We’ve been having typical PacNW weather recently; sunny, cloudy, rainy and windy, sometimes all at the same time. Today was sunny, but cool with a stiff SW breeze. A little higher up in the foothills, there were scattered rainstorms. In the photo below the sun is shining in the valley, Mt. Hood is obscured by clouds(you can see a bit of snow on the lower mountain) and there is a small rainstorm that has blown over the Cascade foothills(it is the white, hazy area in the upper right hand section of the picture).
Got on the bike and headed up Old Dalles Road that goes up from the Hood River Valley, over the ridge on the east side of the valley and over to The Dalles. The climb is fairly steep and the road is not in great shape. I only rode part of the way up the road, the majority of it is unpaved dirt and gravel; not that fun on a road bike with 23mm tires.
The higher up the road you go, the better the view…..
At the end of the paved section of Old Dalles Road, I headed back down into the valley and headed south with the intention of riding up Fir Mountain. As I got closer to Fir Mountain Road, you could see a rainstorm a couple miles in the distance, headed for Fir Mountain.
Changing plans because of the weather is something that happens all the time, so hang a right before hitting the rain and over to SR 35 and back down to the valley, where the sun was shining.