Day 3: Maupin to The Dalles Continuing north on Highway 197 we started with a long climb out of the river canyon and back into high desert and grain farming country. The map shows a couple of

small towns between Maupin and The Dalles, but they must have been awfully small and off the highway because we didn't see many signs of civilization along the way. It's wonderful for biking though with just about zero traffic and more occasional glimpses of the Cascades to the west and north. Most of the high desert in this part of Oregon is between 2000 and 4000 feet above sea level. We knew we'd be going downhill at least some of the day since the elevation at The Dalles is less than 100 feet.

Next to Bend, The Dalles was the largest town on our route with a population over 15,000. It's an old city, one of the earliest settlements along the Columbia River and still a major industrial and shipping center. The town reminded us of Astoria with an old downtown section and lots of murals depicting the Lewis and Clark expedition and the early

settlers. The photo to the right is of a typical downtown building. On Sunday, the town was pretty dead, but still nice for a walk along the Columbia River. There are major dams, of course, all along the Columbia and a very large one just up river from The Dalles. The picture on the left is of a little marina on the southern shore, east of downtown.

The wind really blows through the Columbia River Gorge and we knew we'd have a great tailwind on our next leg - 60 miles east to Arlington. The road to Arlington, however, is no country road, rather a major Interstate, Highway 84. So we poured over the map trying to find a better route...