Northern Oregon

From Bend we shot north on Highway 97 headed for our next mountain biking stop: Hood River’s Post Canyon. Unless one heads west into the Cascades, there’s not a ton between Hood River and Bend on the high desert plateau. We didn’t have the desire to complete the entire slog in one day, so stopped for the night at the sleepy railroad and rafting town of Maupin. Maupin is one of those places that is easily missed if you blink whilst driving, but the county park was a nice, grassy spot on the banks of the Deschutes and afforded Wild Man some time to throw a few lures before bedtime. Unfortunately no bites, I think I’ll have to get him on a fly for open rivers when he’s a bit older… I counted five river rafting operations in town (and the town population is only around 400), on another adventure it’d be a fun spot to take the kids on a rafting trip through the steep canyons bordering the Deschutes.

Post Canyon is one of the original gravity trail systems in the US. Some of the first gravity mountain biking movies were shot in Post Canyon, and although the trail system maintains a lot of very ballsy trails replete with huge drops and elevated ladders, it also has a bunch of smoother flow trails through the exceedingly green Oregon forest that are suitable for the youngens. We rode a route in the upper portion of the canyon that began with a mildly grueling fire road, a climb that wouldn’t have resulted in so many gripes from the kids had it not been 100% exposed on an unseasonably hot Oregon summer’s day. (Note to self: keep climbs for the kids at less than about 350 feet per mile of climbing…) Regardless, we made it to the top and flew down 1200 vertical feet of singletrack over roughly four miles on a trail called Dirt Surfer, mostly soft flow trail with a few technical rock gardens mixed in here and there: Post Canyon.

Dirt Surfer wasn’t quite as manicured as the trails around Bend but was still a ton of fun. The upper section is dual use (shared with motorbikes) so was a little chewed up in a few spots, but that didn’t detract from the trail and both kids were grinning from ear to ear in spots. The towering pines with electric green undergrowth had me feeling well and truly in Oregon. As with Bend, we only scratched the surface of Post Canyon, the lower portion of the region has a plethora of other trails that one could spend many days exploring.

The farmland south of Hood River is a patchwork of cherry and pear farms dotted across rolling hills in the shadow of Mount Hood. A short drive from our ride we hiked down past Punchbowl Falls (not to be confused with the Columbia River Gorge’s Punch Bowl Falls [two words]) to the confluence of the West and East Forks of Hood River for a swim. The water – which was mostly snowmelt from nearby Mount Hood – was like ice, but that didn’t stop everyone from taking a dip.

Full Sail Brewing is headquartered in Hood River, but unfortunately the taproom was closed due to COVID. We stumbled on another brewery in town for dinner, though: Double Mountain had a fantastic offering of beers and some great food as well. Their Japanese-style lager definitely cooled the flames on a very hot day in Hood River.

We camped just east of Hood River at an unmemorable state park called Memaloose pinched between the highway and banks of the behemoth Columbia River. It was a windy, scorchingly hot night and I don’t think anyone slept that well… Comes with the territory of camping so close to civilization, I guess! We kept moving west from Memaloose with a stop for a short hike to Dry Creek Falls and also in Cascade Locks to check out the Bridge of the Gods connecting Oregon to Washington over the Columbia River. The Native Americans still fish for salmon using traditional hoop nets in the river below Cascade Locks, we bought some smoked spring Chinook from them at a stand alongside the bridge and also a couple of bags of the most delectable local cherries I’ve ever had in my life. They were like small plums. Amazing.

I would have liked to tour Lisa through some of Columbia River Gorge’s waterfalls and hiking trails – an area I explored with the kids on our train adventure to Portland in 2016 – but all the hiking trails and falls were closed to restrict crowds during the COVID pandemic so we sadly had to give them all a miss.

Jackson Family Wines – the family wine company that owns Stonestreet – owns a collection of estates in northern Oregon that are known for cooler climate varietals, especially pinot noir. Lisa wanted to visit Willakenzie Estate in the lush Willamette Valley as part of our tour, so we organized a tasting on our way across the northern end of the state. Portland was still quite impacted from COVID restrictions so we shot straight through the city on our way west, a bit of a bummer because it’s such a fun city… On our way to Willakenzie we restocked the beer fridge at a liquor store on the western outskirts of Portland, we didn’t realized until we’d parked that the store was next to an adult toy shop and sensuality boutique. I ran in to buy beer while Lisa sat in the truck fielding all manner of questions from the kids about the advertisements on the outside of the adult store:

• What is a sensuality toy?
• What is lingerie?
• What is a lover?

I returned with an armful of beer to a red-faced Lisa. Good times.

Willakenzie was beautiful, the lush green Willamette Valley is so different to the dry wine growing regions of California. The tasting room manager was extremely welcoming and sampled us through a range of the winery’s offerings. Both Lisa and I enjoyed some of the 2017 pinots the most, 2017 was the first vintage of the current winemaker Erik Kramer, we walked away with a couple for the cellar. The kids got hold of my camera while we were tasting, some good cameos of Mum and Dad as a result below!