Washington Exploration - June 1, 2025
Today was the day before our whitewater rafting, which we were passing by the place on the way to the Guler Ice Caves to know where we were going the next day. We were testing using the toll bridge across the River in Hood River, called Hood River Bridge, west of our campground. The website said that the toll bridge had credit card and cash lanes. It did, but they were blocked off and closed. When I was signing for the car, I asked about toll options, and the person just said that we don't have toll roads here. So, Travis pulled into a gas station, while Joel tried to find an Avis toll price. It was per day of rental, not per day of use. Test failed, and we headed back east to the 197 bridge in The Dalles. Annoying, it was about 30 minutes longer each way, each day. A view across the river and then Mt. Adams in WA pictures. How American (or maybe Andean) is that -- a soccer goal and a snow-covered mountain?
We arrived at Guler Ice Caves. We passed and identified where our whitewater rafting was the next day. We had headlamps and flashlights but not the recommended helmets. It was not too big; however, there were some slippery spots -- at the bottom of the stairs and a few other places to the left. It was cool to see snow and ice around the cave. There was another cave in this area, but I did not climb over the fallen tree. Travis and kids went. There was also a vault restroom here. We did not find any other stops in this area, so I don't know if it was worth the long drive to get here -- 1:30 without the toll road working.
We headed back. The Ranger station was in Trout Lake, WA, but not open since it was Sunday. We also did not find much else in the town. Now for some Mt. Hood pictures.
Looking for a stop that I noticed in a "The Most Scenic Drives in America" book that I have and scanned the pages of where we would be, I found on google maps a hike hear the stop that I could not find. We stopped for a hike at Lyle Cherry Orchard Trailhead off of WA-14. There was plenty of parking. There was a good map toward the start of the hike showing the different trails and distances. We did not make it to the Cherry Orchard hike, but we did one trail. There seemed to a group of firemen there training. We were warned by the Ranger at The Dalles Dam that it was warm enough so to watch for rattlesnakes. The family spotted a couple on this trail, but they did not bother us. Bother, as try to attack or pay any attention to us. Knowing they were there did bother me. Now looking across the Columbia River Gorge from the Washington side.
We then went back to The Dalles and picked up hamburgers at Big Jim's. The kids got more toppings on theirs, so they enjoyed them more. I'm a mustard only, so I found it just like a normal fast food burger. We took the burgers to a park in town and had a picnic. The park had wi-fi. It had a community pool that employees were cleaning. It looked empty otherwise; then we realized that it was not open yet and then filled up quickly after it did open. After the picnic, we walked to a bridge and creek at the back of the park. It was a pretty area and cooler with lots of shade. Then we walked where we could see a Safeway sign so drove there for ice cream and a few more groceries that we had used up from our first shopping trip. We went back to the park to eat the ice cream; the parking lot was filling fast. We got a spot further from the pool and a picnic table was just being freed up.
After this, we called it a day and went back to the campground. Luckily, it was less windy today!
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