E-bike the Historic Columbia River Highway
“Everybody comes back loving it,” says Stephen Demosthenes, about his new e-bike rental business in Mosier.
Stephen’s the longtime owner of Route 30 Classics on the Historic Columbia River Highway. In the multi-preneurial way of Northwesterners, he sells vintage Porsches and tee shirts, serves ice cream, espresso and Mosier-made sandwiches (in season), and now rents e-bikes.
Stephen’s e-bikes are meant for pavement, not gravel or single-track. They give riders four levels of electric assist, shown by red bars on a handlebar gauge. “You can easily ride on one battery charge to The Dalles and back, if you [generally] keep the bike at two bars, riding in third or fourth gear,” he says. The Dalles is a 35-mile roundtrip ride, out and back on the HCRH.
Two excellent bike routes from his shop are:
Historic Columbia River Highway east to
Rowena Crest (13 miles roundtrip) or
Mayer State Park (20 miles roundtrip)
This is my favorite stretch of the HCRH to bike or drive: far fewer people visit it than the highway’s waterfall section between Crown Point and Ainsworth State Park, and the scenery is unendingly spectacular, with the land transitioning into desert plateaus and canyons.
Bring food and drinks for a picnic at Mayer State Park.
East of downtown Mosier, pass seasonal fruit stands and the vineyards of Mayerdale, an estate developed in the 1910s by Markie Mayer, a wealthy Portlander. He built the colonial revival mansion you’ll pass (not open to the public). The beautifully maintained land is now part of Garnier Vineyards.
From there, keep east on the highway to Memaloose Overlook, and check out its namesake island in the Columbia. Memaloose means place of the dead in Chinook jargon. Native Americans in the gorge placed their deceased on river islands. As dams raised river levels and inundated much of the landmass of this and other islands, remains were re-interred in cemeteries around the gorge. But on this island, the remains of one white man weren’t moved. You can see his monument from the overlook.
Keep east to Rowena Crest, the arid, clifftop counterpoint to Crown Point on the west side of the Cascades. During the Missoula Floods 15,000 years ago, you’d have been underwater here.
From Rowena Crest, swoop downhill on the Rowena Loops, fantastic horseshoe curves, to the little community of Rowena.
Here, leave the HCRH, and turn left to bike under I-84 and onto Rowena River Road, to the quiet, waterfront Mayer State Park, land Markie Mayer donated to the state.
Watch windsurfers at the park’s east end, and if you’re hot, swim in the kolk pond at the park’s west end, near the old Rowena-to-Lyle ferry landing. A kolk depression is a landform created by the Missoula Floods: as floodwaters roared west along the Columbia River, they carved its valley here into vertical cliffs. The floodwaters’ ice, boulders, sand, and gravel swirled in underwater vortices that drilled circular depressions in the bedrock. This particular depression, at river level, is a great swimming pond. Other depressions, now bone dry, are atop Rowena Crest.
From the park, return via the HCRH to Mosier.
The other, more traveled route, probably most of it is car-free:
Historic Columbia River Highway (HCRH) west to Hood River downtown: 14 miles roundtrip, an out-and-back ride
Note: after writing this I learned, to my surprise, that e-bikes are not allowed on the State Trail, as described here. I’m leaving this in, however, because talks appear to be in the works about tweaking that prohibition. Let’s hope.
A few blocks west of the shop, the paved HCRH State Trail leaves Mosier, traveling west atop Columbia River cliffs. At trail’s end is the Mark O. Hatfield West Trailhead visitor center: restrooms, snacks, tee shirts, and history.
Most people turn around and bike back from here, but you’re on an e-bike, so leave the visitor center and keep west, dropping downhill on the Highway’s swooping, smooth Hood River loops (and you’re now sharing the road with cars).
Cross the Hood River, and bike into town for some take out; eat at tables in Georgiana Smith Park (on Oak between 5th and 6th streets). Then cruise beautiful, shady old neighborhoods above downtown, or drop down via 2nd Street to the Columbia to bike riverfront trails. Stop at the Event Site to watch kiteboarders or at Hood River Waterfront Park where you can keep your eye on the bike while you wade or take a quick dip. If the west wind is blowing, no problem: you’ve got an electric assist.
On the return, as you glide uphill on the Hood River loops with three or four bars on your gauge, you may start thinking of buying your own e-bike when you get home.
Rental info
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. April to October (later if the weather’s good)
$15/hour
18 years or older
8 bikes available
No reservations taken
No bike locks
Racks have bungees for tying down small items; if you bring lunch, carry it in a backpack.
