at the motel and then started for Hood River. The day was perfect with blue skies about 70 degrees with a small head wind, and beautiful scenery.

We traveled via the Historic Columbia River Highway 30 which climbs to the top of the Rowena summit, well worth the climb and the walk through the wildflowers be fore we dropped back down to the river level at Mosier, where we ate an outstanding lunch at the Wild Flowers Café.

We then climbed back up to the Mosier Twin Tunnels, a beautiful 12 mile road for bicycles and walkers only. Notice Ann entering one of the Tunnels. We then dropped again to Hood River. As you go through Hood River you again climb back up until you are high above the river. In a 30-mile ride we climbed 1870 feet. For the first day of a bicycle tour, it was a very hard short day. The scenery was great and all of the wild flowers were in bloom. We took several pictures of the wild flowers as well as the fantastic scenery.