Northwest Campers, Hoodstock Jamboree, Part 5—Breakfast, Antique Stores & Toll bridge County Park

The evening was happily dry and the ground continued to firm up, albeit slowly. Moby and I slept well and in the morning, we were greeted with a nearly cloudless view of Mt. Adams (Which I kept thinking was Mt. Hood up till I finally got my directions sorted out).

Those of us that had been told of it, gathered together for a shared breakfast of Sausage, Gravy and Biscuits. Those that drank coffee did and plotting and planning discussions for the Fall rally in September were discussed.

Eventually, the time came for us to leave. I never did encounter the fella I was supposed to pay for the campsite stay, so “Thank You!” to the Hood River Fairgrounds for the visit, I’ll hopefully be back again next year, and with luck, this time I will actually meet the money fella and pay him for my stay .

Most of the group went there separate ways, but three of us decided to hang together and visit some antique stores closer in to Hood River. There was a fair bit of discussion on where to go before we ended up settling on visiting the Tollbridge County Park up near Parkdale, Oregon.

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When we arrived, we pretty much had our pick of sites in the park at this time of year. Most of the main full hookup sites were empty, aside from the camp host which was pretty much a resident trailer, denoted by the skirting around the base of the small 5th wheel to help keep the bitter Mt. Hood cold from freezing them out any faster.

The fun began when we went to register. There were exactly two envelopes left, and three of us. So, we improvised. The two motorhome folks used one envelope since they were paying with cash, and I used the other as I was writing a check.

Problem solved.

The park has full bathroom facilities (Without coin boxes, I might add) but the bathroom facilities were in pretty bad shape, the men’s side was near to completely trashed and the women’s side wasn’t far better.

After much fiddling, I managed to get a lukewarm shower out of it and decided that that was my last shower using the park’s facilities.

We managed to throw together a nice campfire that night, though the wind kept stealing most of the heat as it blew through that night, but at least there was a nice group campfire spot between the end sites and it was quiet at night.

Riding the Mt. Hood Railroad-Part 3, Touring the town of Parkdale

Once we had reached town, our little excursion journey had reached its halfway point.  We all disembarked the train to visit the various little shops in town and explore the local museum. 

While we wandered around, the crew of the train backed the train down the tracks a ways to the last siding they had passed to uncouple the locomotive from the front end of the train to move it around to the opposite end so that it was ready to pull the train back down the mountain again. 

As the train pulled away out out site, Dawn and I drifted off to explore different bits of the town of Parkdale.  I started out my explorations by drifting about the grounds surrounding the Hutson Museum, whose property borders the Mt. Hood Railroad tracks. 

Dawn and I meet up again briefly to watch the crew back the reversed train back into the station. 

Then I’m off to tour the inside of the Hutson Museum proper.

Now, I’m no rock hound, but this museum has a rather impressive geological collection in their display cases.  Including a number of crystal pieces that took a couple of closer looks before I realized it was rocks that had formed that resembled various pieces of food!

In addition to the geological treasure trove, they also have a fairly extensive collection of items from the area’s history of logging and farming. 

  

I collect old radios like this one, love it when they still work . 

For those not familiar with the Northwest, these two pictures below are of the Columbia River and the Indian tribes that used to fish for the Salmon in the falls in the days before the giant hydroelectric projects were built that tamed the river and made it navigable by boat and barge. 

 

 

 

Some historical pieces of the Mt. Hood Railroad itself. 

 

 

 

 

This model is actually of Timberline Lodge, the beautiful trade mark of Skiing on Mt. Hood.

Old Highway 30 along the Columbia River gorge before it was rerouted in a number of spots and the old tunnels filled in. 

The Oregon Parks department has slowly been finding old sections of the highway and restoring them.  Several of the lost tunnels have now been dug out and restored, though cars can no longer journey through them. 

A five mile stretch of the old highway, with tunnels similar to these is now an Oregon trail that can be walked or bicycled. 

 

Time flies by rather quickly when you’re enjoying history and soon we needed to scurry over to the little diner in town that fixes the lunches that come with the excursion ride and pick up our meals and return to the train for the ride back down.