Bonneville Lock and Dam, Oregon side
On our way back to Portland from Skamania Lodge, we stopped at the Bonneville Lock and Dam on the Oregon side. We were delighted to take I-84 home after the slow, windy trip on State route 14 a couple days before on the Washington side. 🙂
From the parking lot there is a beautiful view of the “spillway” and tables for a picnic.
There was also a little concrete house called a “pill box” which protected armed guards protecting the dam during World war II.
We caught the tail end of the tour of the powerhouse. It was interesting to learn more about how water is converted to electricity and how about 55% of our electricity in the area is hydro and about 9% is wind and the rest is coal, etc.
It also was interesting to learn that the federal gov’t asks the dam to run 2-3 generators this time of year to run the “spillway” to help adolescent salmon make their way through the river. The fish ladder was assisting the salmon upstream for spawning. We were able to view a lot them in the underwater viewing area down below.
Our last stop was at the fish hatchery to see the trout, salmon, and sturgeon. The famous sturgeon “Herman” lives there. He is 70 years old, 400 pounds, and 10 feet long. We don’t think this one was Herman as there was a longer, larger one than this that swam up and then away from photo taking range.
Rainbow trout
