John’s Ramblings

Day 3 – Battle Ground to Stevenson – 65 miles
(or, it only rains in Western Washington)

In a moment of clairvoyance, Russ announced after breakfast “I’m bringing my rain gear today…”. I looked at the sky, and saw the same solid gray overhead that we had been seeing for 3 days. A quick scan of the other folks getting ready to break camp did not reveal a lot of foul weather clothing being worn. I decided that I’d be fine with leg warmers, arm warmers, and my lightweight wind-breaker vest. Silly boy.

Within the first 10 miles of the day, we were getting pretty well soaked by a torrential mist. It wasn’t very substantial, but it sure as hell got you wet. For about 12 miles, I splashed through Vancouver with 3 nice ladies from Selah. My feet were soaked, glasses hopelessly fogged, and I was getting dirtier by the second because absolutely no one had fenders on. We’re riding to eastern Washington, for cryin’ out loud, we don’t need no steenkin’ fenders!

It was wet enough that I never pulled my camera out of my pocket, until I got to the state line anyway. That event occurred in the middle of the I-205 bridge across the Columbia River. It’s a noisy little bikeway, rather mundane after our thrill-ride down I-5 on the prior day.

Once making landfall on the other side of this bridge, the rain just stopped. We really wouldn’t even get another drop for the rest of RAW. We rode along Marina Way for several miles, paralleling the river on the south side. If I’m not mistaken, this would be our only real stretch of headwinds, and they did not last all that long. At mile 30 we passed through the town of Troutdale, Oregon, which claims to be the celery capital of the world. I saw no produce, however. I did hear later that several riders stopped at the McDonald’s in Troutdale to hold their socks and shorts under the hand-drying blowers in the bathrooms.

For the next 21 miles, we traveled along the Historic Columbia River Highway. This stretch of roadway is the oldest scenic highway in the United States, and was a scenic marvel. The first 9 miles of the highway have some climbing sections, usually at a 4 to 5 percent grade. Although it was still rather overcast, the views from the lunch stop at the top were very nice indeed.

The downhill run from the top was really nice, although there was some tourist traffic to weave your way through from time-to-time. We passed several waterfalls (Multnomah, Oneonta, Horsetail, and Wahkeena) along this stretch. When Interstate Highway 84 was built along the Columbia, the Historic Columbia River Highway was cut into sections by the construction. Consequently, as we got back down closer to river-level we were routed onto old sections of the historic road that no longer carried motor vehicles, a nice tranquil diversion. We also ended up routed onto I-84 for 2.5 miles because of the lack of alternatives. We crossed back over into Washington State at the Bridge of the Gods, named for a Native American legend about an ancient natural stone bridge at this same location. Fatigue, a grated bridge deck, and 15 mph crosswinds conspired to keep my camera in my pocket during the crossing. It wasn’t too bad, as long as you did not look down to see the river 135 feet below you.

A few miles after crossing the bridge, we pulled in to the Skamania County Rock Creek Fair & Park Grounds, in Stevenson. The shower truck was delayed by about an hour, so I had plenty of time to set up camp. After my shower, I rode my bike into town to fetch supplies, which provided a nice interlude before dinner and the rider’s meeting.
Day 4

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