What a Shame!
Matt and Jackie had a class today, so Carol and I drove up the Columbia River Gorge to see how much damage the fires did last year. I had read that Historic Highway 30 was closed the entire length of the gorge, but I thought we might be able to reach Elowah and Wahkeena Falls at the far end of the gorge. As we drove up the gorge on Interstate 84, it was depressing to see nearly the whole gorge burned. The firefighters managed to save the Multnomah Falls area and the lodge there, but most of the rest of the gorge looked like a skeleton forest. When we reached the far end of the gorge, we discovered all the trailheads were closed to hiking. One trailhead even had a guy in a truck making sure no one entered. I'm sure they want to keep all the trails closed until they can ensure that no one is in danger of being hurt from falling trees or branches. We had no choice but to turn around and return to camp.
We drove over to Matt and Jackie's after they returned from class and had dinner downtown at the Picnic House. I'm not sure how the restaurant got it's name, but the food was certainly good.
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