The Gorge is my Gym

Good morning!

Take advantage of the break in the weather today, because the downpour returns tonight with another inch or so of rain falling in the Gorge. I drove to Portland yesterday, and it was very exciting to see the “possible landslides” light flashing, barely visible through the downpour. (I accidentally typed “barfly” at first instead of barely…)

All this rain is good news for whitewater boaters. The Hood’s at 6.7 feet, the Wind was at 8.6 feet yesterday, and the Klickitat’s at 3100 cfs. The White Salmon was in the upper 3’s yesterday, but I’m not sure what it’s at now.

Don’t forget that the White Salmon Riverfest starts tomorrow, with some cool lectures on the White Salmon River, a salmon bake, and camping, all for just $10. There are more open spots for those $15 locals-only raft trips on Saturday, so give Wet Planet a call, and they can give you the details. Three other rafting companies have kicked in boats including All-Star, All Adventures and um… I forgot the third because I was talking and driving while Jaco was telling me that list. Anyway, if you live in eastern Skamania or western Klickitat, you’re eligible to go on that trip, and it should be super-rad with all the water in the rivers right now.

Speaking of lots of water, Wet Planet is running a trip on the Wind River on Sunday…

Boating is the best call today, because we’re not going to see anything more than 10-15 mph on the Columbia. Tomorrow looks better, because an upper low crossing the state will give you a rare opportunity to sail east winds in the morning and west winds in the afternoon. Catch some 20-25 easterlies early, and then head to the desert for west winds in the 30+ range. It’s going to be gusty, and possibly dowpouringly rainy, but it still looks like lots of fun!

At this point, the weekend is looking a bit wet and not very windy, with upper teens at best tomorrow afternoon, but that could change. And hey, don’t forget about the Mt. Hood cycling classic Crit in downtown Hood River on Sunday! If you’d like to volunteer for the bike race, Julie would love to have you. Email volunteer@mthoodcyclingclassic.com to sign up.

In other news, the Post and Pint is cancelled tonight due to sloppy conditions in Post Canyon. Dirty Fingers happy hour is still on.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

Good morning!

I hope you have your ark keys handy, because it’s drenchingly wet outside this morning. I’m not sure who’s stoked by this weather except for lazy gardeners like me and the whitewater boaters, because the river levels are going up. The latest numbers I have are 4.2 feet for the Hood and 2300 cfs for the Klickitat, but those are from last night.

If you’re hoping for windsurfing or kiting today, your best bet is late this evening near Hood River, where we might see some 10-15 mph westerlies. It’ll be enough to race the sailboats tonight, but it’s going to be a bit wet and chilly out there.

Tomorrow looks very light, but Friday morning brings solid easterlies as a low slides up the coast, followed by a quick switch to westerlies in the afternoon, with more rain as the low move east over Washington.

If you were thinking of heading to the mountains for backcountry skiing or climbing today, please don’t. Save the Crag Rats from having to come up and search-and-rescue you. With snow levels at 8,000 feet and rain pouring down, the avalanche danger is going to be super high for the next few days.

That pretty much leaves the weekend to talk about. There’s a bunch going on, including the Tour de Hood bike ride, the White Salmon Riverfest, and National Trails Day, among other rain-soaked activities.

Have a great day today!

Temira