Tag Archives: Columbia River Highway

SHELLROCK MOUNTAIN – WAGONS AND CONVICTS HIDING IN THE SHALE

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One road above the other in the Columbia River Gorge; Ollie looking down from the 1876 wagon road on the late 1960 freeway.
One road above the other in the Columbia River Gorge; Ollie looking down from the 1876 wagon road on the late 1960 freeway.

Funds for The Dalles – Sandy Military Road gained appropriation from the Oregon legislature in 1872 – $50,000.  The road finally finished in 1876 after another $50,000 infusion.  The road suffers from memory – too windy and parts too steep (20 % grades!).  Much of the road was said to have been destroyed by the 1880 building of the railway through the Gorge.  Some areas remained to be incorporated into the subsequent Columbia River highway.  Other areas were abandoned, though only one section of the old wagon road – Shellrock Mountain – remains known from its day.

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STARVATION CREEK – UNCOVERING MAGIC IN THE MINIATURE WATERFALL ALLEY

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Wind Mountain stands across the river from Camp Benson Falls next to Shellrock Mountain.

The area around Starvation Creek along I-84 has undergone some changes with the recent restoration of the Historic Columbia River Highway here in 2019.  For a long time, the site has been a rest area with a short trail leading to the drama of Starvation Creek Falls.  It is also the beginning of a couple of the hardest trails found in the Gorge, Starvation Ridge and Mount Defiance trails.  These trails entail a gain of 5,000 feet, with the latter trail doing it in under five miles.  But before going high there is a lot to discover down below.

In the short stretch between the rest area and Shellrock Mountain about two miles to the west, five waterfalls easily come into view; one other notable if it has rained hard recently and two or three others a bit harder to access – especially if you have to carry a 38-pound cogi.

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HENRY BOWLBY – FLYING BISCUITS TO THE COLUMBIA

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The two Samuel’s – Hill and Lancaster – get all of the attention for the building of the Columbia River highway in the Gorge where the mighty river bores through the Cascades Range. The highway project proposed by Sam Hill included a highway from Portland downriver to the ocean at Astoria. Enter Henry Lee Bowlby.

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