Walk on the Dike....part one

The weather has cooled down some, at least it isnt 93 degrees! It was 80 today, I decided to go take a walk with Dublin. Our walk started at the new tunnel. The official ribbon cutting ceremony isnt until Aug. 14th! The city is having its grand opening ceremony then. I was not in favor of this tunnel at first, because it was going under the highway. My first thought was floods??? But they kept it on the inside of the Dike. It did turn out well.

They started it in 2009, so I guess that is why the big plaque(on the right) says 2009, it was just finished in June of 2010?? Hmm

Inside the tunnel are these monoliths, with the recreation of local petroglyphs. Pretty cool!

Three of them in the center.

The top face is called Tsagaglagal "She who watches"

link to the local Native American legend. I would love to go see this in person some time.

The rock at the other end of the tunnel, commemorates the people who worked on this project. I know quite a few of them.

Up at the top of the Dike, looking south towards the river, is a viewing platform. So we walked down there.

This is behind us looking back down to the tunnel. Stairs on the left, and the handicapped ramp on the right.

Looking West, the Dike ends about a quarter mile in this direction.

Looking East, the path we will take.

Meanwhile, we walked down to the viewing platform. Looking East again, up river.

Looking West again, there is a fishing dock, the other end leads to a parking lot on this side of the Dike, you have to cross the highway to get to it that way. Here you can possibly catch, sturgeon, small mouth bass, squawfish(there is a bounty on these in the Columbia), starry flounder, salmon, steelhead, carp, and probably a few others, if you can entice them to your hook that is! LOL I have caught all of these just a little farther up river from here, off the bank, and when we had our boat we caught a lot of sturgeon.

Here are some fishermen, one coming down river and one anchored, may be still fishing for some late salmon?? Dont know what is running right now, will have to ask Hubby.

The water in the Columbia River isnt real clear, usually it is a green brown color, full of algae.

East off of the viewing platform are some old pilings. The water is still really high for this time of year.

And back up at the top again. There have been a few different names for the Park at the middle of the Dike. When I was a kid it was Cottonwood beach, but everyone called it BA beach, yes BA stands for what you think it does! LOL

Now they have renamed the area Captain William Clark Park, after the Lewis and Clark expedition that came through here.

Looking East again, at Mt Hood, beautiful and deadly she is. They still havnt found, four climbers that I know of from the last couple of years, that have gotten lost up there. She is about 40 miles away from us.

That concluded the first part of this post....back tomorrow!!