Near the top, the view east and upriver — the gorge narrowing toward Bonneville Dam and the drowned Cascade Rapids that Lewis and Clark fought down.
One more turn of the head before the top — this time, look east, upriver, back the way the road brought you in.
From up here you can watch the gorge narrow and bend, the water sliding down toward you out of the mountains. A few miles up that way sits Bonneville Dam, spanning the river; on a bright day you might catch the glint of it. And this is the very stretch of the Columbia that Lewis and Clark fought their way down, two centuries ago — the old Cascade Rapids ran right up there, the wildest water on the whole river, before the dam rose and drowned them into stillness.
From this perch it all looks calm and green and grand. But you're looking out over country that has been traveled and worked and fought over and loved for thousands of years. You're almost to the top now — just a few more switchbacks, and the whole world opens up at once.
Photo: Kingofthedead · CC BY-SA 4.0
