"You have died of dysentery"

Raise your hands if you played The Oregon Trail? 

We did not resort to starvation rations or have half of our oxen perish crossing the river, but we drove the actual Oregon Trail! There is one section that is still open for driving. Well, part of a section; most of the road is closed due a bridge collapse. And this isn't some paved over portion; it looks like it did when wagons drove on it. I can't imagine living in those days and having to deal with that terrain. I also make this observation anytime we pass an area known for early migration, like Death Valley. Marshall commented that he would have seen that and just turned around. No way.

We didn't get any video, but trust me when I say it was bumpy as all get out.

Sign for the Oregon Trail

Driving on the Oregon Trail

Multnomah Falls

We left Portland early enough in the morning to beat the crowds at Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge. I had seen pictures of this before our trip and knew I needed to see it in person. It was gorgeous! (And beating the crowds was important or we would have had a repeat of Yosemite.) 

We walked up to the bridge you see and took a few pictures. I didn't have it in me at this point to climb up to the top of the falls. Marshall claims we could hike anywhere if we just had hiking sticks. This became a running joke, as I argued against getting them earlier in the trip. I figured it was just more gear we didn't need. So now every time we see something we don't want to hike, it all comes back to hiking sticks. If only we had them, we could hike anything! :)

The areas surrounding Portland and the Columbia River Gorge are beautiful. There were so many people out enjoying the weather, but it never felt like it was crawling with people. We passed quite a few campers and saw a ton of people sailing, windsurfing and the like. We drove up to the Timberline Lodge, where The Shining exterior shots were filmed, but the parking lot was packed. We didn't even stay for a picture. Instead, we drove around Mount Hood and the surrounding areas to take in the scenery. You could say we were actively avoiding crowds by this point in our trip.

Great view of Mt. Hood

Another angle of Mt. Hood

We were really excited about our next stop of the day: Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. We both remember it being in the news as kids and how long the eruption affected the local area. Well, it was more impressive and interesting than I expected. The surrounding area looks like another planet and even though the volcano is considered dormant, there is still steam rising out of the top. It was really unsettling and fascinating all at once.

Mount St. Helens - view from visitor's center

You can see the steam coming out in the upper middle section

Obviously, a volcano eruption will decimate an area. I just had no idea how long-lasting the effects were. The eruption occurred in 1980 so it's been over 30 years since it happened. Look at the landscape and how one side of a nearby mountain is still barren:

Unfortunately, I didn't write down the information on this tree. It was far enough away from the blast that I was aghast at how it was snapped in half. I am still in awe at the power and speed of the eruption; I am also perplexed by the people that purposely went to witness it as a tourist activity. Nature is a wonderful, powerful, and sometimes scary thing; I respect that.

The tree above is one example of what happened to many in the area. The blast petrified them, killing off all bacteria. As a result, they have not rotten or broken down and stay just as they were 30-some years ago. It's impressive that even with all of the tourists, the park is still treated like a laboratory and can be studied this long after the eruption. That said, the sheer number of petrified trees looked really eerie and reminded me of rows of headstones in a cemetery. I was a little creeped out by it, but found it visually interesting at the same time.