The Gorge Magazine - Fall 2023

How our water gets from mountaintop to faucet, and what the future may hold

By David Hanson

ARTS + CULTURE

44 RISE OF THE FOLEY

A restored grand house in The Dalles thrives as a community hub

By Cate Hotchkiss

50 IN PURSUIT OF SOCIAL JUSTICE

At the helm of The Next Door, the largest social services agency in the Gorge, Janet Hamada leads with heart

By Janet Cook

Programs that teach the trades flourish at Columbia Gorge Community College

By Ruth Berkowitz

10 PERSON OF INTEREST

14 HOME + GARDEN

20 LOCAVORE

24 IMBIBE

54 PARTAKE

58 YOUR GORGE

Lance Koudele

Courtesy of CGCC

Courtesy of The Next Door

David Hanson

HOOD RIVER $885,000: Large one level home in a great neighborhood. 6 BR, 2.5 BA, 2200 sqft on .13 acres. Perfect for a large family. Nice modern kitchen w/granite, SS appliances, under counter lighting, laminate flooring from kitchen to dining and thru laundry/pantry. Heated driveway & front entry, fully fenced backyard with water feature and gazebo. RMLS 23101399

CARSON, WA $619,000: Sweet one level rancher on .39 acres along the east edge of Elk Ridge Golf Course with great views of the hills surrounding Carson. 3 BRs, 2 BAs, 1762 sqft, built in 2005, one owner. Features high ceilings, open floor plan, granite countertops, hardwood floors. All kitchen appliances & washer/dryer included. Attached 2 car garage, large front porch & back deck and mature landscaping to o er total privacy. RMLS 23301468

SOLD

HOOD RIVER $800,000: Premier condos with little to no maintenance. HOA & CCRs make this a favorite place to live for the 55 and older crowd. Lovely landscaping with ponds, lawns, trees, shrubs, flowers and a view of Mt. Hood. This condo has 2 BRs, 2 BAs, o ice/ den & 1871 sqft. Spacious living, dining, kitchen & 2 car garage. High ceiling, gas fireplace, primary ensuite, private covered patio are some of the great features. RMLS 23378439

AS WE WERE PUTTING TOGETHER this issue, I was once again struck by how fortunate we are to have such a talented crew of writers telling stories about the Gorge for the magazine. As usual, most of the pieces in this issue were written by our regular contributors — many of whom have been writing for us for years. In ipping back through the issues in our archives, I came across veteran writer Don Campbell’s rst story for us in our very rst issue, which was Spring 2012. Ditto for Ruth Berkowitz. Kacie McMackin has been sharing her culinary creations with us in the magazine’s Partake section since our second issue in the summer of 2012. She also occasionally writes (and photographs) other stories.

Our first issue, Spring 2012

David Hanson, a long-time writer and editor in his own right, is also an award-winning lmmaker and photographer who usually both writes and photographs his stories. Check out his website for a look at some of his intriguing and diverse work. Cate Hotchkiss is another career writer who began dabbling in photography a few years back and has since won numerous awards for her stunning landscape images. Molly Allen, one of our newer writers, is constantly on the lookout for interesting stories and brings to the magazine the fresh perspective of a relative newcomer to the Gorge.

For a small-town magazine, we pack a punch when it comes to our contributors — both our writers and photographers. Kudos to them for their top-shelf work, for telling compelling stories about this place we all love, and for being all-around nice people to work with.

Speaking of compelling stories, David Hanson set out this summer to learn more about the “plumbing” of the Gorge, exploring how that most vital resource, water, moves from high up on Mount Hood and Mount Adams to our faucets. You can go along for his journey beginning on page 30.

Cate Hotchkiss takes us inside e Foley, a historic grand house in e Dalles that was beautifully restored and turned into a co-working community and retail marketplace (page 44). e Colonial Revival-style mansion, built in 1906, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Cate details its past life, restoration and transformation into a community hub.

Other interesting stories in this issue include Don Campbell’s feature on Backwoods Brewing Company in Carson (page 24); Molly Allen’s piece on Grasslands Barbecue (page 20); and a story by Ruth Berkowitz beginning on page 38 about the ourishing trades programs at Columbia Gorge Community College. Happy reading!

— Janet Cook, Editor

About the Cover

Photographer Paloma Ayala took our cover photo of The Foley on a beautiful, sunny afternoon. “I wanted soft, falling light hitting the façade,” she said, adding that she got up on a ladder for a better angle. Ayala also photographed the building’s interior for our story beginning on page 44. “I was surprised by the charm and how cozy it felt,” she said. “I was introduced to the di erent clients using the space and I felt as if I’d entered a tiny city.” ayalapaloma.com

When you have read this issue please pass it on to a friend or recycle it. Together we can make a difference in preserving and conserving our resources.

Backwoods Brewing Building an empire from Carson Trickle-Down Theory

NEW PRICE

FALL 2023

EDITOR

Janet Cook

CREATIVE DIRECTOR & GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Renata Kosina

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR

Jody Thompson

ADVERTISING SALES

Kim Horton

Chelsea Marr

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Molly Allen, Ruth Berkowitz, Don Campbell, David Hanson, Kacie McMackin, Trisha Walker

COVER PHOTOGRAPHER

Paloma Ayala

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Paloma Ayala, David Hanson, Kacie McMackin

TO ADVERTISE

IN THE GORGE MAGAZINE

please contact Jody Thompson jthompson@thegorgemagazine.com

VISIT US ON SOCIAL MEDIA @thegorgemagazine on Instagram

THE GORGE MAGAZINE

600 E. Port Marina Way, Suite B and C P.O. Box 390 Hood River, Oregon 97031

We appreciate your feedback. Please email comments to: jcook@thegorgemagazine.com

Michael Peterson

20 A breakfast sandwich special from Grasslands Barbecue, featuring sliced brisket.

Courtesy of Grasslands Barbecue

story by TRISHA WALKER • photos by PALOMA AYALA

Carola Stepper

PROVIDING SERVICES AND SUPPORT FOR THE END OF LIFE

CAROLA STEPPER HAS COME FULL CIRCLE.

Born in the U.S. but raised in Germany, she became a nurse in 1989, then immediately entered medical school in Germany. After two years she took a semester off to travel and ended up taking a permanent hiatus from medical school. She moved to Maui where she worked as an RN.

“The vast majority of my nursing career involved working in home health and hospice care,” she said. “Both involve driving to ill, often medically homebound individuals and providing

medical care in the home — nursing, in this case. I found the most fulfillment working for hospice.”

In 1995, Stepper moved to Portland and eventually enrolled at Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, graduating in 2001 with a master’s degree in acupuncture and oriental medicine. Her thesis compared managing

cancer treatment-related symptoms with acupuncture versus standard Western medicine, and she created a pilot project o ering acupuncture to hospice patients.

After working at Celilo Cancer Center in e Dalles as an acupuncturist, she founded her own clinic in 2005, Cascade Acupuncture, which she operated until selling it two years ago.

“After the sale, I re ected on my past career and realized that caring for people with life-limiting illnesses provided deep meaning for me,” she said. She worked as a registered nurse case manager for hospice before deciding to start Gorge End of Life Services earlier this year. Her business complements both medical care and hospice. One of her goals is outreach and education to increase early hospice referrals in the Gorge.

“I speci cally wanted to o er additional complementary holistic end of life services which were not readily available in the Columbia River Gorge,” Stepper said. “I strongly feel that I was guided to do this kind of work and to create this business.”

Visits to ill, homebound individuals — the length of which is tailored to the client — can be as needed or ongoing; one or multiple services may be provided during the same visit. Stepper is a registered nurse, certi ed hospice and palliative nurse, licensed acupuncturist, end-of-life doula, certified advance care planning facilitator, and is a specialist in the

Carola Stepper draws on her background as a hospice nurse to help patients and their loved ones navigate the end of life. She o ers services in-person and virtually.

“Advanced Grief Recovery Method,” an evidence-based grief program that helps people move through the pain of loss. She brings all of this to Gorge End of Life Services. Additionally, she volunteers with End of Life Washington — an organization that helps patients and families navigate end of life decisions.

“I am a lifelong learner and I wanted to add additional training and certi cations so I could o er multiple services which relate to end of life and grief to my clients,” she said.

“My purpose is to inspire and guide individuals and families to talk about and prepare for the end of life and death, similarly to the ways we prepare for birth.”

e business has brought her back to her roots. “I don’t have a brick-and-mortar location and I created a business which o ers all services virtually, except acupuncture,” she said. “Acupuncture is such a great complement as it not only addresses common physical ailments but also helps people with stress, anxiety and depression, all while not interfering with any other treatments the client may receive.” Acupuncture is only provided to medically homebound individuals in their homes, she said; all others interested in acupuncture should contact a local Gorge clinic.

Stepper o ers in-home and virtual services within a 35-mile radius from Hood River, in Oregon and Washington.

“Sometimes getting the answers to end-of-life questions depends on nding the right person who listens and helps you explore your goals and wishes,” she said. “I would be honored to be part of that journey.”

To learn more, go to gorgeendoflifeservices.com.

Trisha Walker is a writer and editor of Columbia Gorge News

Classes based on the Grief Recovery Method, designed to address grief from any loss, are one of Carola Stepper's end-of-life services.

story

High-Stakes Arts and Crafts

JOHN FRAZER BRINGS AN ARTIST’S EYE TO HIS DECORATIVE CONCRETE BUSINESS

WHEN HE WAS GROWING UP in White Salmon, John Frazer had a penchant for art. He favored drawing and painting with pen and ink, acrylics and working with an airbrush. In high school, his art teacher at Columbia High School entered him in an art contest and he won it. “The creativity has always been there,” he said.

When he graduated from high school in 1998, a friend who owned a decorative concrete company in White Salmon, Allen Boucher, offered him a job. “He said, ‘I’ll teach you something you can take with you for the rest of your life. No matter where you go, you’ll have a skill.’” Frazer recalled.

Boucher, known for being a natural teacher and mentor, took Frazer under his wing at his company, Artform Concrete. Boucher was one of the first contractors in the Gorge to do stamped concrete, according to Frazer. “He showed me how to form and pour,

by JANET COOK • photos courtesy of STAMP THE EARTH

and the di erent techniques of stamping and staining concrete,” said Frazer. e young protégé took to the work immediately.

Frazer worked for Boucher for four years, then decided to venture out on his own, launching White Salmon-based Stamp the Earth in 2012. His training with Boucher allowed him to hit the ground running, o ering a full suite of concrete services ranging from traditional work, like foundations and retaining walls, to decorative stamped and stained concrete and even custom and one-of-a-kind features, including curved benches and repits.

John Frazer, opposite, creates custom concrete designs in all shapes, sizes and colors, from driveways and patios to one-of-a-kind features, including this stand-alone labyrinth and a compass rose in the middle of a floor, opposite bottom

“We can do garage oors and city sidewalks — regular concrete, so to speak,” he said. “But we specialize in the decorative stamped and stained work.”

It’s the stamped and stained concrete, as well as custom features, where Frazer gets to apply his creativity — taking a homeowner’s vision and guring out how to make it reality. “It’s a lot of outside-the-box, critical thinking,” he said. “When there aren’t any blueprints and it’s not spec-d out, it’s up to me to gure out how to make something work, not only aesthetically but with things like drainage.”

Frazer’s projects have ranged from small, simple patios to intricate walls custom stamped to look like stones. He’s done concrete porches and walls made to look like wood planks, and designed and created patios with built-in re pits. His commercial projects range from the spa area at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson to multiple jobs at the Columbia Gorge Hotel, including the stamped concrete frame that holds the sign at the front entrance. He even created a concrete labyrinth for a client in Underwood.

One of his more intricate jobs was a huge driveway in White Salmon with a star design in the middle. “ e star was 14 feet across,” said Frazer, who had a friend create the schematics with a CAD program. After the pour, “we drew out the shape with pencils and rulers,” he said. “ en I hand-cut it with a grinder.” Timing is vital in order to get the stamped work done at the optimal time in the drying and hardening process.

“We have about an hour and a half before it goes from a liquid to a solid,” said Frazer, adding that he and his crew can add chemicals so it doesn’t set up quite as fast when he’s working on a complicated job. “Timing is everything when it comes to stamping concrete. We need to

A hand-carved concrete firepit was built to resemble large stones, with each one individually stained for a unique look.

5174 WOODWORTH DRIVE, MT HOOD PARKDALE, OR 97041

This stunning Northwest Regional Style home incorporates the outdoor elements, nature inspired using locally sourced materials. Custom design by an award winning architect and designer. Lush landscaping, mature trees and an abundance of wildlife gives you the feeling of being at your own private retreat. The home features 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms plus a spacious bonus room that can be a 5th bedroom or multi-use recreation room. A stone walkway leads you to the grand entryway. The large picturesque windows and soaring ceilings flood the space with natural light and postcard-perfect views of Mt. Hood. High end finishes throughout including custom black walnut cabinetry, Douglas Fir flooring, chef’s kitchen with SS appliances, quartz countertops, radiant heat, lutron electronic shades, and beautiful wood features. Amazing fenced in garden area with raised garden beds, greenhouse and chicken coop. Detached 3 car garage with 240 sq ft workshop and separate 840 sq ft guest quarters.

4 BD | 3 BA | 4,250 SF | 10 ACRES | $3,250,000

MODERN LUXURY IN PARKDALE

get it down, get it in shape, make it smooth, then apply colors before stamping textures.”

Frazer jokes that what he does is “high-stakes arts and crafts.” “You have to go when it tells you it’s ready,” he said.

Frazer has his own small crew, but he brings in other trusted concrete contractors on big jobs. “Networking with other contractors is important,” he said. “For quality control, the more hands the better. Concrete is a finicky beast and the more help you have, the more manageable it is.”

Along with creative, hands-on work that he loves, Frazer enjoys working with homeowners to realize their dream. “There’s a lot of trust in the vision and in the process,” he said, adding that it’s very collaborative. “We work together to come up with a design plan. Being able to deliver on that is rewarding.”

To learn more, go to stamptheearth.com

One of John Frazer’s employees creates a vertical overlay on a basic retaining wall — a technique that allows for lots of creativity. “We’re bound only by the homeowner’s imagination,” he said.

story by MOLLY ALLEN

BARBECUE

Tex-ish Style with a Pacific Northwest twist

GRASSLANDS BARBECUE MAKES ITS MARK AT THE HOOD RIVER WATERFRONT

A VARIETY OF INGREDIENTS GO INTO cooking good barbecue. You have to start with quality meat, and it’s best to cook with top-notch wood. But the most important element? A whole lot of love for the craft. And

you can tell the team behind Grasslands is passionate about serving delicious food to the community with every single bite.

Grasslands is a food truck and large smoker combo that opened on the Hood River waterfront in June 2021, right behind Ferment Brewing. On any summer weekend, you’ll find hungry fans lined up across the lawn patiently waiting to place their order, then dive into their tray of food at what has quickly become one of the most beloved spots for barbecue in the Northwest.

“It’s never not amazing to us,” said Drew Marquis, who owns and operates Grasslands with co-owners Sam Carroll and Brendon Bain. “We wouldn’t be here without the support of this community. We try to make it as much of an experience as possible. We hope we can provide a delicious lunch to people and that they plan to spend the day out here.”

Marquis and Carroll met at the University of Oklahoma but later reconnected when Marquis was living in Seattle and Carroll was living in Portland with 10 years of professional brewing experience under his belt. Bain and Marquis met in Seattle as roommates, and the two would frequently cook together at home.

In March 2020 at the onset of the pandemic, Marquis and Carroll had both been laid off from their jobs. Carroll would travel up to Seattle and the trio started cooking together for friends, hosting parties that included crawfish boils or roasting whole hogs. Friends told others about the meals and word of mouth spread for what the trio called Bootleg Barbecue. That turned into cooking barbecue and filling pre-orders through social media with a pop-up model.

• photos courtesy of GRASSLANDS

“As it got bigger, I kept talking to Sam and Brendon about doing something,” Marquis said. All three were looking to make a change, with Marquis and his wife Nicki interested in moving to a smaller community and Carroll seeking something other than brewing. By the end of 2020, the trio had pulled o a number of successful barbecue pop-ups and knew it was time to seriously consider what they could do. ey put a deposit down on a food truck to be built and decided to start it in Hood River. “It used to be where my wife and I would spend a good amount of our free time — vacations and day trips,” said Carroll.

But there was one catch. ey had no idea where they’d park the truck once it arrived.

Marquis moved to the Gorge in February 2021 and Bain followed a few weeks later. Almost immediately, Jure Poberaj and Nina Jimenez, owners of White Salmon Baking Co., o ered the trio an opportunity to do a pop-up at the bakery. “We had 100-something people in line when we opened,” Marquis said. at helped to fuel momentum. While waiting for the truck, they continued with pop-ups, along with selling food at the Hood River Farmer’s Market, where they established relationships with community members across the Gorge.

“We met so many amazing people, from farmers and producers to community members,” said Marquis. “It was bittersweet when we got the truck and left the market.”

ere was still the question of where to park it. Luckily, thanks to a connection with the owners of Ferment, along with Key Development, which owns the property, Grasslands landed a spot and was ready to launch. ey opened at the waterfront — a pretty good place to start a new business in the middle of summer, according to Marquis.

Since then, it’s been nothing but creative dishes coming out of the smoker fueled by Oregon white oak. But that also means a lot of prep work from Tuesday through Friday just to be open for two or three days, because everything from the pickles to the sausages are made by hand.

Staples on the menu include brisket, which requires a 24-hour prep and smoking process, along with pulled pork and sides such as Tex Mex slaw, macaroni and cheese and creamy hominy. “ e process of making sausages is really fun, and it allows us to utilize waste,” Marquis said. “We use all of our trim from the brisket, and it’s fun to come up with new avors and ideas.” As for one of Carroll’s top recommendations? “Brisket is the obvious answer for a Texas-centric barbecue operation, but our smoked chicken thighs are the sleeper hit.”

Grasslands is a team e ort from Drew Marquis, Sam Carroll and Brendon Bain, opposite, from left. Their food truck behind Ferment Brewing Company draws a crowd.

locavore

Marquis. When the discussion to review the ordinance and potentially draft a new one was on the agenda in fall 2022, the Grasslands owners wanted to make sure they were present to voice their opinion.

Being a Paci c Northwest barbecue truck, Grasslands continuously draws inspiration from what’s in season and locally available. ey source produce locally from Saur Farms, Oak Rose Farm and Killer Tomato, and often let what’s available dictate part of their menu for the week. “ e quality is unbelievable. at’s one of the things we were most excited about here was working with local farmers,” said Marquis. “But we did not expect that the quality would be so incredible.”

Because Grasslands opened in 2021, they didn’t have to immediately contend with the city ordinance — put on hold during the pandemic — requiring food trucks to move to a new location every six months. “We knew about it, and we knew it would come up eventually,” said

Prior to the meeting, the city put out a survey, which Grasslands shared countless times in hopes of gaining community support that would help them keep their home on the waterfront. “We told them our situation and why we felt it’s bene cial for food trucks to stay in one place,” Marquis said. “I think it made an impact. We saw change happen from that.” e ordinance was rewritten and voted on, eliminating the relocation requirement. anks to that change, Grasslands, along with the other talented food truck owners in Hood River, have been able to keep their spaces to provide customers with delicious food and a consistent dining experience. It’s also allowed them to make connections with community members and visitors to the area.

“We love to provide an experience from start and nish,” Marquis said. “And we love that we get to do that in the Gorge.”

To learn more, go to grasslandsbarbecue.com. For up-to-date hours and current specials, follow them on Instagram.

Giving starts in the Gorge

The Gorge Community Foundation helps donors create charitable endowment funds to support the causes you care about and projects that inspire you.

Since 2003, the Foundation has made over $2 million in grants. You can start an endowment fund now with a tax-deductible contribution or include the Gorge Community Foundation in your estate plans. Learn more at gorgecf.org or call 509-250-3525

GORGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

Molly Allen is a food, beverage and travel writer who lives in Hood River.

Smoked burgers and sausages are tended by Brendon Bain. Grasslands sells sausages freshly-cooked, and in vacuum-sealed and frozen four-packs customers can take home.

Peaceful and Serene

Custom built farmhouse on 5.16 acres with a creek. Open floor plan, expansive living/dining room, chefs kitchen. Wrap around covered porch. 3bdrm/2.1bth/2car gar! Also has separate guest quarters, 1500sqft vintage farmhouse, 2000 sq ft shop & so much more!

$1,900,000 | RMLS# 22660071

Ashley Nunamaker -Bello

541-490-3854

OR & WA Licensed Lot in Great Location with Views

Enjoy stunning views of Mt. Adams and the Washington Hills in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge from this conveniently situated lot in Hood River. With an R-2 zoning, this property offers possibilities for your new home or investment venture. Utilities are readily available.

$398,000 | RMLS# 23297001

422 Cooper Ave | Underwood, WA

Laurie Johnston

509-637-5135 OR & WA Licensed

New Construction, 2,688 sqft, 4bd/2.5ba, Office, Walk-In Pantry, Laundry Room & Covered front/back Patios. Attached -Oversized 2 car Garage w/EV plug. 2 acres of level property. New Deer & Privacy Fencing along all 3 sides of property. (Seller is WA Licensed Real Estate Broker)

$879,000 | RMLS# 23370674

Jill Guenther

541-490-3156 OR Licensed

Privacy with Valley and Mountain Views

3 bed, 2 bath home on 12.64 acres. Remodeled from top to bottom. Primary bed has walk -in closet. Central vac system. Fenced backyard, w/raised garden beds & private patio. 30x40 shop w/ 2 storage rooms. RV Parking w/hookups.

$699,000 | RMLS #23602549

2455 Badger View Dr | The Dalles, OR

Spectacular Mosier Views

4.85 acres! Plenty of room to build your Dream home. Imagine watching the sunset from this perfect site. 24’x36’ shop, 1980 manufactured home that needs some love. 48 irrigated raised bed boxes-perfect for a nursery or master gardener. Shared well that produces 19 gallons a minute. Shown by appointment only.

$560,000 | RMLS# 23594579

$890,000 | RMLS# 23591739

Ruth Chausse

541-490-4850 OR & WA Licensed

Spectacular Columbia River & Gorge View Lots

Views of the Columbia River, Washington Hills, The syncline & some with views all the way to the HR Bridge. Check out all the fun activities in Mosier, Eateries, wineries , summer festivities, fresh roasted coffee, hiking & biking trails & so much more!

$299,000-$379,000 | RMLS# 22687716

Enchanting Location

Rare & potential filled parcel located in the Columbia River Gorge. This 37.1 acre property features open pastures and forest paths that invite exploration. A year-round stream and gently sloping landscapes are both found here. No CCRs or HOA. Located outside CGNSA. Forest tax deferred.

$425,000 | RMLS# 23452943

3 level home with daylight basement. Main level is an open kitchen with large island, dining and living areas with heated floors. Primary bedroom opens to pass thru closet into the updated bathroom. Basement has extra living space and plenty of storage area.

Alison Nunamaker 541-490-3109 OR & WA Licensed

story by DON CAMPBELL • photos courtesy of BACKWOODS BREWING CO.

Backwoods Brewing Co.

A PASSION FOR HOMEBREWING TURNS INTO AN EVER-GROWING FAMILY VENTURE BASED IN CARSON

AT FIRST GLANCE, IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE AN EMPIRE.

And Carson, Wash., doesn’t really seem like the place to start one. But a quarter mile from downtown Carson’s main intersection on the Wind River Highway headed north — before you get to major area employer WKO Sawmill — sits a large nondescript building the front corner of which houses the Carson General Store.

The real action, however, is in the back. Those in the know will tell you that Backwoods Brewing Company creates some of the finest beer in the Pacific Northwest, served alongside some culinarily creative pizza, savory barbecue, salads, soups, grilled sandwiches and other assorted appetizers and dishes, and kids’ grub. It’s become a destination draw, along with the Elk Ridge Golf Course, Carson Hot Springs, the Wind River Recreation area, and more tucked into this rural Washington town that time could well have forgotten.

But Carson and Backwoods have become a magnet for Mosierites like me and others who go out of the way to invent reasons to end up here. More than a brewpub, it embodies a certain Gorge lifestyle steeped in natural beauty, bent on recreation as well as relaxation, and serving up a dandy place to unwind.

Land of the Empire Builders

Here’s where the empire-building comes in. While the Carson Backwoods is a gem unto itself — popular with locals and tourists — it seems that Northwest love of craft beers, simple yet great food and hearty hospitality transplant pretty well to urban life in Portland’s Pearl District and in Hillsboro, where new Backwoods locations have recently opened. Other locations are being scouted. And soon to come alive just up the road from the Carson brewpub is the new Backwoods Cabins, eight cozy spaces to escape, sit among the trees and ponder one’s existence — with maybe a slice of pizza and cold local beer in hand to help kick the mojo into high gear.

Brewer Matt Fechtner makes beer in the Backwoods brew house, left. At top, employees show off merch on the brewpub’s newly developed back lawn in Carson.

Photo by Jennifer Gulizia

Stay evocative!

But before there is momentum-building commerce and growth like what Backwoods has experienced, there usually comes a seminal idea, a gnawing itch, a simple plan to chase a homegrown dream. Nic Peterson, general manager at Carson, ushers me inside the back gate and into the pub proper, with its large bar, ample seating, bright six-packs of beer on palettes, and an array of pub merch. We land back outside to sit under one of two large tents, added during the Covid reign. Nic — Backwoods’ rst employee “from day one,” he says — grew up with the Waters family, all Carson natives born and raised, from whence this conception spread.

“I knew the oldest brother, Tom,” he adds, “who always threatened to do this. I said if you do, I’m in.”

e wellspring was Waters patriarch Jim Waters who, along with his wife Debbie, were small-town serial entrepreneurs. Jim (in addition to being a foreman in the sawmill for 25 years) and Debbie operated a gutter business, opened a bed-and-breakfast in their home, owned a shermen’s motel they converted to luxury cabins, and sold that to start the Carson General Store.

Jim also happened to like making home brew. e brothers, Tom, Steve and Kevin (now a state representative for Washington’s 17th District) followed suit during and after their college years and the passion became a full- edged pursuit. ey returned home to Carson with the notion to brew beer in their hometown. In 2012, dream became reality.

e grocery building had a large open space that was idle. “ e three boys came home and wanted to mess around. It started out very simple,” says Nic.

It was a spartan e ort, with a miniscule sta of four or ve, brewing enough beer to

supply the pub. Nic and the others worked for minimum wage. At that time, however, craft beer was burgeoning, and the Gorge itself was undergoing a marked increase in a revved-up population.

“We rode the wave,” says 35-year-old Steve who, though not in at the pub’s opening, has risen to the rank of CEO. “We gured out things as we went along. From a brewing perspective, we started at the right time. We had distributors coming in very early, telling us they could distribute our beer all over Oregon and Washington. Every year we’ve picked up and have never gone down. We were geographically very lucky.”

As well, adds Nic, “We’ve fallen in love with hospitality.” He spent time at Stevenson, Wash.’s Skamania Lodge, earning his bones on catering, event planning and execution (“You can’t fail on a wedding,” he says), and has become a driving force within the company.

“Nic has been a big in uence on what we did,” says Steve. But none of them could sit still. ey saw opportunity. “ e plan was to make some beer. e store was selling readyto-bake pizza. Nic said let’s make our own dough, with attention paid to quality. We needed that voice. ere was no halfway.”

ere’s a certain drive to this leadership team, one that thrives on listening to one’s intuition, gut-level decision-making, and a measured fearlessness.

Empires Are Built with Heart

It’s led this small-town enterprise toward strong growth on many fronts that holds to

Expressive

Two

Backwoods owners Steve, Jim, Debbie and Tom Waters, opposite from left. Above, looking out from the brewery’s tent, built during the pandemic and now an event space.

imbibe

simple ideals: good beer, delicious, desirable food, and a comfortable atmosphere that breeds comradery from locals and visitors alike. As they continue to brew their distinctive beer from their Stevenson waterfront facility, they’ve spread their gospel to Portland’s Pearl District, where their Backwoods survived Covid and is thriving. A new venture is springing to life in Hillsboro, borne of them being presented with an opportunity they couldn’t ignore. e cabins will open soon, imbued with their particular Backwoods spirit. Other ventures will emerge as surely as their family-bred entrepreneurial spirit pushes them forward.

eir “insanity,” o ers Steve, comes from the drive of Jim and Debbie. For all of them, there’s no status quo.

ey’re already itching for whatever comes next.

To learn more details, including the current hours, go to backwoodsbrewingcompany.com

Don Campbell is a writer and musician. He hides out at a secret fortress on a hilltop in Mosier and is a frequent contributor to The Gorge Magazine.

Trickle-Down Theory: A Gorge Story

How our water gets from mountaintop to faucet, and what the future may hold

HANSON

ust before the turn off Highway 35 to Cooper Spur Resort, a small creek, no more than four feet wide, flows out of the dark forest. It’s clear and cold and, aside from heavy rain or snowmelt, runs at roughly the same flow year-round.

A few hundred yards up from where the creek meets the highway, behind a locked gate, there is a slab of concrete as wide as a city block and half as long. It ramps up the natural slope, covering the place where that creek emerges from its channel deep below Mount Hood. Beneath the concrete, a pipe diverts less than half of the creek — 1,500-1,700 gallons per minute — and carries it to 5,800 residents, businesses, and fruit packers from Parkdale to China Gorge Restaurant.

“The first time this water sees daylight is when it leaves someone’s faucet,” Fred Schatz, superintendent of Crystal Springs Water District, tells me as we stand atop the concrete. “The only thing we add is chlorine, and mostly just for liability. We’re lucky. It’s really clean water coming from deep.”

This past summer, with water always on the mind — keeping plants alive, finding swimming holes, worrying about wildfires and heat domes — I went on a mission to answer a few questions about the plumbing of the Columbia River Gorge. Why in the summer does the Hood River run gray and shallow while the White Salmon River is crystal clear and carries enough water for rafting? How does the snow and rain that fall onto Mount Hood and Mount Adams move underground, above ground, and into our homes? And, most pressingly, what’s our outlook for water in the future?

Mirroring the Crystal Springs operation on the Mount Hood side of the Columbia is the City of White Salmon’s water source, Buck Creek. As opposed to the untouched Crystal Springs source, Buck Creek flows on the surface, down from its headwaters near Monte Cristo Mountain.

I meet Andrew Dirks, White Salmon Public Works director, at the base of Buck Creek where it enters the White Salmon River. We drive a few miles upstream to the city’s water treatment center, a squat building about ten feet tall. Inside is a small room with pipes and gauges, but most of the building is made up of two rooms full of water with sand at

Story & photos by DAVID

Eliot Creek drains Mount Hood’s Eliot Glacier.

Fred Schatz, Crystal Springs Water District superintendent, at the main source of Crystal Springs water on Mount Hood.

The White Salmon Public Works facility where water from Buck Creek is filtered before being delivered to customers.

the base. The facility draws water (600 gallons per minute) from nearby Buck Creek that settles through the sand. Then chlorine is added and gravity pulls it to White Salmon consumers.

“The slow sand filter operation is really basic,” Dirks tells me. “But the rest of the system is complicated, with two wells drawing from the Grande Ronde Aquifer and a system designed to pump excess water in low-use months back into the ground for aquifer recharge.”

Dirks, like Schatz, isn’t too worried about water quantity (assuming development growth remains moderate), but both are concerned

about upgrading aging infrastructure and the risk of wildfire and floods to the conveyance systems.

“We’re due for another major flood like the ones in ’64, ’81 and ’96,” Schatz tells me. “That makes me nervous. I also worry that too hot of a wildfire in the upper basin could allow nitrates to get into the water and those are hard to remove. Thankfully we only saw a minor uptick in nitrates from the Gnarl Ridge Fire in 2008.”

Future weather projections indicate hotter temperatures and increased wildfire risk, but also more precipitation. My chief question

The mouth of the White Salmon River.

remained: more rain and snow sounds good, but where does it go? e water districts have water storage tanks and irrigation districts maintain reservoirs like Laurance and Kingsley, but what’s happening underground?

If you could produce the perfect person to answer these questions, it might be Nate Klema. Before beginning his doctoral dissertation on volcanic landscape evolution in the Columbia River Gorge, Klema was an international expedition kayaker. His kayaking connected him intimately to surface ows for more than two decades. Lately, he’s been diving deep into the science of how rock and water interact below the surface. I spoke to him while he took a break from research in Eugene.

“ e Columbia River is the largest river on earth that crosses an active volcanic arc,” Klema tells me. “Massive mountains are growing with the Columbia cutting through the middle of it.”

But the ancient story isn’t as simple as two enormous stratovolcanoes depositing lava. Rather, the timing and source of rock deposition in the Gorge is much more nuanced and explains the di erences we see between Mount Hood rivers and Mount Adams rivers.

“One key di erence between the Hood and Adams side is the amount of basalt,” Klema says. “Mount Hood tends to erupt ne-grained ash, as recently as when Lewis and Clark passed through the Gorge. On the Washington side, several smaller volcanos have erupted young lava ows that cooled into basalt rock.”

Most of the Adams-side material closest to the surface originated from a volcanic

The mouth of the Hood River.

eruption in the Indian Heaven Wilderness that sent slow, low-viscosity lava material owing toward the Columbia in a manner similar to modern-day Hawaii. e lava follows existing topography and river channels downhill, cooling quickly and, you could say, sloppily. Gas bubbles harden into holes, and cracks traverse throughout. It basically becomes a solid black block of Swiss cheese with cracks on top and gaps at the base.

e underlying, relatively fresh, geology on the White Salmon side explains why the Little White Salmon and White Salmon Rivers ow clear and consistent throughout the dry summer.

“You can think of young basalt as trying to dam a spring with a sponge,” Nate says. “ ere’s not a hard boundary. Water’s going to seep into the rock layers and slowly move through the gaps and cracks until the water is forced to the surface at lower elevations. e Little White Salmon River has a perfect sponge dam on the top and that’s why you get long ows even after the rain has stopped.”

e Mount Hood side, by contrast, has a di erent and older volcanic story. e Columbia River basalt ows originating in eastern Oregon about 15 to 17 million years ago account for most of the base layers on the Hood River side, forming the walls of the Gorge. Over such a long time, water can slowly weather the basalt into ne material that effectively “clogs” the sponge so water tends to ow on the surface versus slowly seeping into the ground. Horizontal layers at the base of massive basalt ows still exist and account for the aquifers that hold and move water, such as the one that carries Crystal Springs water to the surface near Highway 35. But in general, the gaps have been lled around Mount Hood, so the Hood River carries surface and glacial sediments, resulting in less clear water. Flows spike and drop rapidly without the slow basaltic in ltration seen in White Salmon river drainages.

e nal stop on my local plumbing project is to a spring outside Trout Lake. A trail above the White Salmon River leads a few miles into a towering forest. Soon the trail drops into a small valley with a ow no wider than

Photo: Sterling Lorence Yeti Cycles

The Northwest's best selection of E-MTB Demos is right here in Hood River

The Davis Spring, a recently acquired water source for the Crystal Springs Water District in the upper Hood River Valley.

Explore More... on the northshore of the Columbia River Gorge in sunny Klickitat County

MARTIN’S GORGE TOURS

Guided tours for individuals, groups, families, or couples. Including waterfalls, wild owers, wineries, breweries, trail hikes, scenic drives and more. Sit back and relax as we explore the hidden treasures of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.

503-349-1323 • martinsgorgetours.com

MARYHILL WINERY

WinePressNorthwest’s “2015 Paci c Northwest Winery of the Year”, 50+ award-winning wines, tasting room, Tuscan-style terrace with views of Mt. Hood and Columbia River, Bocce, and gi s.

877-627-9445

maryhillwinery.com

9774 Hwy 14 Goldendale

BEST WESTERN PLUS HOOD RIVER INN

Welcome to the perfect base for exploring the Columbia River Gorge. River view guest rooms, dining and drinks at Riverside, heated shoreline pool, spas, sauna, shoreline path, seasonal packages.

800-828-7873 • hoodriverinn.com

1108 E. Marina Way • Hood River

BELL DESIGN CO.

Meeting your Civil Engineering & Land Surveying needs since 1994. Water & sewer system design, site plans & structural support, subdivisions & short plats; We help you make your idea work!

509.493.3886 belldesigncompany.com

Bingen

HOOD RIVER HOBBIES, LLC

Come play with us! We have something for everyone at your local family-owned hobby and game store. Board games, toys, models, cra s, kites, discs, RC vehicles and more! Come nd a new hobby or a unique gi .

541-386-1223 • hoodriverhobbies.com

110 - 4th St. • Downtown Hood River

FORT VANCOUVER REGIONAL LIBRARIES

Four Gorge locations in Goldendale, White Salmon, Stevenson and North Bonneville. Two bookmobiles cruise around Klickitat and Skamania Counties all year. Find a library or bookmobile stop near you - plus eBooks and other online resources at fvrl.org.

10 feet of rushing water. I follow the trail upstream for a short time until I notice the silence. The topography hasn’t changed — I’m still walking in a narrow valley bottom. But there’s no stream. I backtrack on the trail. When I hear water again, I head toward it. There, at the base of a short, steep hill, the creek emerges from the ground. Knowing the hulking mass of Mount Adams is above me, I try to imagine the snow and rain soaking downward into the basalt cracks and air-bubble holes to reach this outlet.

Maybe it’s just a primitive reaction to clean, available water, but there’s an intimacy to being so close to the source, to this hidden fracture where the most valuable, vital substance on earth rushes forth, free of charge, with no guardrails, labels, or on-off switch. I kneel, put my face down to where the mountain becomes water, and drink.

David Hanson is a writer, photographer and video producer based in Hood River. Find his editorial and commercial work at ModocStories.com and weddings at CascadiaStudios.com.

The Hands-on Pursuit of

StorybyRuthBerkowitz

Images by Jay Carroll, Jim Pytel, vinzstudio/adobestock. com, davidrh/adobestock.com and courtesy of CGCC

Programs that teach the trades flourish at Columbia Gorge Community College

Tanner Boudreau graduated from Hood River Valley High School in 2011 and went straight to the University of Utah. There, he earned a degree in recreational management. By his own account, Boudreau had a lot of fun at “The U,” but when he finished, he didn’t really know what he wanted to do with his life.

He remained in Salt Lake City for a few years, worked odd jobs, skied some more and then returned home to the Gorge in 2018. He was making decent money as a bartender at Ferment Brewing Company, until the Spring of 2020 when the pandemic shuttered restaurants and other service industries. That’s when Boudreau decided to switch things up.

“I wanted a blue-collar job where I learned a specific skill,” he said. “I also wanted a job that would allow me to live in the Gorge.”

He enrolled at Columbia Gorge Community College (CGCC) in the two-year associate-degree program in Electro-Mechanical Technology (EM-Tech), with a goal of working on wind turbines or hydropower. Not many students attend a flagship four-year college and then return for an associate degree at a community college. In fact, many do it in reverse order. Yet for Boudreau, it was the right move. He loved the hands-on learning and calls his instructor, Jim Pytel, “the best teacher I have ever had.”

Although it was tough returning to school in his late twenties, Boudreau was eager to master skills that would directly apply to a career. Thanks to a nearly $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, Pytel has created an online open-source EM-Tech curriculum used by students and instructors all over the U.S. and the world, including the Philippines, England and India. Pytel’s YouTube channel (@bigbadtech) has more than 92,000 subscribers. His videos are engaging and effective.

Boudreau liked the format of the class, known as the “flip classroom,” where lectures are online and students meet in person primarily for the laboratory portion of their class. Boudreau would watch Pytel’s lectures at home, rewind them when he missed something, and then go to The Dalles campus for the labs. He had managed to obtain several scholarships, including one from the band Metallica, to make his education affordable.

510 Cascade Ave. | Hood River, Oregon kerrlarleewm.com | dadavidson.com

Instructor Jim Pytel helps students in the motor control lab at CGCC. Pytel teaches in the Electro-Mechanical Technology program at the school and chairs the Technology and Trades department.

Jay Carroll

In June 2023, Boudreau graduated with an associate of applied science degree (AAS) and is now preparing to work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at The Dalles Dam. Many of his community college classmates also landed well-paying jobs: one is working for Hewlett Packard, another for Cardinal Glass and yet another opted to pursue an engineering degree at Oregon State University. Pytel says the shortage of technicians guarantees that if his students make it through the program, “they will have a high-paying job.”

As to what Boudreau would tell his younger self, he chuckles. “At the time I wanted to get out of Hood River, go ski and go to college and didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. It was fun out there and the friends I met are lifelong.” But, he added, “there is another, cheaper way to do it. A lot of people don’t consider community college. I was told to go to college, and I went.” Although he doesn’t regret his time at the University of Utah, he is perhaps more thrilled with the outcome of attending community college and is looking forward to his career at The Dalles Dam.

In addition to the EM-Tech program, CGCC offers three other trade skills programs for

students pursuing an AAS degree: Aviation Maintenance Technology (AMT), a new program at the school; Construction Technology; and Advanced Manufacturing and Fabrication. Incoming CGCC president Dr. Kenneth Lawson said the college is exploring a fourth trade certification program in Agriculture Technology.

I was able to visit the aviation maintenance classroom after the first cohort in the 18-month program convened this summer. The congenial eleven-student class meets daily at a facility near The Dalles waterfront that is large enough to house a 1964 Cessna single-engine airplane. FAA certification requires students to disassemble and reassemble planes and engines.

“We’ve taken this plane apart twice and will do so again with classes well into the future,” said instructor Bryan Despain. “Planes are meant to last forever if you maintain them within the structure of the manufacturer and FAA regulations.”

Students in the Aviation Maintenance Technology program on a recent visit to the Horizon Air maintenance hangar at Portland International Airport.

Courtesy of CGCC

Eighty-four miles east of Portland,

THE DALLES

emerges between rolling sun-drenched hills and rough basalt cli s.

Come and experience the great outdoors here. Hiking, biking, fishing and water sports abound. And in the city itself, there's wine tasting, drive-in movies, delicious food and live music almost every night. You'll never run out of things to do in THE DALLES . Come explore for yourself.

As is typical for community college classes, the AMT students range in age from 18 to 35. e youngest in the class, Maverick Brown, 18, dropped out of high school during Covid because online classes “didn’t mesh” with him. While studying for the GED, he learned about CGCC’s aviation maintenance program and signed up immediately. Brown is hoping the program will open doors for him — ideally to his dream job of tending planes in Antarctica.

Brown’s classmate, Alec Culbertson, 22, had been working for Goodyear Tires in Bend when his father urged him to kick the car tires good-bye, look to the skies and enroll in the AMT program headed by his former colleague. It just so happened that Despain had worked with Culbertson’s dad for many years at Delta Airlines. Young Culbertson quit his job, moved into the new dorms at the CGCC campus in e Dalles and enrolled in the class. He aims to follow in his father’s (and Despain’s) footsteps at Delta.

With only three community colleges in Oregon o ering training in aviation maintenance,

Despain says his students will have an easy time nding a job because there’s a shortage of aviation maintenance workers. And they will earn a good wage, starting at $30/hour and increasing signi cantly within a few years.

Despain and his team recently received approval to move the classroom to the Columbia Gorge Regional Airport in Dallesport, Wash. e airport is jointly owned by the city of e Dalles and Klickitat County in Washington. Because the airport is located in another state (although just a short distance from campus), CGCC had to lobby the Oregon legislature to pass a bill enabling students to attend classes at the Dallesport airport and have it count as if they took place in Oregon. Despain can’t wait, but in the meantime, they’ll need to have a classroom and a large hangar built.

“ e need for mechanics is so great,” Despain said. “I am anxious to help young people understand how being an aviation mechanic is a wonderful and lucrative profession.”

To learn more, go to cgcc.edu.

Ruth Berkowitz is a mediator and writer living in Hood River.

Bryan Despain, instructor in the Aviation Maintenance Technology program, stands next to the program’s 1964 single-engine Cessna, located inside the classroom/warehouse. Students practice their skills on the airplane, taking apart the engine and other components and reassembling them.

story by CATE HOTCHKISS

AYALA

Rise of The Foley

A RESTORED GRAND HOUSE IN THE DALLES THRIVES AS A COMMUNITY HUB

IN AUGUST 2018, THE LAST THING HEIDI MCBRIDE OF MOSIER needed was a new project. Feeling burned out from more than a decade of running her thriving yet oftentimes all-consuming art design and consulting business, and having just completed two large-scale commercial art installations in Portland, a respite, or so she thought, appeared to be in the o ng. en one morning, while checking her social media feeds, an image of a grand house for sale in e Dalles grabbed her attention. She clicked on the listing and learned that the 5,600square-foot Colonial-Revival style mansion at 106 East Fourth Street had been languishing on the market for ve months, the price recently reduced.

“I felt a spark of inspiration that caused my heart to race,” recalls McBride. “My gut told me to act on it.” Never mind that she and her husband, Tim Ryf, were not looking to purchase property. By late afternoon, McBride and a local realtor were touring the house. “It needed a lot of love,” she says. However, she could see beyond the fauxwood paneling, partitions, and teal carpet — a hodgepodge of renovations and décor representing multiple decades and uses.

Historical records show that the home was built in 1906 by attorney W.H. Wilson and, in 1922, sold to Pat Foley who owned and operated the bustling Hotel Dalles on Second Street, the current location of e Dalles Inn. In October 1933, at age 46, Foley

• photos by PALOMA

died unexpectedly from Rocky Mountain spotted fever, contracted from a tick bite during a hunting trip, according to an obituary in e Oregonian. His wife, Mercedes Foley, took over managing the hotel while also raising ve children. After selling the house in 1952, it was gradually converted into o ces, and is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

McBride believed she was the one to restore this diamond in the rough. But what would her husband think? “I trusted my intuition, though Tim is typically more practical,” she says. at evening, the couple deliberated the pros and cons of a potential purchase, as well as McBride’s initial vision: to create community-minded o ce and studio spaces that blended clean, contemporary interiors with original details and character.

“Heidi and I love architecture and historic homes, but I worried that the project would suck up all our time, and about whether it was a good long-term investment,” says Ryf, a business consultant.

Another factor: the couple had recently sold a condo. “ at money was sitting there, and we debated, do we pay o our mortgage in Mosier or embark on this new endeavor?” McBride explains. ey chose the latter and, in mid-October, just days after assuming ownership, embarked on a fast-paced remodel.

Working alongside local contractors, the couple tackled what they could themselves to cut costs. “I often wondered what the heck we’d gotten ourselves into,” says Ryf as he recounted prying up worn linoleum tiles and pulling out “a million miles” of tangled phone lines and data wires. But beneath the layers, treasures — beautiful beech and r oors, and original millwork and molding.

THE BEST IN REGIONAL ART

AUTUMN 2023: Whether you’re in downtown Hood River on a tour of the spectacular Columbia Gorge or searching for special holiday gifts, 301 Gallery is a must-see. Featuring everything from ceramics, glass, and metals to sculpture, painting, photography, and fine jewelry, 301 brings you the very best in regional art. OPEN EVERY DAY.

301 Gallery

301 Oak Street

Hood River, Oregon

301gallery.com

541-215-6681

Heidi McBride and Tim Ryf, opposite inset, restored The Foley to its original grandeur, preserving architectural features like the curved banister, above, and baluster details, opposite bottom left. The parlor is occupied by Knotty Buns Bakeshop, opposite bottom right.

Cosmetic improvements included painting the entire house, inside and out, and replacing utilitarian light xtures with elegant sconces and chandeliers. Complex upgrades involved new electrical wiring and plumbing, and refurbishing hardwood oors. By late February, e Foley — a nod to its heritage — was ready for furnishings, textiles, and art. In March, the rst tenant, or member, signed a lease.

Flash forward ve years and e Foley hums with life, a full house, an eclectic community of entrepreneurs, therapists, creatives, and small businesses. e rst oor, e Foley Marketplace, o ers several distinctive retail spaces. e second and third oors, as well as a nished daylight basement, make up Workplace @ e Foley, a mix of private suites and large desks arranged in an open oor plan. Communal spaces include two waiting areas, a kitchenette, conference room, and huge, covered front porch. Natural light ows throughout.

Knotty Buns Bakeshop, located in the parlor, is co-owned and operated by Pastry Chef Cascade Tobias and Rosie Chavers who create European-style cookies, breads, and pastries. “ is is our rst retail space,” says Tobias. “We’re still a start-up but hope to expand our menu once we nd a commercial kitchen.” By sharing utilities and amenities, members bene t from

lower overhead costs while welcoming clientele into a sophisticated setting. Remote employees also appreciate this lease structure. Michael urmond, a software developer for an Idaho-based company, signed up in June for a dedicated desk. “I’m way more focused and productive here than trying to work from home,” he says.

e Foley is one of the few historic houses remaining on what was known in the early 1900s as mansion row, home to those who ran the businesses on Second and ird Streets, says Karl Vercouteren, an author, historian, and a retired pastor who has lived in e Dalles since 1977. He applauds McBride and Ryf for preserving its heritage and traditional craftsmanship. “ e house is a key to the area’s history. It transports you back to that time,” he says.

The dining room is dedicated to retail space and features the original beech floors and paneled wainscot. Bay windows and leaded glass above the bu et provide natural light.

we’re here for all the autumn vibes…

cozy textiles crackling fires hot cider rain ( ! )

With the assistance of our rustic timber ceremony pavilion, what could have been a less-than-loved rainy day becomes a much-loved intimate affair. We’ve got you covered for a worry-free wedding day. Find

photos courtesy of Ali Rae Photography

John Foley, a retired orchardist and resident of Dallesport, is the grandson of Pat and Mercedes Foley. John’s father, Tom, born in 1928, was the youngest of the kids who grew up in e Foley. During the years before Tom died in 2021, John would occasionally drive him to the house. “My dad wasn’t very mobile then, so we’d just sit in the car and talk,” John says. “But he always enjoyed being in the presence of his childhood home. Even with dementia, he could remember his mom sitting on the front porch, and his dog, Pal. I’m grateful to Heidi and Tim for bringing the place back to life.”

e Foley’s transformation is part of a larger movement to revitalize e Dalles, according to Philip Mascher, a licensed broker with Cascade Sotheby’s International Realty who serves on several boards committed to the area’s arts, culture, and community. “When my wife and I moved here in 2017, a dozen or so beautiful, historic buildings in the downtown district had been boarded up, many abandoned altogether,” he says. “Since then, most have been sold and are in various stages of renovation. Exciting things are happening here.”

A few times per week, McBride and Ryf, along with their pup Foster, head east from Mosier to e Foley. ey still work at their respective consulting jobs, but McBride has scaled back her workload to a size that allows her to manage e Foley’s day-to-day operations, while Ryf says he’s the “manual maintenance guy,” who also troubleshoots IT issues. e project has been an ongoing labor of love, rewarding in ways that continue to unfold.

“I often felt isolated working alone in the country,” McBride explains. Now, from e Foley’s sunporch, she can hear people coming and going through the front door. “ e activity, the buzz of community, makes me happy. And Tim and I have fallen in love with e Dalles, especially the people.”

Greater than the sum of its parts, the house, its sense of place, its voices past and present, its timeless charm, has drawn them in, shaping them as much as they have shaped it. To learn more, go to thefoley1906.com

Arizona Soft Footbed Sandal

Cate Hotchkiss is a freelance health and lifestyle writer who lives in Hood River with her family.

A bathroom was updated to feel contemporary but still fit the style of the house.

Experience Skamania County, Washington!

MARTIN’S GORGE TOURS

Guided tours for individuals, groups, families, or couples. Including waterfalls, wild owers, wineries, breweries, trail hikes, scenic drives and more.  Sit back and relax as we explore the hidden treasures of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.

503-349-1323 martinsgorgetours.com

CEDAR DESIGNS

Conventional, Post & Beam, Log, Timber Frame, & Hybrids. Over 600+ plans and designs on website. Free dra ing and no charge for modi cations or custom plans. Panelized exterior walls. Price guarantees. Model home by appointment.

800-728-4474 • cedardesigns.com info@cedardesigns.com • Carson

BRIDGESIDE

Fast, friendly family dining for breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus spectacular views of the Gorge and Bridge of the Gods.

Burgers • Sandwiches • Salads • Soups Baskets • Specials • Desserts Gi Shop • Historic Artifacts

541-374-8477 • bridgesidedining.com

745 NW Wa Na Pa St. • Cascade Locks

BEST WESTERN PLUS COLUMBIA RIVER INN

Stunning views, spacious guestrooms on the Columbia River at the Bridge of the Gods. Close to waterfalls and outdoor activities. Complimentary hot breakfast, pool, spa, tness room.

541-374-8777 • 800-595-7108

bwcolumbiariverinn.com

735 WaNaPa St. • Cascade Locks

HOTEL STEVENSON

Newest 10-room boutique hotel in the Gorge. Centrally located, walking distance to shops, restaurants, brewpubs and the Columbia River. Each room uniquely designed with charm and theme with a touch of past and modern amenities. Let’s unwind!

509-219-5009 • hotelstevenson.com

77 SW Russell Ave. • Stevenson

OTTER & OSPREY OUTDOOR GEAR LLC

Explore the Gorge from the water! Look for otters, ospreys, eagles, turtles and more wildlife. We o er adult, youth, and tandem kayaks, plus stand up paddleboards. Rentals include paddles & safety equipment.

541-645-0381 • otterandosprey.com

Cascade Locks

COLUMBIA GORGE GETAWAYS

Experience Skamania Co.’s rst and only glamping resort. We o er a variety of glamping accommodations on our 400+ acres of reclaimed timberland next to the Gi ord Pinchot NF. Discover a new way to vacation! 360-903-1418

columbiagorgegetawys.com

1101 Bear Creek Rd. Carson

FORT VANCOUVER REGIONAL LIBRARIES

Four Gorge locations in Goldendale, White Salmon, Stevenson and North Bonneville. Two bookmobiles cruise around Klickitat and Skamania Counties all year. Find a library or bookmobile stop near you - plus eBooks and other online resources at fvrl.org.

Hamada was born in Chicago in 1968, in that turbulent year when the city was rocked by riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and later by massive protests during the Democratic National Convention.

Hamada’s parents were activists; her mother had marched with MLK. Her father also championed social justice causes, but as a professor at the University of Chicago, kept his political views more guarded. Her Jewish mother and Japanese American father had married in 1962, when there were 21 states that would not have allowed their interracial marriage.

story

COOK

In Pursuit of Social Justice

JANET HAMADA’S JOURNEY from the South Side of Chicago to Hood River-based e Next Door, where she’s been executive director for 16 years, was circuitous to be sure. But her success at the helm of the largest social services agency in the Gorge comes in no small part from that long and winding road.

Hamada grew up in a progressive, openminded household, in a diverse and inclusive South Side neighborhood near the university. Her father traveled all over the world to lecture and teach, and the family often accompanied him. On a trip to Indonesia when she was 13, Hamada realized how privileged she was when, after visiting a temple in the searing heat and humidity, she eagerly headed back to the air-conditioned bus, which would return her to an air-conditioned hotel. Along the way, a boy her age tried to sell her a carved trinket. She was struck by the disparity in their life circumstances; that feeling of “privilege and luck,” she recalls, didn’t fade even after she returned home.

Kacie McMackin

“Social justice was always in my blood,” Hamada says. “Growing up in a wonderfully mixed community, I never felt racial tension, but I felt the class system, income inequality, poverty. As I got older, I began to understand the systemic racism black people face.” As a teen, she volunteered at a hospital and a senior center, spurred by a deep sense of duty to help others in need. By then, she knew she wanted to be a social worker.

by JANET

• photos courtesy of THE NEXT DOOR

Janet Hamada gives a speech at a fundraiser for The Next Door, top. Below, a team from the organization helps out at the Raíces Plant Sale.

After graduating from Wesleyan University, she moved to Seattle to pursue a master’s degree in social work from the University of Washington. She also got a job at the Children’s Home Society of Washington, where she started in the mail room and went on to gain experience in several positions including administration and counseling.

e next decade took her deep into her profession: as a social worker and supervisor with World Relief in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; as director of a transitional housing agency in Miami; and as associate director of Westside Health Authority, a community-based social services agency in Chicago.

“Social work is so diverse,” Hamada says. “You can do so many things, and everything you do informs everything else you do.”

She was newly married and managing her own consulting company helping non-pro t organizations develop strategies for success when she saw her dream job advertised. It happened to be in Hood River, where she’d been coming since childhood to visit family.

“My uncle, a doctor, moved to Hood River in 1969 to practice medicine,” she says. “My grandparents moved here in 1975 to retire.” As a kid, Hamada came to visit every year during summer vacation. “It was like a second home to me,” she says. e visits became more frequent as her grandparents aged. “We nally decided, let’s move here instead of visiting four times a year,” she says.

e job she’d come across was for a position with Nuestra Communidad Sana, a health promotion program that was one of the rst in the country to train and utilize community health workers. “I love community health workers, and this job meant I could work with two of the most respected community health workers in the country, Maria Antonia (Toña) Sanchez and Joel Pelayo.”

Hamada was hired as program manager for NCS, which had recently merged with e Next door, a Hood River-based nonpro t social services organization begun in 1971. She and her husband moved to Hood River in 2004. ree years later, the executive director position for e Next Door came open. At the time, Hamada had a two-year-old and a two-month-old. “I hadn’t slept in months,” she says, joking that she accepted the position in a state of exhaustion. She stepped to the helm of the organization while her husband, Steve Glatter, stayed home with their two daughters, an arrangement that has worked for the family ever since. “I’ve had incredible support,” Hamada says.

• Average 7-Minute Wait �me

• Led by Emergency Medicine Board-Cer�fied Physicians

• Life Flight Helipad on Campus

Skyline Health is proud to share with you our newly expanded Emergency Department. This innova�ve space gives our talented staff a facility equaling their exper�se and commitment. And more importantly, our friends and neighbors are able to obtain life-saving care in a state-of-the-art facility designed especially for them.

The Next Door’s Nature’s Greatest Strength summer camp, for middle school-aged kids, tours the Hood River Fish Food Bank and its vegetable garden, above and opposite bottom

One thing that drew Hamada to The Next Door initially was its diversity of programs, all under one roof. “It’s such a wonderful model for other social service organizations,” she says. Unfortunately, she adds, it’s rare.

“In cities, everything is spread out and it’s hard to collaborate,” she explains. “In rural areas, there’s not a lot of funding and it’s harder to see the bigger picture. If The Next Door was not here, there would be 15 to 20 nonprofits. That’s how it works — and they’d all be struggling to get by.”

After its founding in 1971 as a group foster home for teens (later called the Klahre House), The Next Door evolved into a residential treatment center and then to a therapeutic foster care model, eventually expanding to The Dalles. Beginning in the 1990s, the organization started broadening its reach with programs like New Parent Services (now called Healthy Families) and Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Columbia Gorge (now Gorge Youth Mentoring). When Nuestra Communidad Sana became part of The Next Door in 2002, its focus was health services outreach in the Latino community. Now, there are eight programs within that department run by 15 staff members.

“The secret sauce is all the programs were started by concerned, dedicated community members who saw a need and wanted to meet that need,” Hamada says. “It’s the true definition of grassroots.” The Next Door’s programs now number three dozen. The organization has 50 employees and serves seven counties, with offices in Hood River and The Dalles.

In her 16 years leading The Next Door, Hamada has seen the organization through some difficult times. She took over just as the Great Recession hit and steered it through the pandemic from her bedroom office. “Covid was a high point in my career,” she says. “The need was magnified by a hundred, but also the state recognized the power of community-based organizations and made sure we had funding, and our local donors came out.” The Next Door added 15 new programs and grew by a third during the pandemic, she adds.

As she guides The Next Door into the future, Hamada says the biggest challenges the organization faces are the cost of living in the Gorge (housing in particular) and inflation. Despite maintaining more than 100 funding streams, from contracts and grants to donations and feefor-service programs, “they just aren’t keeping up,” she says.

But Hamada relishes every day at The Next Door, with all its challenges and successes. With the broad reach of its programs and dedicated staff, Hamada says she “learns something new every day.”

“Within one organization, I can help support people in a single day in 36 programs,” she says. “It’s a dream come true.”

To learn more, go to nextdoorinc.org.

Students from the Klahre House learn about bee pollination, above. At right, The Next Door’s Summer Youth Employment crews celebrate the end of their season at Lost Lake.

We’re all made for more. More possibility. More community. More working together to build healthy families and futures. That’s why Adventist Health has proudly partnered with Mid-Columbia Medical Center to offer you more. We’re building upon a legacy of quality healthcare in The Dalles to bring you access to expanded services and coordinated care close to home. While we have a new name, Adventist Health Columbia Gorge, we have the same commitment to keeping your family living well so you can enjoy more quality time together.

Services for you and your family, including:

• Behavioral health

• Breast center

• Cancer care

• Cardiovascular services

• Family birth services

• Immediate care

• Internal medicine

• Primary care

• Physical therapy

• Surgery

• Many more!

Learn more about our services and commitment to the community at AdventistHealthColumbiaGorge.org

We’ve joined the Adventist Health family, which means more great healthcare for your family

Roasted Veggies WITH BEANS

AND HARISSA YOGURT

Ingredients

• two bunches of carrots, greens trimmed

• two leeks, quartered

• 1 15-ounce can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

• Half a yellow onion, diced

• 2 lemons

• 1 1/2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt

• 1-2 Tbsp. harissa

• fresh dill

• extra virgin olive oil

• kosher salt

• freshly ground black pepper

This dish is healthy, satisfying, and perfectly spans the months as summer transitions to fall. Carrots and leeks from the garden are what I use here, but this would be delicious with any root vegetable or allium — cauliflower, scallions or parsnips to name a few. The spicy, flavorful harissa is balanced by the cool yogurt, and the beans contrast with the crispy-edged veggies. We enjoy this with pieces of torn baguette from the White Salmon Baking Co.

D ections

Preheat the oven to 475°F. Place the carrots, leeks, and one sliced lemon on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and toss with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, 1/2 tsp. salt, and several turns of pepper. Roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the veggies are deeply caramelized, tossing as needed.

In a small bowl, toss the beans with the onion, juice from half a lemon, a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, 1/4 cup torn dill, and a good pinch of salt.

Plate the yogurt on a serving platter and top with the harissa. Next to the yogurt, spoon the beans and any remaining dressing from the bowl. Top the beans with the roasted vegetables. Garnish with extra fresh dill, a sprinkle of ake salt, and serve.

Recipe and photos by KACIE MCMACKIN

Kacie McMackin is an avid cook, writer, and owner of Kings & Daughters Brewery. She’s a frequent contributor to The Gorge Magazine

BACKWOODS BREWING COMPANY

509-427-3412 • backwoodsbrewingcompany.com

1162 Wind River Hwy • Carson

Backwoods Brewing is family owned and located in Carson, WA. Established in 2012, we o er delicious beers, hand-made pizzas, outdoor seating, and welcome all ages.

Open daily: 11:30am-9pm

BRIDGESIDE

541-374-8477 • bridgesidedining.com

Exit 44 off I-84, Cascade Locks

Stunning views next to the Bridge of the Gods – Bridgeside (formerly Charburger) serves tasty char-broiled burgers plus an extensive menu of breakfast items, chowders, fish & chips, salads, sandwiches, and desserts. Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner with friendly service.

Gift shop • Special event room & terrace

BRODER ØST

541-436-3444 • brodereast.com

102 Oak St. Suite 100 • Hood River

Offering Nordic inspired breakfast and lunch to the gorge. Something new and exciting for the whole family to enjoy. Come try traditional recipes such as aebleskiver (danish pancakes), swedish meatballs, norwegian lefse (potato crepes) and lots more!

We look forward to serving you!

#broderost

CASA EL MIRADOR FAMILY MEXICAN RESTAURANT

541-298-7388 • casaelmirador.com

1424 West 2nd Street • The Dalles

Quality Mexican food prepared with the freshest and finest ingredients. Warm, friendly service and a lively atmosphere. Indulge in generous portions of flavorful sizzling fajitas, fish tacos, savory enchilada dishes and daily specials. Drink specials & Happy Hour menu from 3-6pm, Mon-Fri. Full service bar, take-out menu, gift certificates and catering services. Open for lunch and dinner 7 days a week.

CELILO RESTAURANT & BAR

541-386-5710 • celilorestaurant.com

16 Oak Street • Downtown Hood River

Celebrating over 17 years, Celilo began with a desire to honor the bounty of the Northwest. Our ever-changing menu reflects the seasonal highlights of the region’s growers and foragers. We offer the most innovative in fresh, local cuisine as well as an award-winning wine list, full bar, small plate menu, and happy hour.

Open Tuesday-Saturday from 5pm

DOPPIO COFFEE

541-386-3000 • doppiohoodriver.com

310 Oak Street • Downtown Hood River

Relax on our beautiful patio in the heart of Hood River. Enjoy a hand crafted, in-house roasted espresso drink. Serving breakfast and lunch all day: panini sandwiches, fresh salads, smoothies and fresh baked pastries and goodies. Gluten free options available. Free Wi-Fi and our patio is dog friendly. Our tables are spaced apart and disinfected after each guest.

EL PUERTO DE ANGELES III

541-308-0005

1306 12th Street

• Hood River, on the Heights

We are open and happy to serve you. Authentic Jalisco Cuisine. We provide a safe dining experience. Enjoy good food and good times. Offering daily lunch and dinner specials, served all day. Happy Hour Mon-Fri. Outdoor dining available (weather permitting).

Open Daily 10am-9pm Dine-In or Takeout

EVERYBODY’S BREWING

509.637.2774 • everybodysbrewing.com

177 E. Jewett Boulevard • White Salmon

Everybody’s Brewing sits perfectly nestled on the cli s of White Salmon, WA, overlooking the beautiful Columbia River Gorge. With award-winning beers, a globally-inspired food menu, and jaw-dropping views of Mt. Hood, you’ll quickly discover why Everybody’s is a Gorge favorite.

Visit Website for Updated Hours | Indoor/Outdoor Dining and Takeout (Order Online or Call)

GRACE SU’S CHINA GORGE

RESTAURANT & TIGER LOUNGE

541-386-5331 • chinagorge.com

2680 Old Columbia River Drive • Hood River

A Gorge favorite known for authentic flavor and friendly service. Proudly serving Hunan and Szechuan cuisine since 1978. From our family to yours, we’re honored to have you at our table!

Open Tuesdays through Sundays for takeout & dine-in service, closed Mondays.

GROUND ESPRESSO BAR & CAFE

541-386-4442 • groundhoodriver.com

12 Oak Street • Downtown Hood River

Get your daily fuel for your Gorge sports and activities here!

A long time locals favorite coffee house and eatery, Ground features fresh in-house roasted coffee, house made pastries and cookies with lots of gluten free options. We make our soups from scratch every day and source mostly local and organic ingredients. Nitro cold brew on tap.

THE LITTLE SEVEN SEVEN RANCH HIGHLAND BEEF

509-767-7130 • L77Ranch.com

Grass-Fed Highland Beef from our ranch to your home. Known for flavor and tenderness, Highland Beef is higher in protein and iron than conventional beef, lower in fat and cholesterol. The L77 Ranch Shop is tucked into the woods of Lyle, WA. The impressive Highland Cattle can be viewed as you travel through the ranch. Email for a Local Price List. By appointment only.

THE OLD TRUNK • TREATS &TIQUES

541-354-1181 • oldtrunkr.com

2958 Dee Hwy • Hood River Valley

Our Artisanal Soda Fountain serves creations made from our local fruit. Sodas are made from small batch syrups. House-made Soft Serve combines Tillamook (or dairy free) ice cream and our fruit. Floats, milkshakes, and espresso drinks are also featured. Stop by for a fresh treat and enjoy it in our farmette, or peek at what’s new in the Antique Store!

PFRIEM FAMILY BREWERS

541-321-0490 • pfriembeer.com

707 Portway Avenue, Suite 101 • Hood River Waterfront

pFriem artisanal beers are symphonies of flavor and balance, influenced by the great brewers of Europe, but unmistakably true to our homegrown roots in the Pacific Northwest. Although they are served humbly, each glass is overflowing with pride and a relentless aspiration to brew the best beer in the world. We’ll let you decide.

Open Daily | 11am-9pm

REMEDY CAFÉ

541-716-4020

• remedycafehoodriver.com

112 Third Street • Downtown Hood River

Organic juice, smoothies, bowls, burritos & salads. House-made almond and coconut milks. Vegan and paleo options. Best quality organic and local ingredients. Organic espresso. Order Online - RemedyCafeHoodRiver.com

Dine-In, Takeout and Curbside Options. Kids Corner. WiFi. “Where Healthy Food and Your Cravings Meet!”

RIVERSIDE & CEBU LOUNGE

541-386-4410 • riversidehoodriver.com

Exit 64 off I-84 • Waterfront Hood River

Welcome to Riverside, where you’ll find the best food, drinks and views in the Gorge. Dine indoors or outdoors on the waterfront with fresh menus changing seasonally, a wine list with the area’s best selections, and 14 taps with all your favorite local breweries. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner with the freshest ingredients grown and harvested by thoughtful, intentional local growers.

SOLSTICE HOOD RIVER

541-436-0800 • solsticehoodriver.com

501 Portway Ave • Hood River Waterfront

A destination dining experience that unites friends, families, & community with a love of wood-fired pizza, shareable appetizers, and gluten friendly offerings. Inspired by the Gorge & seasonal harvests from our neighboring farms, our food & beverage menus are chef-driven & handcrafted. Walk-ins welcome! Reservations for in-house dining & takeout at our cafe/pizza truck available on our site!

SUSHI OKALANI

541-386-7423 • sushiokalani@gorge.net

109 First Street • Downtown Hood River

We are the local’s favorite spot for fresh fish, Pan-Asian cuisine, and a huge sake selection, all available to-go only. We offer curbside pickup, 7 nights a week. With creative rolls, rotating specials, and fresh sashimi and nigiri, we also offer staples like Teriyaki, Tempura, and stir-fry dishes to satisfy all tastes. Phone orders only, starting at 4, pickup 5-8pm. Check IG & FB for specials and current menu.

THUNDER ISLAND BREWING CO.

971-231-4599 • thunderislandbrewing.com

601 NW Wa Na Pa Street • Cascade Locks

A popular brewery and taproom situated in the scenic Columbia River Gorge. Known for its award-winning craft beer and delicious food offerings, which visitors can enjoy while taking in the breathtaking views of the river and mountains. Well-behaved dogs are welcome on the patio. A unique experience for beer lovers and nature enthusiasts. Please visit website for current hours.

OUR GORGE your Gorge

Photographer Clifford Paguio captured this image of Vista House at Crown Point in the western Columbia River Gorge during a spectacular display of the northern lights last September. Scientists had predicted the aurora borealis might be active over Labor Day weekend due to a geomagnetic storm. Paguio took his son to Crown Point in hopes of seeing a display, and was not disappointed. Car taillights cast a red glow on the building as he snapped this photo.

the photographer

CLIFFORD PAGUIO of Portland calls himself a novice photographer, but his more than a decade’s worth of images say otherwise. His vibrant photographs show off his love for Portland and surrounding areas, including the Columbia River Gorge and Mount Hood. He’s drawn to capturing the ephemeral lighting of sunrise and sunset, and seasonal scenes from around the city and beyond. Visit cliffordpaguio.com for more images or follow him on Facebook or Instagram.

Home sweet home.

Cyndee is a NW native and has called Hood River home for over 20 years. One of her greatest joys is helping others buy and sell Real Estate in the Gorge. She is proud to be one of the top producers at the top brokerage in the region and is licensed in OR & WA. Are you thinking of listing your home? Is it time to buy your dream property? Work with Cyndee to make your goals come true in 2023!

HHHHH

Cyndee was amazing! She was on the job for several months before our property even listed. She took initiative to investigate issues involving county regulations and deed/ title issues. As out-of-state sellers, Cyndee helped us clean and prepare the property for sale using her incredible local network. She advised on local market trends and sales strategies for maximum returns. So grateful! — Thelma H.