The Gorge is my Gym

If you want to learn to kite, you want to learn from the best, and around here, that’s Cascade Kiteboarding. Why? On-the-water lessons take place at the west end of Well’s Island, away from the chaos of the sandbar. Your lesson will be one-on-one, with radio helmet instruction, this year’s gear from Da Kine and Liquid Force, and dedicated jetski assistance. And let me point out that Cascade Kiteboarding is the ONLY school with those radio helmets, so it’s the one school where you won’t have an instructor yelling at you while you’re learning. One of the lucky people on the email version of this forecast will win a two hour kiteboarding lesson later this week.

First off, I’d like to wish the best to the kiteboarders who were injured Friday at the Sandbar. Crossing my fingers for the best possible outcome for all of them.

If you look up at the sky this morning, you can see high clouds east of Hood River. That was our best chance for rain moving through, and also our best chance for a cloudy day. The gradient is at 06 as I write this forecast, and there’s a nice marine deck in Portland. So, let’s call it 13-15 this morning, picking up to 17-20 this afternoon from Stevenson to Rowena and Doug’s.

The Clymb: free membership.
Access to super cheap gear including Trew, Zeal, Sierra Designs, and many more.

Summerier weather makes a comeback tomorrow as a weak ridge of high pressure sets up over the Northwest. That should keep the wind down tomorrow, in the 5-10 range at most, making for a good day for road biking, standup paddling and fishing.

Stronger westerlies return on Wednesday as the north Pacific high builds over the ocean, a trough of low pressure sits on the coast, and a strong marine push sends clouds into the western gorge. We should see westerlies in the upper teens early, building to 23-26 or better near Hood River by early afternoon.

Today’s the Mosier bike ride for the Native Eyewear photo shoot. If you want to represent the Gorge, meet at the Hood River side of the Twin Tunnels trailhead at 5:30 with a longboard, rollerblades, or whatever else you’ve got. This is a weather dependent photo shoot, so if we don’t have sunshine at 5pm, consider it cancelled. However, given the better-than-expected weather this morning, we expect the ride to be on this evening.

If you can’t make the early Native ride, join the Mountain View Cycles casual ride to Mosier, leaving the shop at 6:15, and also this evening, you’ve got the option of free Tai Chi at Hood River’s Wilson Park at 5:30.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

p.s. If you find this report useful, entertaining, or just want to recognize all the hard work that goes into it, please take the time to make a donation by clicking on the link below. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til August 2012, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.

If you want to learn to kite, you want to learn from the best, and around here, that’s Cascade Kiteboarding. Why? On-the-water lessons take place at the west end of Well’s Island, away from the chaos of the sandbar. Your lesson will be one-on-one, with radio helmet instruction, this year’s gear from Da Kine and Liquid Force, and dedicated jetski assistance. And let me point out that Cascade Kiteboarding is the ONLY school with those radio helmets, so it’s the one school where you won’t have an instructor yelling at you while you’re learning. One of the lucky people on the email version of this forecast will win a two hour kiteboarding lesson later this week.

Yesterday was a pretty solid day on the river (mostly because I sacrificed myself by leaving as it was getting good), and we’ll have more west wind today despite the light start. We’ll have 14-17 from the Hatchery eastward this morning, picking up by midday to 23-25 from Stevenson to Mosier and then getting gusty near Hood River and filling in at Doug’s and Maryhill this afternoon. Yes, I know it’s blowing in the mid-twenties at Maryhill right now, but I’m a bit skeptical given the .09/.06 current gradient. But don’t let me stop you from driving, especially if you’re returning with a bag of sweet peaches for me!

The Clymb: free membership.
Access to super cheap gear including Trew, Zeal, Sierra Designs, and many more.

There’s a pretty good chance we’ll see some sprinkles tonight, and then we’ll have a cloudy day in the western Gorge tomorrow with a few more sprinkles, hopefully, as our poor trails could use some rain. The weather will keep the wind light in the morning, and then in the afternoon, the wind will pick up to 18-22 east of Rowena.

As low pressure off the Oregon coast moves inland on Tuesday, the wind will shut down in the Gorge, but it should be great weather for fishing and wakeboarding with partly sunny conditions through the whole Gorge.

Coming up this week, Hood River plays host to the sunglass and goggle company Native Eyewear. They have some cool open events to get photos of local athletes. The first is a cruiser bike ride tomorrow night, weather dependent. That means we need weather that requires sunglasses, duh. The ride leaves the China Gorge park n’ ride at 5:15pm, although you can meet the team at the Twin Tunnels trailhead at 5:30 if you want to skate or rollerblade or ride your Bigwheel and skip the big hill.

If 5 o’clock is too early, the weekly Mountain View Cycles shop ride leaves for Mosier at 6:15, so you can still meet up with the Native team at the Thirsty Woman and get your photo in the catalog.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

p.s. If you find this report useful, entertaining, or just want to recognize all the hard work that goes into it, please take the time to make a donation by clicking on the link below. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til August 2012, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.