Some Yellow in the Gorge

[funnelfan]

Since Friday was shaping up to be a nice day and I didn't have to work. So early Friday morning I made the decision to head to the Columbia River Gorge for the day. On the way down I got stuck in a traffic jam for 45 minutes on the I-205 in Vancouver because a couple semi trucks flattened a pickup. When I got there, I also found out that nothing would be moving on the BNSF because of a work window. That proved to be alright because the UP kept their trains rolling including a couple of BNSF detours.
UP in the west end of the Gorge doesn't get much coverage because it is somewhat difficult to railfan, compared to the BNSF or the UP further east. But that kind of challenge is right up my alley, and I was well rewarded for my effort. I went exploring and tried a bunch of new angles. I'm going to post my images from east to west, The Dalles to Dodson.

1. APL stack train on the approach to The Dalles at Crates (west end of double track).

2. A local heading west at Rowena. It surprised me as I was expecting a eastbound.

3. KGNAP heading east Rowena.

4. All day long sections of windmills were heading east on I-84.

[funnelfan]

5&6. MHKFI at Memaloose State Park.

7. Some interesting graffiti on a boxcar of the train above.

8. A eastbound auto train cutting through some tilted layer of rock. The grade to the right of the train leads to the original tunnel through the rock.

[funnelfan]

9. MRVHK at Mosier, OR.

10. GSETKA crossing the Hood River with the Mount Hood Railway locomotive and caboose in the background.

11. MHKFI coming out of Hood River, Oregon.

[funnelfan]

12. MRVHK passing below Mitchell Point at Meno, OR.

13. MHKFI with Mitchell Point in the background.

14. The Mitchell Point Overlook. The famous Mitchell Point Tunnel was just to the right of here, but it was destoryed when I-84 was built. The old Highway and tunnel floor is now a ledge on the rock face.

15. Across the river the old Broughton flume can be seen halfway up the hill rounding the point above Drano Lake.

[funnelfan]

16 & 17. Eastbound empty grain train at Starvation Creek.

[funnelfan]

18 & 19. Eastbound USEGL at Weyth. Takes a little climb up some moss covered rocks to get to this point. I'm also hoping I avoided all the poision oak, saw plenty of the "leaves of three"

20. Also had a little scare when I got back to my rig. I noticed cougar tracks around my vehicle. It looks like he circled the car one time and took off in the direction that I originally went in (I came back by a different route).

21. MHKFI at Weyth.

[funnelfan]

22. GSKAET at the Port road crossing east of Cascade Locks.

23. Due to the work window, BNSF was detouring a few of thier trains over the UP. Friday it was a westbound manifest and a eastbound Evergreen stack train (which I wasn't able to get photos of). I caught it approaching Cascade Locks.

24. I caught the detour again at Eagle Creek near the Bonneville Dam.

25. USEGL at Dodson in the morning.

[Youngwarrior]

If you camp at Memaloose State Park you can walk to the tunnel in picture 8. Great shots, Ted.

[Macster]

An excellent set of photos Ted, very very nice and well done!

[funnelfan]

Originally Posted by Youngwarrior

If you camp at Memaloose State Park you can walk to the tunnel in picture 8. Great shots, Ted.

I was thinking about trying some more angles there around the Memaloose campground. I just have to see if they will let you in with a day pass or something like that. I see Oregon has changed how they collect the park fare system from a active one (employees in toll boths) to a passive one (fill out a envelope and stuff it into a fare box). For $3 you can detach the tab off a envelope and have a day pass good at all Oregon State parks (or so it says). So I did that at Vineto State Park and then visited most of the little pull offs and trailhead parks looking for photo angles. I also want to try some angles on either side of Vineto Park. Really there are so many spots I want to try, I'm going to be busy all summer.