Troutdale was a great location to stock up at Costco and see a few of the many waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge. Along the way to Troutdale, we stopped at Mount Hood to enjoy the snow capped views.
Troutdale, Oregon
In Troutdale, we stayed at the Sandy Riverfront RV Resort. They had full service and satellite reception. The sites were tight without any privacy from neighbors. We were only there briefly because of limited availability and booking our site at the last minute. Homeownership headaches in San Diego and weather altered our travel plans. We’ve been quickly seeing areas trying to get back on our schedule of being in Vermont for fall and Florida this winter.
Very close to the RV park in Troutdale, is Tad’s. It’s been there since the 1920’s as a Columbia River roadhouse on the Sandy River. Far from being considered fine dining, they do provide huge servings of chicken and dumplings with beautiful views. Sandy saw the dumplings sign and had to revisit her childhood memories. They were delicious.
There are over 70 waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon side alone. Horsetail Falls was right off the road. Unfortunately, because of the fires in 2017, some of the hiking trails to other falls were still closed. The Columbia River Gorge is over 80 miles long and in some places 4,000 feet deep. It cuts through the Cascade Range and forms the boundary between Oregon and Washington.
An easy hike on a dog friendly trail to Bridal Veil falls.
Latourell is another beautiful Columbia River Gorge waterfall that plunges 224 feet near Troutdale. There is a hiking trail to the top of Latourell.
Multnomah Falls is the place to stop when visiting the area. It plunges 620 feet and is considered the second highest year round waterfall in the United States. Because it’s such a popular destination, it’s advisable to get there early before the other tourists arrive or take the shuttle right to the falls.
Mount Hood
From Bend, Oregon we headed northwest to Mount Hood on our way to Troutdale.
We stayed at the Mount Hood Village RV Resort in Welches, Oregon. They had full service with decent wifi and surprisingly we got satellite.
We drove around the eastern side of Mount Hood to Hood River.
The area is stunning. We enjoyed watching the Kite surfers. It looks very difficult and so much fun. Wine tasting at The Pines 1852 was good.
Along the way we stopped at Lavender Valley and bought some lavender linen spray to facilitate those dreamfilled nights.
There was plenty of bear grass along the route which we hadn’t seen since Glacier National Park. We really enjoyed this area and would love to return and spend some time exploring all the local fruit stands and visit old friends.
