Day 76 - July 18 - Umatilla, OR to Roosevelt, WA - Two Old Guys Take On A Continent

July 18, 2023

Day 76 - July 18 - Umatilla, OR to Roosevelt, WA

Day and Night

John’s Story

Ellen was camped near us last night. She is from Worcester, Massachusetts. She takes 3-week bike trips in the summer. This year is from Portland, Oregon to Missoula, Montana.

It was cool and dry last night. 55 degrees this morning. Cool enough to wear a windbreaker when I got out of the tent, but not once I started riding. It was nice sleeping weather. Too bad that I-82 runs right by the RV park, and elevated so there’s nothing to block the traffic noise.

From the RV park we rode under I-82, then up a path that led us to the I-82 bridge crossing the Columbia River, where there was a pedestrian walkway on the bridge.

Crossing the Columbia River put us back in Washington.

Once across the bridge we corkscrewed to the right and went back under I-82 headed west.

Today was so different from yesterday, it was like night and day.

Yesterday: Night: US 12. Heavy traffic, especially truck traffic. Narrow to nonexistent shoulder. Heavy, chaotic, turbulent headwind. Hell.

Today: Day: Washington Route 14. Light traffic. Occasional trucks. Smooth road and wide rideable shoulder. Wind light and variable. Heaven.

You know, I talked yesterday about being in the Columbia River Gorge, and the scenery was gorge-y, or perhaps even gorge-eous , yet since then the sides of the valley have flattened out and the gorge-itude has lessened. I did a bit of intergoogling, and it seems the east end of the gorge proper doesn’t begin until about where we are right now, near Roosevelt, and for sure by the time we get to the Columbia’s confluence with the Deschutes River about 30 miles west of here. So tomorrow we should be in the thick of it. Film at 11:00.

I wonder how deep the Columbia is around here. It’s dammed up along much of its length. Those islands I’m sure used to be just hills near the actual river channel.

A very cool optical illusion. That is not an island in the river, but a partial reflection of the hill beyond. I had to look twice to realize it.

An incongruity. George Washington is two presidents early for Lewis and Clark. Why didn’t they name this state Jefferson? Then they’d have Thomas Jefferson’s silhouette on the highway signs, and all would be right with the world.

Aiden, I found a bug for you! It’s really not that big. I had to get the camera about 2” away to take the picture.

High tension lines to the right of me. Wind farm to the left of me (look closely). Are they connected? Who knows? My first thought was that the high tension wires come from the Grand Coulee Dam, but the dam is quite a ways north of us.

I flagged several spots like this as possible emergency camp spots. The fishing happens only certain times of the year. I don’t know if camping there would be permitted, but any port in a storm if need be.

We stopped at the little store/cafe at the top of the hill above Roosevelt Recreation Area for lunch and resupply. We bought some beer and rode down to the river. We will have quite a climb to get back to the highway tomorrow morning. We figured out how to get water from the outside of the cafe building in the morning, since there is absolutely nothing between here and our stop tomorrow night.

We are sitting here at a picnic table in the shade waiting for the camp host to show up. His camper has its windows open and his car windows are open, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone home. It’s important to get advice on where to pitch a tent as there is a sign posted to the effect that tent camping in the grass is permitted only on weekends due to the irrigation system. If he doesn’t show up we will just find areas of brown grass where the sprinklers hopefully don’t reach to set up. There is an online review that warns about the sprinkler system that sprays “foul smelling recycled poop water” on the grass. We can't wait.

Looking across the river from Roosevelt. Can you see the tiny vehicles on I-84?

A Columbia River cruise ship. I’ve seen ads for them in travel magazines.

The Corps of Engineers was nice enough to label this rock. It is a glacial erratic, meaning it is out of place here and was carried here somehow by the action of glaciers. In this case the caption says it was deposited by the last “Spokane Flood” about 19,000 years ago. A huge lake backed up by a glacier blocking a drainage gave way cataclysmically a number of times and sent huge floods across the landscape. Large areas of southeastern Washington were shaped by these floods, creating what are called the Washington Scablands.

No potable water here, so no water coming out of the taps in the restrooms. Ed and I each donned our swimsuits and went down to the river to rinse off and cool down. The water is pretty clear and there is a nice sandy bottom.

I only waded out about hip deep before plunging in. Very refreshing. I also rinsed my bike shorts and jersey.

Ed’s Story

I set my alarm for 5:00 AM but was up a little earlier than that. I took a bathroom break around 3:30 AM and as I walked there I heard the sprinkler system going. I saw the camper near us getting wet.

As I approached the bathroom I saw the ground was wet, but didn’t see any water spraying. Wham… about that time I got sprayed on the legs and the butt (can I say butt here?). I hurriedly ran to the bathroom, took care of business, and grabbed some paper towels to dry off when I got back to my tent.

As I left the bathroom, a different spray really wetted me down. When I got back to the tent, I stripped down (It was dark outside), dried off, and put dry clothes on. It’s too bad we left before the RV park office opened or I would’ve given them a piece of my mind.

We rode on some back roads prior to reaching WA highway 14. There were plenty of apple orchards along this road. We also saw some grape vines near a winery. I even saw a sign at a farm that called it an organic farm.

One of many orchards we saw. There were apples growing on these trees.

As John noted, with the lower wind, the better road, and the fewer trucks, we made good time on our ride.

On a clear day from this house, you can definitely see forever.

When John and I both see something at the same time that we want a picture of, the first person that says “oh, I like that…I’m gonna take a picture and put it in the journal” wins. I saw the house and said I’m going to take a picture of it. He said he already thought about taking a picture of it. I told him that didn’t count.

We saw a whole plethora of wind turbines on yesterday’s ride. They were really moving because of the wind. We saw a lot more wind turbines on the Oregon side of the Columbia River today. The wind wasn’t as strong and they weren’t turning as much, but they were still pumping out electricity.

The camera could only capture so many wind turbines at a time. There were a lot more than that.

There were several times today where our GPS told us a huge climb was coming up, with grades ranging from 7 to 11%. When we got there, the road continued to be flat; however, on either side of the road were steep cliffs. Basically the system got confused and thought the hills were the road. Those are the type of climbs I like.

As of my writing in the journal, the camp host has still has not shown up. We talked to Denny, who is in an RV next to us. He said the host comes and goes and is rarely seen.

John made a comment about the sprinkler system water smelling like recycled poop. Denny, who has been coming here for years from Vancouver, Canada, to windsurf said they modified the system, and it no longer smells. I guess we’ll see.

He also noted the sprinkler system goes on and off in a haphazard pattern starting around 10:0o PM. Even though the grass in the area is lush with trees to provide shade, you can’t put your tent there, because it will be sprayed on.

We therefore have to put our tents on dry brown areas where nothing is growing as no sprinkler water hits it. We will have no shade tonight.

There is no potable water at this site. They had a problem in the past and fixing it is not a priority. We were able to rinse off in the Columbia River.

To conserve water we had bean burritos with refried beans, green chilies, and salsa out of cans. We didn’t need to use our water to cook up our freeze dried meals. We will have water at the site tomorrow night. Breakfast will also be waterless, meaning no oatmeal or coffee; banana, Clif bar, peanut butter tortillas, and OJ for me.

The river at this location is ideal for windsurfing. Denny, the only other camper, is here with his girlfriend. He said that yesterday (when we were battling the headwinds), this place was packed.

We are at Roosevelt…it says this location has the nicest wind and water conditions in the Gorge.

Windsurfing at Roosevelt!

Tomorrow’s overnight is at Columbia Hills Historical State Park near Lyle, WA. We already have a site reserved there. The ride is 51 miles and we expect more climbing than today.

So until then, happy biking!

Today's ride: 52 miles (84 km)
Total: 474 miles (763 km)

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Jane ChimahuskySo did you get sprayed with recycled brown poop water when leaving the bathroom or what?
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9 months ago