hiking - The Gorge is my Gym

This week’s forecast is brought to you by food. Specifically, Henni’s food. Henni’s Bar and Grill in White Salmon will feed you well, with everyday food from around the world concocted with passion and the finest locally-sourced ingredients. If your mama was from Mexico, she’d make you tacos. If she was from India, she’d make you curry. If she was from the USA, she’d make you killer mac n’ cheese. If Christiaan was your mama, he’d make you all of the above, better than your mom could make it.. Henni’s is open for lunch and dinner Monday-Friday and for dinner only on Saturday, with small plates from $4-9 and big plates from $14-18 and a killer happy hour. We’re giving away gift certificates this week, and then we’ve got a treasure hunt for you all next month. Stay tuned! I think Christiaan is rad, and I think his food is delicious, so cross the bridge (unless you’re in WA already), and go check out Henni’s.

Now, your forecast:

Sorry about the missed forecast yesterday. I went camping up to the Bottle Prairie fire lookout with some friends, and – you won’t believe this – there isn’t internet access up there!

Keep an eye on the river today and tomorrow, and keep your eyes open if you’re kiting, windsurfing, or boating, because it’s the Wildside Relay and the Wildside solo race for surfskis and outrigger canoes. The teams will be racing 22 miles from Stevenson to Bingen today, and the solo paddlers will be doing 10 miles from Drano Lake to Bingen tomorrow.

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Those racers will have a bit of a tailwind. Although there’s not much out there yet today, we do have a .09 gradient, so we should see 13-15 this morning near Hood River, picking up to 22-24 from Stevenson to Mosier early afternoon and then filling in out at Doug’s and Rowena.

Cooler air along the coast tomorrow will give us 19-22 early in the morning near Hood River, picking up to 23-26 east of Mosier in the afternoon with the western Gorge holding in the upper teens to low twenties. The wind backs off a bit on Monday into the upper teens, but we should see more clouds and more wind for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Now that we’ve had what feels like our first full week of summer, you’ve got your last chance for the Hood River County Fair today, with the gates opening at 9:30 and the last event the Jo De Messina concert starting at 8pm.

If you’re hurting, there’s free acupuncture today at Gorge Community Acupuncture from 9am-noon. That’s at 208 4th Street, above the British Pub and below Kaze Japanese restaurant.

And finally, if you didn’t catch this yesterday, it’s worth repeating: Ape Canyon and Plains of Abraham trails on St Helens are now open, and even if you’re not a biker, they’re worth the drive for the hike. If you have any interest in going next week, I want to go ride and would love some company on the drive (and I suppose on the ride too). My usual biking partners are all busy.

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 sad-looking link below. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til June 2012, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.

Now, your forecast:

I’m not going to be able to post a forecast Friday morning, so I’m posting this Thursday afternoon for Friday morning as a best guess, as well as with the weekend’s updated forecast. We should have more marine clouds in Portland Friday morning and that’s going to give us a little more wind in the gorge than we are seeing now. We’ll see 15-18 Friday morning near Hood River, picking up to 18-21 from Stevenson to Mosier for the rest of the day.

Saturday starts off with 15-18 early near Hood River, picking up to 18-22 by mid-morning, and then as cold air pushes into the coast in the afternoon, the wind will pick up to 22-25 at Stevenson and fill in most of the way to Arlington.

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

That cool air on the coast sets up a windier day on Sunday. We should see 21-24 early in the morning from Hood River to The Dalles, holding in the 22-25 range through evening. Models tend to underestimate this setup, so it could be a little better if we get lucky.

Speaking of, the Disco Diva mountain bike gals are riding the Whoopdee trail today, and as always, many thanks go out to SDS for letting people ride bikes on this trail for all these years. In really awesome biking news, according to Sharon at the Gifford Pinchot office, Ape Canyon and Plains of Abraham are now open for mountain biking for the summer, probably the latest opening ever due to the coldest, wettest spring in something like 100 years.

If you’ve got an eye on the Columbia this weekend, look for the outrigger canoes and surfskis in the Wildside relay race and wildside solo race happening on Saturday and Sunday between Cascade Locks and Bingen. And if you’re out on the river doing your wind Johnnie thing, please yield the right-of-way to the paddlers. After all, they are racing, and they’re going to be rightfully pissed off if you get in their way. =)

Have an awesome day today!

Temira