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Located in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Beacon Rock is the core of an ancient volcano. The mile-long trail to its summit provides outstanding panoramic views of the Columbia River Gorge. The park has over 20 miles of roads and trails open to hiking, mountain biking and equestrian use. 'Beacon Rock' was originally named by Lewis and Clark on their expedition to the Pacific Ocean on October 31, 1805. It was near Beacon Rock that they first measured tidal influences from the ocean on the Columbia River. In 1811, Alexander Ross of the John Jacob Astor expedition

"On starting the surveys, our first business was to find the beauty spots, or those points where the most beautiful things along the line might be seen in the best advantage, and if possible to locate the road in such a way as to reach them." -Samuel C. Lancaster, Engineer of the Historic Columbia River Highway Built between 1913 and 1922 under the direction of highway advocate and visionary Sam Hill and engineer Samuel Lancaster, the Historic Columbia River Highway (HCRH) was the first modern highway in the Northwest. It was a prominent result of the 'Good Roads' movement of the late

The Bonneville Dam was the first of the major dams on the Columbia River. It was one of the northwest’s largest Depression-era New Deal projects, built to harness the river’s might for hydroelectric generation and to improve navigation. Construction began in 1933, and water began to rise in 1937. In a short time, the impoundment drowned the historic Cascade rapids that had been a treacherous obstacle for Native Americans for generations and for European-American explorers and travelers since the arrival of Lewis and Clark. The dam, 2,690 feet long and 197 feet high, is about two miles

When Europeans first arrived in the Columbia River Gorge, Native Americans spoke of a great natural bridge that once spanned the river, built by the Great Spirit so the people could cross easily from one side to the other. Several variations of local legend describe how the Great Spirit also destroyed the bridge. Two brothers, WyEast (Mt. Hood) and Pahtoe, or Klickitat (Mt. Adams), lived on opposite sides of the Columbia River. They fought bitterly for the heart of a beautiful maiden (alternatively believed to be Loowit (Mt. St. Helens) or another mountain who has since bowed in sadness). They

This Great Shute or falls is about 1/2 a mile, with the water of this great river Compressed within the Space of 150 paces in which there is great numbers of both large and Small rocks, water passing with great velocity forming & boiling in a most horriable manner, with a fall of about 20 feet. -William Clark, October 31, 1805 Sometime around 500 years ago, steeply angled layers of basalt on Table Mountain just north of the present Bonneville Dam site slid into the Columbia River. The natural dam that resulted from the landslide backed up the river for 70 miles—as far as the John Day River. It

Multnomah Falls is the nation’s second highest year-round waterfall. Originating at an underground spring on Larch Mountain, Multnomah Creek cascades several miles through the forest before plunging 620 feet over the basalt cliff to dazzle over two million visitors per year. Multnomah Falls actually consists of two separate drops. The top falls measures 542 feet, and the bottom falls, over less easily eroded rock, 78 feet. The falls are slowly retreating backward, upstream into the cliffs. Water works its way into cracks in the rock where it freezes and expands, wedging the rock apart and

The scenic overlook off Highway 14 just east of Washougal, Washington, provides views of the Columbia River, Beacon Rock, and Phoca Rock. The trail is one section of the larger planned Gorge Towns to Trails Project that hopes to connect towns through the entire Columbia Gorge via walking trails.

Just downstream from the Bonneville Dam, the Bonneville Fish Hatchery rears Chinook and coho salmon. Visitors can feed rainbow trout and view sturgeon in several display ponds. One giant, Herman the Sturgeon, is ten feet long and over 400 pounds. The hatchery, operated by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, also has interpretive displays, a gift shop, and an area to view spawning salmon in the fall.

On its 2,650-mile-long route between Mexico and Canada, the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) crosses the Columbia River at the Bridge of the Gods near Cascade Locks. The cool, shaded forests from which the trail emerges here feel worlds away from the hot deserts of southern California, where most thru-hikers start. In the 2,000 miles between, the PCT passes through a half dozen ecoregions with distinctive climate, vegetation, and geology. The PCT was conceived in the early 1930s by a group of hikers who sought a border-to-border path that connected existing trails in California, Washington, and

"I arrived at the enterance of a river which appeared to Scatter over a Sand bar, the bottom of which I could See quite across and did not appear to be 4 Inches deep in any part; I attempted to wade this Stream and to my astonishment found the bottom a quick Sand, and impassable…" --William Clark November 3, 1805 One can image the haste with which Clark would have beckoned his men to come retrieve him with their dugout canoe. He named the river the Quicksand. Over time, it came to be known simply as the Sandy. Clark found himself sinking not in quicksand, but rather fine sand and silt washed