hiking - The Gorge is my Gym

We are heading into a few days of summery 80 degree weather, but we’re not going to see a wind shutdown all week. Today we’ll have light westerlies, strongest near Hood River. We’ll see 10-15 this morning from Hood River to Rowena, picking up to 16-19 this afternoon from Stevenson to Hood River, and fading to nothing late evening.

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Tomorrow looks like the calm day, with at best very light westerlies in the afternoon. However, it’s the summer solstice tomorrow and the sun will be above the horizon for 15 hours, 41 minutes and 16 seconds, so make the most of it!

Coming up on Wednesday, a system approaches the coast. We’re not going to see much cooldown, but we will see westerlies in the 17-20 range from Stevenson to Hood River in the morning, picking up to 24-27 in the afternoon from Hood River to Doug’s initially, filling in at Maryhill and Arlington late.

If you’ve been waitng for the big day, it’s Thursday, when we’ll see super strong wind in the 30+ range starting near Hood River and filling in at least as far east as Maryhill in the afternoon. If you’ve been missing the wind because of work, you’re going to have a chance for the before-work session on Thursday.

In mountain bike world, I just want to let all of you know that Falls Creek is still a no-go. I’ve been getting conflicting reports, and there’s definitely still too much snow up top to ride the trail.

Tomorrow is the free ladies standup paddle night brought to you by Big Winds. With zero wind in the forecast, paddle night should be good to go. It’s also Tri night, if you’d like to try tri. On Wednesday, there’s the shop paddle. And sailboat races. And the Post and Pinot.

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 April 2012, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.

Good morning and welcome to the shameless commerce division of TheGorgeismyGym.com. Yes, there’s a dot-com in there for a reason. Commerce, baby. Okay, I’m kinda kidding, but I did make some t-shirts because I wanted some. You can get them at 2nd Wind Sports in Hood River, or you can wait for me to get the code up on this website. You might be waiting a while for that. In case you were wondering, you can also get “The Gorge is my Gym” stickers to counter all those “Big Gym” stickers on cars around town.

The low clouds are past Hood River this morning and it’s already windy, especially at Maryhill where the current is ripping and Laura reports that you pretty much have to sail unhooked to point far enough downwind to stay far enough upwind that you won’t wash away to someplace more reasonable for windsurfing or kiting right now. We’ll see 24-27 this morning from Mosier to Maryhill, filling back in to Hood River this afternoon in the 22-25 range and holding in the 26-30 range east of The Dalles.

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Tomorrow looks windy too as high pressure builds. We should see 17-20 from Hood River to Mosier early, filling back to Stevenson by midmorning. However, as the wind turns more northerly in the afternoon, it’s going to get gusty, and we’ll probably see the wind drop to 13-16 by afternoon.

Tuesday doesn’t look windy at all, with the possible exception of easterlies in the 5-10 range, but it’s the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. You’ll have 15 hours and 42 minutes between sunrise and sunset, plus dawn and dusk, so you should have plenty of time for every sport that doesn’t require wind.

I had a couple of people ask me about kite launching yesterday. There’s a race that starts out of the Marina today, but you’re welcome to kite there. However, there’s no more launching at the Event Site.

In mountain bike news, thanks to all the volunteers who worked on Mobius Strip yesterday. It’s not quite done, but will be soon. At Doug VanZandt’s request, please don’t ride the trail yet. Soon, my little friends, soon. Thanks also to Andrew and Andrew, of New York City Sub Shop (yummy) and Andrew’s Pizza (also yummy), for donating food for the volunteers.

If you like Mitchell Ridge, ride today, because the flat section at the top is likely going to close starting Wednesday due to logging. There is a reroute in place, however, there’s a chance the road will be closed due to logging, which makes the reroute inaccessible. Anyway, don’t freak out. It’s only the section from Post Canyon Road to where the downhill starts, so if you love the Mitchell Ridge downhill (I do), you can relax.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira