The Gorge Magazine - Fall 2020

FALL 2020 thegorgemagazine.com

LIVING AND EXPLORING IN THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE

Greener Pastures Highland cattle find room to roam at the L77 Ranch

A Safe Haven

Western pond turtles thrive in a Gorge preserve

Help for the Helpers

United Way fund gives nonprofits a needed boost

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CONTENTS | FALL 2020 FEATURE

THE “COVID” CLASS OF 2020

FEATURE

College-bound high school grads face a different kind of freshman year

BACK TO THE FUTURE

By Ruth Berkowitz

AT THE LITTLE SEVEN SEVEN RANCH For a Lyle couple, raising Highland cattle is just one part of ranch life

By Janet Cook

24

Photo by Mary Kleihege

OUTSIDE

OUR GORGE

34 A SAFE HAVEN

A Gorge preserve is part of an effort to save endangered turtles

By Janet Cook

8

BEST OF THE GORGE

10 LOCAVORE 14 EXPLORE

ARTS + CULTURE 38 ART SAVES SANITY

18 WINE SPOTLIGHT

Creative projects help the community get through pandemic times

By Peggy Dills Kelter

46 PARTAKE 50 YOUR GORGE

WELLNESS

14

42 PROVIDING HELP FOR THE HELPERS

United Way of the Columbia Gorge steps up for nonprofits hit hard by

the pandemic

By Don Campbell

38 4

30

FALL 2020 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

Photo provided

Ben Mitchell

HOME HOME HOME HOME

+ + ++

JEWELRY JEWELRY JEWELRY JEWELRY

SINCE 1994 SINCE SINCE 1994 1994 SINCE 1994

305 OAK STREET 305 STREET 305 OAK OAK HOOD STREETRIVER DOWNTOWN 305 OAK STREETRIVER DOWNTOWN HOOD DOWNTOWN HOOD RIVER 54 1-386-6188 DOWNTOWN HOOD RIVER 54 54 1-386-6188 1-386-6188 54 1-386-6188

EDITOR’S NOTE

A

fter a very strange spring and an altogether different summer, we head into what will surely be another odd season of this unprecedented year. By now, we all are used to the things that have come with it. We mask. We wash hands. We stand apart. We elbow-bump. We Zoom. We order take-out. We pick up curbside. And so our pandemic year continues.

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While many of us have real disappointment to contend with in this year of cancellations and missed milestones, there are others for whom the pandemic has brought more serious consequences. Simultaneously, the safety net of nonprofits usually here to help those in need also took a big hit — to budgets and supplies, among other things. Enter United Way of the Columbia Gorge. This stalwart organization, which has been supporting vital nonprofits in the Gorge for decades, became a lifeline this year. UWCG partnered with the Healthy Gorge Initiative to create the Covid-19 Gorge Community Response Fund, which has made it easy for nonprofits to apply for emergency funding — and receive it quickly in order to keep helping those who need it most.

The fund and its work goes on; so far, more than $300,000 has been contributed from generous individuals and funding partners; more than half has been allocated to over two-dozen nonprofits so they can continue their vital work during these challenging times. It’s a story of ingenuity, teamwork and compassion. It’s what we do in the Gorge when the going gets tough: we innovate and we help one another (page 42).

With wildfire smoke blanketing the Gorge as I write this, the work being done at the Little Seven Seven Ranch near Lyle, Wash., seems particularly relevant. Ranch owners John Streur and Mary Kleihege have been working hard over the past few years to minimize wildfire risk through fuels reduction on their 1,700-acre property. They raise Highland cattle there, and have done intensive clearing of brush and tree-thinning on more than 400 acres so far (page 24).

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Other stories in this issue include a piece about a collaborative effort to save the endangered western pond turtle (page 34), a story about 15 Mile Winery in The Dalles (page 18), and a look at Gorge-area high school grads and how they’re adapting to changed plans this year (page 30). “Changed plans” seems like an apt phrase to describe many things these days. But I’m heartened by the resilience and goodwill I’ve seen in big and small acts every day in the Gorge. We’ll get through this by sticking together.

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FALL 2020 thegorgemagazine.com

— Janet Cook, Editor

LIVING AND EXPLORING IN THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE

About the Cover Greener Pastures Highland cattle find room to roam at the L77 Ranch

Highland cattle on the 1,700-acre Little Seven Seven A Safe Haven

Ranch near Lyle, Wash., are moved to a new pasture.

Help for the Helpers

“Contiguous pastures allow us to move cattle on foot,

Western pond turtles thrive in a Gorge preserve

United Way fund gives nonprofits a needed boost

rather than trailer, when they are ready for fresh forage,” said Mary Kleihege who owns the ranch with her husband, John Streur. l77.com Photo by Mary Kleihege

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FALL 2020 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

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.

FALL 2020 EDITOR Janet Cook

CREATIVE DIRECTOR & GRAPHIC DESIGNER Renata Kosina

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Jody Thompson

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ruth Berkowitz, Don Campbell, Peggy Dills Kelter, Kacie McMackin, Ben Mitchell

COVER PHOTOGRAPHER Mary Kleihege

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS George Benes, Kacie McMackin, Ben Mitchell

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TO ADVERTISE IN THE GORGE MAGAZINE please contact Jody Thompson jthompson@thegorgemagazine.com

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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

The Gorge Magazine is published by Columbia Gorge News, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of Columbia Gorge News, LLC. Articles and photographs appearing in The Gorge Magazine may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written consent of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of The Gorge Magazine, Columbia Gorge News, LLC, or its employees, staff or management. All RIGHTS RESERVED. The Gorge Magazine is printed at Eagle Web Press.

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THE GORGE MAGAZINE II FALL 2020

7

OUR GORGE I BEST OF THE GORGE

Michael Peterson

The Fruit Loop

WAAAM

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There are few better ways to enjoy the beauty and bounty of fall than the Hood River County Fruit Loop. The 35-mile route includes more than two-dozen farm stands, u-pick orchards, wineries and other agricultural businesses. Most of them are open, with restrictions in place like mask-wearing and social distancing. With many of the Fruit Loop stops being open-air stands and generally outdoor spaces, it’s a great way to feel safe, pick up some fresh fruit and farm goodies, and support local farmers. hoodriverfruitloop.com

2

The Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile

Museum in Hood River makes for an intriguing place to spend a fall afternoon. The museum houses one of the largest collections of antique airplanes and cars in the country — all still operable.

With more than 3.5 acres of hangar facilities, the museum has plenty of space for social distancing and is open every day from 9 to 5. waaamuseum.org

Drive-in Movies

3 Courtesy of Sunshine Mill Winery & Quenet

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FALL 2020 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

Many Gorge-area businesses have come up with creative ways to keep them — and us — going during the pandemic. The Sunshine Mill’s drive-up movies are one of the best. The winery in The Dalles put a screen on its towering silos and turned the parking lot into a drive-in theater. The movies, shown Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, will continue through at least October. The tasting room is open for wine and appetizers. Tickets are $20 per car. sunshinemill.com

Emily Fitzgerald

OUR GORGE I LOCAVORE

Fruitful Endeavors Women play a starring role in the Gorge cider scene story by EMILY FITZGERALD | photos by EMILY FITZGERALD, PICKLES PHOTOGRAPHY and provided

T

he hard cider business has grown organically in the Gorge, born of a plentiful supply of apples and creative entrepreneurship. The local cider scene is unique in another regard: it’s dominated, in large part, by women.

“There are strong women who are changing the game for women in cider,” said Kristyn Fix, co-owner of Slopeswell Cider in Hood River. “We are ultimately growing the industry to be more equitable and inclusive,” she said. The conversation should continue, she points out, and “should ultimately extend to challenges that face all minorities within our industry.”

We put together a snapshot of some of the local “women in cider.” We’re excited to watch how the cider game continues to play out. In the meantime, pick up a growler of your favorite cider and enjoy the fruitful flavors of the Gorge.

Emily Fitzgerald

Slopeswell Cider Co.

KRISTYN FIX Kristyn Fix spent 15 years in the social services field before switching her career focus to event coordination. That pivot eventually brought her to Slopeswell Cider Co. “It was really small-town fortune that landed me at Slopeswell,” said Fix. Through friendships, and frequenting Slopeswell when it first opened five years ago, she learned the owners were looking to grow the business and hire a professional to run it full-time.

Fix is now co-owner and operations manager of Slopeswell, and has a hand in every aspect of the cidery, from marketing and sales to the cider production itself. “I’ve learned so much about cider since taking on this role,” she said. “I get to work alongside some of the brightest minds in cider and fermentation, so I’m just constantly absorbing everything around me.”

Along with meeting the challenges of operating during the pandemic, Fix and her partners are focused on steering the cidery forward. “For every conversation we have about the cider we are making, 10

FALL 2020 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

we have five more about remaining relevant as a brand while not losing sight of ourselves and our mission,” she said.

Fix loves being part of the evolving cider world, locally and beyond. “Ultimately, most people love cider, even if they think they’d never be a ‘cider person,’” she said. “It’s about taking people on that voyage to find something that appeals to them.” slopeswell.com

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For more than 20 years, I balanced my global career life in Europe, Silicon Valley and Asia Pacific,

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Runcible Cider

KELLY MCCUNE

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Kelly McCune and her husband lived in Southern California for nearly 30 years before they bought a small farm in Mosier to start what she calls their “active retirement.” After taking time to figure out what that would look like, they eventually planted 80 apple trees, built a barn, and start making cider.

“We sort of self-taught ourselves orcharding, which is very challenging,” McCune said. They’ve learned the craft of cider-making the same way and sold their first small batch in 2017.

A former food writer, McCune enjoys experimenting with flavors and infusing her neighbors’ fruits into her ciders. “That feels like cooking in the cidery world,” she said.

The name of their cidery comes from an Edward Lear poem, “The Owl and the Pussycat.”

“It’s the ultimate story of two unlikely characters, an owl and a cat, running away together,” McCune said. They take very little with them but a ‘runcible spoon’ — something the poet made up. “It’s whatever your imagination wants it to be. And we see it as the thing you wouldn’t leave home without.”

With the current size of the cidery, McCune said, she can maintain a personal relationship with her customers. “I hand-sell almost every bottle of cider because I’m either selling it at a small shop in Portland or out of our cider stand or communicating with a customer,” she said. “It’s very personal.

I just want to hold onto it right there if I can.”

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Golden Row Cider

Pickles Photography

The history of Golden Row Cider goes back to the 1920s when Trina McAlexander’s great-grandparents emigrated from Switzerland to Oregon. Her grandparents bought orchards in the Parkdale area — including what is now Mt. View Orchards in 1923. Her parents bought the farm in 1974, and McAlexander bought it from them in 2014.

“My mission was to try and figure out how to weave together farming, fermentation and hospitality, which is not a new concept in Europe,” McAlexander said.

“It’s something that I kind of grew up

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THE GORGE MAGAZINE II FALL 2020

11

goldenrowcider.com

Draper Girls Cider Company

THERESA DRAPER When Theresa Draper took over the Upper Valley farm that her family has owned for nearly 60 years in 2006, she fostered it as a place for people to come and enjoy what the Hood River Valley has to offer.

“I love to see people come from all over the world to enjoy this farm as I enjoyed it as a kid,” Draper said. Her foray into cider began in 2011, when her three daughters took an interest in the beverage trend. Draper had long been pressing apples into non-alcoholic apple cider, and realized hard cider would be a natural evolution from that business. She began learning the process, enlisting the help of her boyfriend, Daniel Santacroce, who was helping her make her regular juice.

“I started teaching him what I knew, and we started going to classes,” she said. “It was a learning process.” Draper Girls Cider Company was launched in 2017.

“Years ago, I just started planting all kinds of different things,” Draper said. The many varieties of fruit she grows proved to be a boon for her cider. “I never would have thought I could make nectarine juice or peach juice and have that for my cider.”

Draper Girls Cider is a small operation, selling growlers and glasses at their Draper Girls Country Farm stand in the summer and at farmers markets at other times of the year. “I’m in a place in my life where I can just stay this size,” she said. “It just kind of adds to the farm.” drapergirlscider.com

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FALL 2020 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

Courtesy of Draper Girls Cider Co.

with in our family’s culture, but it’s kind of more progressive here.”

McAlexander added cider-making to her other endeavors at Mt. View Orchards — which include a farm-to-table pizza restaurant and winery — in 2019. Golden Row Cider is made from fruit grown in the farm’s row of 100-year-old apple trees.

McAlexander is driven by the desire to save her family farm, and to keep it going for the generations to come — which includes providing a farm experience for visitors. “I have really warm memories of harvest time and enjoying my grandparents’ fermented cider and different things, and I just want to continue that legacy,” she said.

Cider, she added, can have a story, too.

“Where did that cider come from? Oh, it came from the Upper Valley in Parkdale, from Trina McAlexander’s farm. She grows those apples there, she harvests them in the fall, she presses them, she ferments them, and she sells them right onsite. It’s kind of the story of our harvest year.”

Crush Cider Cafe

SAM BAILEY

Emily Fitzgerald

Fed up with the snow in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Sam Bailey and her husband, Guntram Jordan, finally moved to Hood River where they had spent time making business visits during their 20 years manufacturing and delivering bicycle gear. They were home-brewers of beer, but noticing the apples growing throughout the valley, they transitioned to making cider.

Their very first cider was made with apples collected off of trees lining the back roads of the Hood River Valley, and friends’ juice bins.

“It was very organic, to say the least,” Bailey said. Their friends liked their product enough to suggest that they start making it professionally, and Crush Cider was born. They opened their cider café in 2015.

“It’s been a great adventure and I feel like we’re a part of the community now,” said Bailey. In their former career, they traveled all over the country every year. Now, they feel rooted. “We have met some fabulous people here.

It’s just been wonderful.” Crush Cider Cafe offers a rotation of local ciders on tap, always including at least a couple of its own brews.

Fall Freshness

crushcidercafe.com

Emily Fitzgerald is a writer who lives in Mosier. She’s a reporter with the Columbia Gorge News.

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THE GORGE MAGAZINE II FALL 2020

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OUR GORGE I EXPLORE

Mountain Biking the Eightmile Loop Trail An accessible Mount Hood trail with big rewards story and photos by BEN MITCHELL

T

he Gorge may be a mountain biking paradise, but many of the trails aren’t friendly to the beginner or casual biker, with gruelingly steep climbs, punishing drops, and gnarly trail surfaces. Not to mention advanced trails that all but necessitate the purchase of a full-suspension mountain bike that rivals the Kelley Blue Book value of my current vehicle. (To be fair, my car’s now old enough to get its own learner’s permit.)

If you’re looking for a nice foray into mountain biking and want something a little more adventurous than the railroad-grade Klickitat or Deschutes River trails (which, if you’re interested, we featured in the Summer 2019 and Spring 2016 editions of the magazine, respectively), then consider heading for the hills and checking out the Eightmile Loop Trail.

Located on the east side of the Mt. Hood National Forest, the Eightmile Loop Trail is a scenic ride that features some breathtaking views of

There’s plenty of fall color on the Eightmile Loop Trail. A short spur off the main trail leads to the Fivemile Butte Lookout, inset.

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FALL 2020 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

CUSTOM AND GROUP TOURS Mount Adams and the high desert (as well as Mount Hood and Mount Rainier, although not quite as impressively), some nice trail riding through forests and meadows, and provides a good workout without any technical riding or calfsnapping climbs — although you will have to climb.

You also don’t need a tricked-out bike to do it — an entry-level hardtail with front shocks is just fine. I ride a Ghost Panamao X 3, which is essentially a value-priced hybrid/XC bike, and it worked out fine, although an actual mountain bike would be preferable. Or, you can say the hell with all of that and just hike it, as the trail is open to both user groups, although it’s more popular for biking.

Despite its name, the Eightmile Loop Trail (also known as #496) is just 6.2 miles long and sees about 900 feet in elevation gain, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Its name is a reference to nearby Eightmile Creek, which runs along a good portion of the trail. A nearby campground serves as the trailhead, which –– you guessed it –– is named Eightmile Campground.

Most of Eightmile Loop’s single-track trail is packed dirt that makes for good riding, although there is a short rocky section that I chose to walk due to my narrow tires (laziness). Getting to the trail is pretty easy, too: from Hood River, head south on Highway 35 for 26 miles, then head east on Forest Service Road 44 (also known as Dufur Mill Road, or on Google, Dufur Valley Road) for 10 miles, then take a left onto Forest Service Road 4430. The campground entrance is on the right after 0.3 miles; make sure you park in the dayuse area and have your Northwest Forest Pass displayed in your vehicle.

The trail starts near the picnic area of the campground, heading north for a few hundred feet before crossing 4430 and then arriving at a junction that represents the start of the loop. I highly recommend you ride or hike the trail clockwise (head west), or else you’ll be in for what I would consider a steep and unpleasant climb. A sign at the junction provides extra guidance, with arrows pointing to the “easiest” and “more difficult” approaches in case you get confused.

You also have the option of starting at the nearby Bottle Prairie Trailhead and combining it with a much longer ride up to Knebal Springs if you’re feeling extra motivated (which I, personally, never am).

Heading west at the junction, this first section of trail generally follows the course of Eightmile Creek through dense, coniferous woods, although a smattering of deciduous trees here and there make for some great splashes of color

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THE GORGE MAGAZINE II FALL 2020

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The Eightmile Loop Trail winds through forests and meadows on the east side of Mount Hood, rewarding riders with spectacular views.

in the fall. Creek crossings over wooden footbridges make for some good photo opportunities, too.

After about 2.5 miles (in which you climb roughly 700 feet), you’ll hit Forest Service Road 4400-120. Take a right, and in about 150 feet, take another right onto Bottle Prairie Trail #455/Knebal Springs Trail #474, and in about 0.4 miles, you’ll pick back up the Eightmile Loop Trail on your right.

These sections of trail are more open, with dry meadows and Ponderosa pine, as you pedal along a ridge that gives you sweeping views of Tygh Valley.

The climbing can get a little steeper here, but it’s still manageable.

The reward at the top, and just off a little spur trail to the north, is not only solid views of the Cascades and the high desert, but also a visit to the Fivemile Butte Lookout (deviating from the Eightmile naming convention).

“Visit” is more of a figurative sense, as you can’t go up the tower unless you have snagged one of the coveted reservations for the lookout, which are often gobbled up well in advance.

But it’s still worth checking out: a wooden sign on the frame notes that the 40-foot-tall “Type R-6 Flattop” lookout was rebuilt in 1957, but was originally established in 1934. The recreation.gov page for Fivemile Butte Lookout gives a little different history: a smaller lookout was originally built on the site in the 1920s, then replaced by a larger lookout in 1932. This structure was subsequently “destroyed by heavy snow in 1942,” with the current lookout replacing it 15 years later.

History aside, the lookout is well worth the short detour. After checking it out, head back down the spur and turn left to continue on Eightmile Loop Trail, and enjoy your other reward: capping your day with some fun downhill riding on a set of switchbacks that lead you back to the beginning of the loop after about 1.5 miles; take the spur back down to the campground to finish your ride.

Ben Mitchell is a writer/filmmaker who lives in Hood River. He’s a frequent contributor to The Gorge Magazine.

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FALL 2020 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

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OUR GORGE I WINE SPOTLIGHT

15 Mile Winery A winery in The Dalles grows from deep roots in the land and the community story by JANET COOK | photos by GEORGE BENES

I

f deep family roots and hard work have anything to do with making good wine, then Colter and Lacey Bolton have a lot going for them. Their 15 Mile Winery has grown steadily since opening a small tasting room in 2014 in downtown The Dalles.

But the winery truly got its start on the land Colter grew up on in the Dufur Valley. It’s the land his great-great-grandfather, Absalom Bolton, homesteaded in the 1850s. Colter grew up working on that land with his parents, where they farm some 1,000 acres of wheat and cherries.

“I spent most of my time as a kid changing irrigation pipes and bucking hay,” Colter says. In the early ‘90s, as a few fledgling vineyards were being planted in the Gorge, Bolton’s dad got interested in

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wine and planted a few acres Pinot Noir. Colter, just a kid at the time, helped plant those vines.

After graduating from The Dalles High School, Colter went to college in Utah where he studied zoology and chemistry. He returned to Oregon knowing he wanted to work in the wine industry, so he headed to the Willamette Valley.

He worked for a time at Firesteed Cellars, then got hired by Chateau Bianca as assistant winemaker. His passion for winemaking, already kindled, grew stronger.

Colter and Lacey, who were high school sweethearts, settled in Oregon City where they were close to Lacey’s job in hospital administration with Kaiser Permanente. But after a couple of years immersed in making wine for someone else, Colter was ready to set out on his own. The

Colter Bolton, inset, is the owner and winemaker at 15 Mile Winery, which has vineyards on his family’s land in the Dufur Valley.

WA Tasting Room Magazine

The winery’s cozy tasting room is in downtown The Dalles.

family land, and its grapevines, drew him back to his hometown.

In 2013, the couple launched 15 Mile Winery, setting up a small tasting room in what had been Colter’s grandfather’s machine shop on their property near Boyd. They named the winery after the creek that runs nearby. But they wanted a bigger presence in The Dalles, so the next year they opened a small tasting room near the Baldwin Saloon.

Last year, Colter and Lacey added another layer of family history to their winery when they moved their tasting room to a bigger space on East 2nd Street. The new location is the former home of Optimist Printers, which was long owned by Lacey’s dad. “I grew up in here,” Lacey says, sweeping her hand around the cozy space filled with local artwork and — for the time being — socially distanced seating. The melding of family histories is evident in the bar, made of barn wood from the Bolton ranch.

The winery’s solid line-up of offerings and reputation for consistent quality has grown over the past few years. Colter makes a variety of reds and whites, including Gewürztraminer, Chenin Blanc, Rosé, Syrah, Barbera, Primitivo, a Port dessert wine, and several blends. He also produces an attention-getting Pinot Noir made from the 28-yearold grapes he helped plant.

“The Pinot Noir has a following,” he says. “It’s bigger and bolder than Willamette Valley Pinots because it’s grown farther east.” Another popular

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THE GORGE MAGAZINE II FALL 2020

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wine is the High Tension, a blend of Syrah, Barbera, Merlot and Primitivo that has long been a wine club favorite and is served at local restaurants. Its name comes from the high-tension wires crossing part of the Bolton property; it has particular resonance because Colter’s family was part of the original co-op that brought the electrical wires to Wasco County.

In terms of his winemaking style, Colter says he likes to let the fruit speak for itself. He also values feedback from tasting room visitors and wine club members, and takes it back to his production.

“From my experience in other people’s tasting rooms, you want to be able to talk to the winemaker,” he says. When he was working in the Willamette Valley, he was making wine behind the scenes. Now, he relishes being in the tasting room, asking visitors what they think about each of his wines.

Colter alternates weekends working in production at the winery with working at the tasting room. He shares duties there with his tasting room manager, Julie Wadsworth, who is also a native of The Dalles.

Colter Bolton makes a variety of wine, including some from grapes he helped plant as a kid.

“He’s very unpretentious,” says Wadsworth. “He just doesn’t have that ego.” People come into the winery as customers, she adds, and leave as friends. That laid-back, approachable style has helped grow 15 Mile Winery’s following.

“We’re more driven by consumer feedback than by winning awards,” says Colter, adding that he and Lacey like to think of 15 Mile as “wine for the people.” “I’d rather have your opinion of it than someone across the country who I’m never going to meet and who isn’t going to come in here for the winery experience.”

“We really focus on building those relationships,” Lacey adds.

The Covid-19 pandemic hit before they got to their second year in the new tasting room. Like wineries

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FALL 2020 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

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The tasting room has been rearranged to create more space between seating areas.

everywhere, their wholesale business shut down. But according to Lacey, who oversees the business side of the winery, sales remained steady.

“I feel like the community really rallied around and supported local businesses,” she says. They started doing curbside pick-up and home deliveries, putting take-out meal kits together with other businesses, and coming up with other creative ways for people to get their wine. In turn, they tried to support other businesses.

The tasting room has been open again for much of the summer, with social distancing rules in effect, and they’re hoping for the best going forward. One challenge they’ve had to contend with is a shortage of bottles due to supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic.

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But as harvest approaches in the vineyard, Colter is pleased with the way the season has gone and how the grapes are looking. “We get whatever Mother Nature throws at us,” he says. “The little things that happen in the vineyard are amplified in the wine. Our grapes have always been good quality but I think the vineyard is the best it’s ever looked.”

Colter likes to try new things and mix up his regular offerings. This year is no different; he plans to do a semi-sparkling wine and also has his sights on producing a Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The winery currently produces about 1,000 cases annually. “We’re responsible 100 percent for the quality,” says Colter, who feels like he can maintain a high level of quality control at the current size. Staying small also gives them flexibility in production and in when they release wines, he added.

The Boltons currently live in Oregon City to be near Lacey’s job. It’s allowed Colter to be a stay-at-home dad to the couple’s three kids and have the flexibility for his winery work. Juggling family and Lacey’s career and commuting to and from the vineyard and tasting room all makes for busy days. They wouldn’t have it any other way, but they hope someday to move back to their hometown — possibly onto the Bolton property.

“Winemaking has given me a way to do something with the family farm that’s different from farming,” says Colter, who hopes to keep the farm in the family for the next 150 years. In 15 Mile Winery, the couple also has found a way to deepen their roots to the community they love.

“Colter is making wine from grapes grown on his family farm, and our tasting room is in a building that I grew up in. We set out to do this with purpose,” Lacey says.

“We plan,” says Colter, “to be here forever.”

For more information, go to 15milewinery.com

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Facts about the Gorge Wine Region

The Columbia Gorge Wine Region includes the Columbia Gorge AVA (established in 2004) and the southwest corner of the Columbia Valley AVA (established in 1984).

About 95 percent of the wineries in the Columbia Gorge are boutique wineries producing 5,000 or fewer cases of wine each year.

There are 50 wineries, more than 90 vineyards and over 1,300 vineyard acres planted.

— Courtesy of the Columbia Gorge Winegrowers Association

Vineyards Est. 1984, 1998

Winery Est. 2002

Bigstock

Wine Tasting Tips

your safety is a number one priority for our staff!

Wheels coming in Spring of 2021!

CONFIRM HOURS

Gorge wineries and tasting rooms vary in their hours and days of operation. Call ahead or check websites to make sure the tasting rooms you want to visit are open.

DRESS FOR THE WEATHER

Dress appropriately, especially if you plan a vineyard picnic or tour.

DON’T WEAR FRAGRANCES

Perfume and cologne can interfere with the subtle aromas in wine.

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ASK ABOUT FEES

Some wineries charge a fee for tastings. Some will waive fees with a purchase.

TASTING TIPS

Generally, white wines are tasted first, followed by red wines and then dessert wines. It’s okay to skip any of the wines on a tasting list by politely declining.

If you’re genuinely interested in purchasing a particular wine, it’s okay to ask for a second taste.

WHAT TO DO

Swirling the wine in your glass helps aerate the wine’s many aromas. When tasting, hold the glass by the stem rather than the bowl as holding it by the bowl can disturb the temperature of the wine.

Inhale before taking a sip to appreciate the wine’s aromas. Likewise, swirl the wine around in your mouth once you sip to coat all the surfaces.

HIP TO SPIT

You don’t have to drink all the wine in your glass.

Toss the unwanted wine into the dump bucket provided for this purpose.

PACE YOURSELF

Don’t try to visit too many wineries in one day.

Know your limit and stop when you reach it.

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cathedralridgewinery.com / 541.386.2882 THE GORGE MAGAZINE II FALL 2020

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BACK TO

THE FUTURE at the Little Seven Seven Ranch

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David Neff

John Streur and Mary Kleihege

For a Lyle couple, raising Highland cattle is just one part of ranch life Story by Janet Cook

N

Photos provided

On the Little Seven Seven Ranch north of Lyle, Wash., the way forward comes by going back. Back to a time when land was revered for what it offered, and cared for accordingly. Back to a time when cattle roamed hillsides and ate what the land provided. Back to a time when people raised food and sold it to their neighbors.

To John Streur and Mary Kleihege, who own the Little Seven Seven, going back is the future. They’ve spent the past six years making steady headway on their vision for the Little Seven Seven, which is to create a sustainable, diversified ranch that’s part and parcel of the local community.

“It’s what people used to do,” said Kleihege. “People used to care more about the land.” The couple’s vision starts and ends with the land, and it would be hard to find two people who have more love for the swath of earth they’ve chosen to tend. __ Streur and Kleihege hail from the Midwest. They lived in Chicago and tended land — and cattle — in Wisconsin.

But they had long eyed a move to the West where they could expand their ranching dreams. Eventually, they began looking in earnest for land.

When they initially saw the Lyle property, they were struck by its beauty. From various places, you can see Mount Hood, the Columbia River, the stacks of basalt that stairstep up the Rowena Plateau. But from a ranching and land conservation perspective, it was fraught with problems.

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The Little Seven Seven Ranch

“When I first saw it, I thought, well, it’s kind of a mess,” said Streur in his deferential Midwestern tone. Their real estate agent had referred to it as “a pile of sticks.” But, like most people with vision, the couple saw beyond the disarray to what could be. The bridge between those two states, they knew, would only be built by a lot of hard work.

The couple bought the first pieces of the Little Seven Seven in 2014.

They named it after the two original parcels of land that made up the ranch, each shaped like a number 7 laid out one on top of the other. Since then, the couple has bought adjacent properties and nearly doubled the size of the ranch to some 1,700 contiguous acres.

Starting a few miles northwest of Lyle, the land rises from 900 feet to 2,400 feet in elevation. The lower areas are covered mostly in Oregon white oak, with some Ponderosa pine mixed in. As the land rises, Douglas fir appears. At the higher elevations the oak thins out, leaving mostly fir and pine.

There is also a vast amount of flowering brush, wildflowers and, in the upper elevations, scattered hazelnut trees.

Among other things, it’s an ideal place to raise Highland cattle, a breed that Kleihege had taken an interest in after first seeing one of the wooly animals on a neighboring farm in Wisconsin. It’s an ancient breed hailing from the Scottish Highlands, with horns and long shaggy coats meant to protect them from the harsh elements. It’s thought to be the oldest domestic cattle breed.

“It’s a more rugged animal,” said Kleihege, especially compared with the Angus cattle she and Streur had raised in Wisconsin. They hold their own against predators but have a docile nature, she added.

The couple started their fold (the term for a group of Highland cattle) at the Little Seven Seven — known locally as the L77 — with a dozen animals.

Then they dove in to the hard work of restoring the land.

The property had been owned by the State of Washington since 1889 (the year of statehood) before it was traded in the early 2000s to timber companies. Haphazard logging had left hundreds of acres piled with debris and opportunistic invasive species.

On vast swaths of the ranch, “you couldn’t even see what the land looked like,” Streur said. “It was a thicket. It was very risky from a wildfire perspective.” One solution would have been to cut everything down, make slash piles and burn it.

But Streur and Kleihege wanted a more eco-friendly solution. So they began the meticulous work of clearing the land in a more sustainable way. It involves “fuel reduction” — clearing brush and thinning trees to create spacing.

Some of the trees that are cut down become firewood, which is available by the cord from the L77 from late summer through fall. The larger trees go to 26

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Cattle from the L77 Ranch move along a year-round stream to keep cool on the lower part of the ranch, which is covered mostly in Oregon white oak.

the small sawmill they’ve built on the ranch. Small trees and brush are put through a forestry mulcher and go back into the ground, helping to improve the soil.

So far, they’ve restored some 400 acres of ranch land in this way. The restored land is then used as range for the cattle.

“We’re raising cattle in the forest,” Streur said. “It’s part of the solution to sustainability. It’s good for the environment. It’s good for the forest. And the meat tastes great.” Highland Cattle eat much of what’s on the forest floor at the L77: small oak brush, grass, weeds — even invasive knapweed.

“They improve the land in a great way,” Kleihege added. From their initial dozen cattle, Streur and Kleihege have grown their fold to 340 — not including the recently-born calves. The L77 cattle are divided into four groups — each with their own bull and ranging through a different part of the ranch. ____ On a recent visit to the L77, I got a tour of the ranch from Streur and Kleihege. I met them at what they call the “pig farm,” where a huge old barn still stands (after much clean-up on the couple’s part) on property that once housed over a thousand pigs. Here, they’ve built a large garden with the help of one of their 10 employees. They hope to eventually sell some of their produce, but for now, the bounty has been going to their workers.

From there, we headed out. Streur and Kleihege gave me their ranch truck to drive and I followed behind them as they drove another vehicle so we could maintain social distance. We stopped to see their small sawmill.

All of the wood they’ve processed so far has been used to construct ranch buildings or renovate existing structures, as well as on smaller projects like the garden beds.

We then drove to a nearby barn-like structure known as the “ranch shop” where Kleihege keeps freezers of meat. Customers can come and “browse,” or she’ll put together boxes of various cuts for pick-up. Beautiful shaggy hides were tied up in bundles for sale. “It’s part of respecting the animal,” Kleihege explained. “We use the whole thing.”

Our next stop was a hillside where they’re currently working on forest restoration. Oak and fir firewood sat in piles and was stacked in half-cord boxes in preparation for delivery. (In addition to being used in home fireplaces, wood from the L77 burns in the pizza oven at Hood River’s Solstice Wood Fire Café.)

The Little Seven Seven Ranch

Mark Downey, Lucid Images

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Mary Kleihege and John Streur walk along a road on the upper portion of their L77 Ranch, which covers 1,700 acres north of Lyle, Wash.

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FALL 2020 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

“It’s a lot of work to get the land back to where it should be,” Streur said. They’ve been working on this section of forest — about 190 acres — for months. “But we end up with a much healthier property in terms of water, the health of the tress, and reducing the risk of wildfire.” Afternoon sunlight filtered brightly through the trees. “This will become a great grazing area,” Streur added.

We drove on in search of cows. Kleihege said they sometimes seem to know when they’re being looked for, and will head deeper into the forest. But we lucked out and found some lounging near the road in the shade, munching lazily from the forest floor.

“This is Mike’s Group,” Kleihege said, named for its bull, Iron Mike.

“Most people who are raising these cattle have a much smaller herd,” Streur said as we stood watching them. They watched us back, unconcerned, through their shaggy locks. “I also think we’re unique in terms of raising them in the wild, in a natural environment.” Highland cattle take two years to mature, instead of one year like most domestic cattle. “They’re a slower-growing breed. You raise these animals for taste and texture,” he added.

“We start the cattle lower and bring them up the hill as the season goes on,” Kleihege said. In the winter, the cattle are fed locally-grown hay.

I asked if they wanted to keep growing their fold. “For the property, we’re getting to the point where we have the right amount of animals for the land,” Streur said. “As opposed to being huge in cattle, we’re thinking more about being a sustainable, diversified ranch with cattle, timber and vegetables.”

They want to be part of the local food system, he added. “We want to make locally grown food available to local people.”

Our last stop was a piece of acreage at the north end of the ranch. They’d bought it from a long-time resident, who continued living in his home until his death last year. They had befriended the old man, and Kleihege had had a special affinity for him. Since his death, they’ve cleaned up the property, but left the empty house as it was; Kleihege is not ready to renovate it yet out of respect for him. He had a large garden which he’d maintained with the help of chemical weedkillers, something Streur and Kleihege avoid. In order to let the chemicals dissipate, and in memory of her friend, Kleihege planted the garden this year with hundreds of zinnias.

Back at the pig farm, Streur and Kleihege discuss work yet to be done before day’s end. On a ranch, there’s always more to be done, it seems. Kleihege shows me a house they’re constructing where a large chicken coop once stood. She envisions it eventually being a quiet getaway for people who want to stay on a ranch. From the deck out front, the view sweeps down the ranch over treetops and across to Mount Hood looming in the distance. “To be able to see so far and not see buildings,” she said. “I think it’s good for the soul.”

For now, the house is a work-in-progress, like the ranch land they labor on every day. “It’s a lot of work,” Kleihege said. “But I feel like we’ve taken things and made them better.”

For more information, go to l77ranch.com.

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The Class of 2020 College-bound high school

grads face a different kind of freshman year

STORY BY Ruth Berkowitz • PHOTOS provided

Students in the high school class of 2020 made the most of their socially distant graduations.

With diplomas in hand, many were eager to launch into their next phase and head to college.

But over the summer, Covid-19 continued to rage and college reopening plans got murkier.

In the throes of the pandemic, students have been forced to navigate a series of alternative options: attend college in-person and hope for the best; commit to online school while living in their family home or, in some cases, an apartment or even a dorm room with no roommates; or choose to take a gap year.

As a mother of two college students, I wanted to know, what are other students doing? How will their year unfold? Feeling sad that college dreams have been disrupted for so many, I hid my despair as I met with a number of Gorge-area graduates to learn more. Their vivaciousness and drive to make the most of their unique situations reassured me. For many students, long-held plans have pivoted. But these young people are resilient. Our kids will be alright.

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In-Person

Maverick Geller

Hood River Valley High School Class of 2020 United States Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, N.Y.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, fewer than three percent of colleges are fully in-person this fall. Many of the military academies and smaller schools are among them. A plebe at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y., Maverick Geller joined 280 of his classmates on campus in early July.

Geller, who was recruited to play lacrosse, realizes he signed up for something much more than a rigorous college education and a career navigating big ships.

It’s also an intense way of living and a unique way to serve our country. His new normal seems worlds away from Hood River.

Upon arrival, Geller took a Covid test and then quarantined in his barracks. In the first week of “indoc,” his head was shaved and he learned to adapt to his new strict schedule and follow the rules: wake up at 5:20 a.m., stand ready with uniform pressed and shoes shined at 6 a.m., restricted use of cellphone, mask-wearing, no napping, and much more.

Geller’s campus is locked down; students are not allowed to leave, and instead of socializing in the cafeteria, they pick up their meals and dine in their room. They mostly attend Zoom classes except for in-person labs and tests. These strict rules had succeeded in keeping Covid from the campus as of early September.

“This isn’t for everyone,” Geller tells me. But he’s 200 percent positive he picked the right school. It seems like his playful personality and zest for life help him thrive. He doesn’t mind the “PT” — that’s physical training, like push-ups, sprints, and wall sits — used as punishment. “We’re going to PT tonight,” he admits, because his group had too much fun the night before when they “shaving cream-bombed” another unit. All this creates camaraderie, and transforms them into one cohesive unit.

“I know they are yelling at us to make us better,” he says.

Rainie Codding

The Dalles High School Class of 2020 Reed College, Portland, Ore.

The president of Reed College, Audrey Bilger, explains on the school’s website that Reed will return to campus with a mix of in-person and online classes, face coverings, Covid testing and physical distancing. Bilger says in a video that the community must exercise vigilance, and she implores her audience to ask daily what they can do to protect their fellow Reedies.

To Rainie Codding, this means that although she is living in Portland just an hour and a half away from her home in The Dalles, she won’t be attending large gatherings and will be careful when she leaves campus.

We’re sitting at the picnic tables outside of The Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum in The Dalles, and Codding is visibly excited.

She’s ready to delve into her psychology studies.

She’s wearing her The Dalles High School face mask, a graduation gift, which she never imagined would become an important article of clothing.

Codding wonders about her ability to make friends while following the social distancing rules. She tells me about her valedictorian speech centered around Covid and its effect on her classmates. At graduation in June, she figured the pandemic would be short-lived; now she fears it will never go away.

Codding also fears that her time on campus might be cut short because of Covid outbreaks forcing the college to shift to remote learning.

Soon after our visit, Codding moved into her single dorm room where she is currently quarantined awaiting results of her Covid test. She uses an app on her phone to order food and is only allowed to leave her room when she walks across campus to the cafeteria. Soon she will meet up with her small pandemic pod and delve into her studies.

With luck, a small school like Reed, with a student body of 1,400 and a commitment from the students to prioritize the health and safety of others, might be the secret sauce to a successful year.

Hybrid — a mix of in-person and online classes Stella Waag

Hood River Valley High School Class of 2020 Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.

Stella Waag meets me at the Hood River Marina, near where she spent many windy afternoons training with the high school sailing team. Waag is excited to pack her bags and head east to Wellesley, Mass.

But first, she has some hurdles to jump. An all-women’s college with 2,300 students, Wellesley will host a hybrid model of college where freshman and sophomores live on campus and attend classes — some in-person and some on Zoom — for the first semester while juniors and seniors attend virtually. The second semester will be flipped.

Waag quarantined at home for two weeks before boarding an airplane in late August.

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She was Covid tested upon arrival and awaited results in her single dorm room. A negative test will enable Waag to participate in the school’s orientation. Students will continue to be tested every few days for their first two weeks.

To limit interaction between students and professors, Waag’s semester will be divided into two seven-week blocks where students enroll in only two classes per block. Waag, who plans to major in biochemistry, will return to Oregon in December, at the end of the first semester. But that doesn’t bother her. “That way I don’t have to live on the East Coast during winter and I get to be back here for ski and sailing seasons,” she says. If things go as planned, she’ll have the best of both worlds.

Virtual College

Audrey Schlemmer

Hood River Valley High School Class of 2020 University of Oregon Even though the University of Oregon plans to allow first-year students on campus, Audrey Schlemmer watched the Covid outbreaks at other schools, like the University of North Carolina and Notre Dame, and decided to stay home for the fall semester.

“I don’t want to get Covid or spread Covid,” she tells me as we discuss

her college plans. “It is what it is,” she adds matter-of-factly. “I recognize that a lot of people are in a harder situation. And yes it sucks that we didn’t have a senior prom or a graduation, but I didn’t get Covid and some people have it much worse.”

Schlemmer’s even-keeled perspective will serve her well. She plans on going to law school and recognizes that if one of her seven years of college and graduate school is a little awkward, so be it.

She set up a workstation in the renovated Airstream trailer parked outside her family home. At the end of September, Schlemmer will saunter out of bed, maybe get dressed, walk the 25 feet from her home and plunge into her Zoom classes. When not studying, she’ll head into her father’s woodshop attached to their garage where she worked during the summer helping him make cabinets and furniture. Growing up with a lathe and a table saw nearby enabled her to finesse her own hobby; she’s busy creating artistic wooden bowls for the November show at the Columbia Center for the Arts.

Leonardo Urenda

Hood River Valley High School Class of 2020 Lane Community College, Eugene, Ore.

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FALL 2020 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

Leonardo Urenda loves to cut hair and wants to have his own classy barbershop when he graduates from college. It won’t be an ordinary place for hair, which is why he wants to study business while attending Lane Community College in Eugene.

I meet up with Urenda in Hood River, near Bryant Pipe & Supply, where he works full time as a sales manager. Work is busy and he isn’t thrilled about the daily grind but feels like he is moving forward. He will start online school at the end of September and knows college is a big commitment. A competitive soccer player, Urenda knows how to focus on the goal. He is determined to be the first one in his family to attend and graduate from college.

The fact that fall classes will be remote isn’t ideal, in his view, but it does allow him to continue living at home and saving money. When it’s safe to attend school in person, Urenda will move to Eugene and share an apartment with his cousin.

He is also hoping that college soccer will happen in the spring. Unfortunately, fall sports have been cancelled and teams are not practicing. Being an athlete without a team is tough for Urenda. To keep up his game, he plays pick-up soccer with the locals on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights.

“It’s all fun,” he says, “but nothing like college soccer.”

Gap year

Eva Jones

Hood River Valley High School Class of 2020 Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.

Eva Jones says her primary goals for her gap year are to not be lonely and to have some experiences away from Hood River. These are fairly simple goals for an accomplished high school graduate who has already testified in front of the U.S. Congress for gun safety, and at the United Nations and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, about climate change.

“I don’t want to rush my education,” Jones says. She’s hoping to savor her experience at Stanford when it will be in-person and she can have roommates and eat in the cafeteria. “I love school. But I am an interpersonal person and not a screen learner,” she adds. Still, she has some trepidation about her decision to shift gears and not go directly to college.

Jones will continue working at the climbing gym in Hood River and scooping ice cream until mid-September. Then she’ll start a new job as a field organizer for the Oregon Democratic Party, organizing volunteers and working to get out the vote. After the election, Jones says, “nothing is off the table,” including a possible internship in Europe with Arctic Base Camp, the nonprofit organization she worked with at the World Economic Forum.

Like Jones, my high school graduate, Kai Rayle, is also opting out of Stanford’s virtual college. He was planning to move to Palo Alto with the other freshmen, but the rise in Covid cases and the risk to students forced the school to reevaluate its plan and go online. An athletic, adventurous and spontaneous guy, Rayle will join his older sister, Maya, in Maine. The two will pedal their bicycles 4,000 miles across the U.S. from Portland to Portland. On their journey, they will battle winds, hills, traffic and sibling love. Covid, as tragic and horrific as it is, has taught us to shift gears, seize the present and go with the wind.

(In the world of Covid, things change fast. These profiles were accurate as of press time.)

Ruth Berkowitz is a lawyer, mediator and writer. She lives with her family in Hood River and Portland and is a frequent contributor to The Gorge Magazine.

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A Safe Haven

A Gorge preserve is part of an effort to save endangered turtles story by JANET COOK | photos by VINCE READY, KIARA MCADAMS and RICHARD KOLBELL

I

Lasting Light Photography (both images)

t was an uncommon event, in uncommon times. At the end of July, 10 people wearing masks gathered around a white cooler next to a pond in Skamania County. Inside the cooler were 23 western pond turtles less than a year old. They were here to be released in their new home, a 64-acre preserve aptly known as Turtle Haven, owned by the Friends of the Columbia Gorge Land Trust.

In a sense, it was a homecoming for the turtles, returning to the Columbia River Gorge where they began life as tiny eggs.

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Lasting Light Photography

Lasting Light Photography

OUTSIDE

The July release was part of an ongoing effort to save western pond turtles, which began more than 25 years ago when wildlife biologists sounded the alarm about their dwindling numbers.

The western pond turtle is endemic to the West Coast, and once ranged from Canada to Baja. But various factors have contributed to its demise, including habitat loss from development, and a small amphibian which shares its favored living areas and finds in the pond turtle an easy snack: the bullfrog.

In the early 1990s, wildlife biologists in Washington knew the pond turtles were in trouble. By 1993, they were listed as endangered in the state.

The turtles were disappearing rapidly in the

Western pond turtles are released at Turtle Haven by Carly Wickhem, inset right, an assistant wildlife biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Natasha Stone, inset left, of Friends of the Columbia Gorge.

Puget Sound area, once home to large populations. In the Gorge, another once-popular habitat, numbers had dwindled to around 100. And they were aging. Biologists knew from monitoring that there were few if any young turtles of reproductive age.

“The biologists were saying, hey, there’s a problem, we need help,” said Sara Woods, Land Trust Stewardship Coordinator for Friends of the Columbia Gorge. The Oregon Zoo and the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle answered the call. They began a captive rearing program called Head Start, where baby turtles were raised at the zoo for several months before being returned to the wild.

The Head Start program was the beginning of a conservation collaboration that would eventually lead to July’s gathering around the white cooler.

Several sites on the Washington side of the Gorge were identified as having small western pond turtle populations. For the captive rearing program, pond turtle eggs from these areas are taken from their nests to the Oregon Zoo’s conservation lab. There, the eggs hatch and the baby turtles are nurtured for nine months, reared in warm conditions with plenty of food — and no predators to worry about. Within less than a year, the turtles grow to be the size of a two- or three-year-old turtle in the wild.

That’s key because it is when the pond turtles are born, and soon after, that bullfrogs prey on them.

“They’re the size of a quarter when they hatch,” Woods said. “And bullfrogs are voracious. They’re hungry.” Once the pond turtles get bigger, they stand a better chance of survival. But with a single bullfrog able to produce 21,000 eggs at a time, it’s easy to see where the story ends.

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Lasting Light Photography

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Natasha Stone, right, of Friends of the Columbia Gorge, helps release western pond turtles at Turtle Haven in July. The turtles have a better chance of surviving in the wild after being reared in a lab.

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Fortunately, the pond turtle conservation collaboration has changed the narrative. So far, more than 1,500 turtles have been released at four sites in Washington over 28 years.

The Friends of the Columbia Gorge became part of the collaboration in 2015 when its Land Trust bought the 64-acre property known as Turtle Haven. The land had been in private ownership, with the U.S. Forest Service owning most of the adjacent land.

The area had long been known as critical pond turtle habitat. The Land Trust purchased it with the goal of managing, enhancing and preserving it as just that. This past July’s release of 23 pond turtles was part of the organization’s Western Pond Turtle Restoration project, led by Woods. It was the second release, following last summer’s inaugural turtle release at the site.

“There have been a lot of players in this,” Woods said. “It’s really important to have all these partnerships. We all bring a different level of expertise.”

After the turtles are released, monitoring is performed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Normally, the agency would be collecting the next round of eggs this fall, but the pandemic has put that part of the project on hold for now.

However, work at the site continues. The Friends of the Columbia Gorge Land Trust recently was awarded funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help improve the turtle habitat. The funding will aid Friends’ ongoing efforts to clean up the property from its years in private ownership. It also provides monies dedicated to reducing the bullfrog population in the area and removing invasive species.

“The main problem is the Himalayan blackberries,” Woods said. Clearing them out will improve the habitat for the turtles, which use the upland areas above the ponds as much as the water itself.

“They lay their eggs in the ground, bury them and bank on the solar heat to incubate them,” Woods said. “They depend on the south-facing hillsides

Richard Kolbell

for that.” Although the egg gathering is on pause this fall, work on the land is just ramping up. The funding will keep that part of the project going for about the next four years.

It can seem like a tedious process, but the turtle releases help make the progress tangible. In her role, Woods has seen the lasting impact Friends’ Land Trust projects have.

“It’s the power of buying land for conservation,” she said. “You see what it was before and you see what it becomes.” In this case, a haven for pond turtles, still endangered but safe in this place.

For more information, go to gorgefriends.org.

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ARTS + CULTURE

Art Saves Sanity

Creative projects help the community get through pandemic times story by PEGGY DILLS KILTER | photos provided

I

n the spring of 2020, life as we knew it came to a screeching halt. We all learned to live with a deadly virus, and also had to turn to technology even more than before to inform, communicate, and survive. Local teaching artists wanted to make sure people didn’t lose sight of their artistic side — or their sense of community. So they dreamed up projects that used technology as a bridge to bring artful experiences and essential learning to anyone who was interested. As it turned out, many were, and our community is richer for it.

graphic designer from Portland who uses technology to make “zines” — small folded books created from a single piece of paper. Lindberg and Rodriguez worked collaboratively to write the text. Maria used her computer skills to design the images.

The result goes like this:

SOAP IS A SUPERHERO

“This is Covid-19.

It is small.

It is sticky. …and it is mean.

It can hurt our bodies Or the people we love.”

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Soap the Super Hero! What could be less techy — and more critical to keeping us healthy and safe — than a simple bar of soap? Shelley Toon Lindberg, a teaching artist and the executive director of Arts in Education of the Gorge, wanted children throughout the Gorge to learn just how important soap is.

She used technology to “meet” with members of a medical advisory team. With their help, she learned as much as she could about the power of soap. She got to know Maria Rodriguez, a young

Packets with a foldable book and a bar of soap, left, are part of a community project teaching kids how to protect themselves from Covid-19.

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When the book is fully opened, the other side, featuring Super Hero Soap, becomes a poster for kids to use at home. “Use your power.

Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Practice physical distancing,” it says. To date, more than 500 small packets containing the zine, a bar of soap, and a sticker have been assembled by volunteers and distributed to children throughout the area. The packets are available in English and Spanish.

Nicole Goldman

Kids work on an embroidery project as part of a program through Arts in Education of the Gorge open to all community members.

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STITCHING US TOGETHER

“Stitching Us Together” was originally planned as an artistic experience for students of Hood River Valley High School’s Options Academy, its online school. The plan was to teach students how to make self-portraits using a decidedly non-techy medium: hand stitched embroidery. But when schools were closed in March to keep students safe, Arts in Education of the Gorge pivoted to make it a community project.

The organization approached their funders — including the only local sponsor, Twiggs gallery in downtown Hood River — to see if they would be willing to continue to financially support the project. All of the sponsors gave AIECG an enthusiastic go-ahead. Now, instead of working only with high school students, the project was opened to artists from octogenarians to a small group of middle schoolers.

The next task was making contact with interested artists, and figuring out how to distribute materials and teach techniques in the era of social distancing. Front porches and paper envelopes became the places to drop off and pick up kits containing materials. Within those kits were several colors of embroidery floss, an embroidery hoop with pre-stretched fabric, a needle and threading tool, and instructional packets — everything needed to draw a self-portrait and embroider it, along with several pages of embroidery techniques.

“The idea was to get people working with their hands,” Lindberg said. “I know for me, if I’m in my body, my brain is more balanced. We were all going to a place of being alone more, having fewer distractions. You’re thinking about what you value. And it was a way of looking inward and finding something common among us.”

The organizers also knew that asking people to create their self-portraits might be daunting for many, so within the packets they included three different sets of instructions: No Tech, for artists who preferred pencil and paper rather than computers; Low Tech, for artists interested in utilizing some computer support; and High Tech, for artists comfortable working with a digital medium.

Lindberg contacted several teaching artists and organizations to see if they wanted to be involved in the project — and to spread the word. Several “small pods” of people took her up on it, including The Next Door, Inc.’s

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Samples from the “Stitching Us Together” project, where participants were encouraged to create self-portraits in embroidery. Kits were distributed to anyone interested, and included everything needed to learn basic techniques and complete the project.

Klahre House and Culture Seed, both non-profits that work with students around the Gorge. Other groups, families and individuals also joined in.

Local teaching artist Nicole Goldman had been working with a small group of middle-school students for the last few years, teaching art classes after school in her home. To continue working with the students when Covid-19 emerged, Goldman made her creative space a safe place to practice social distancing, and required students to wear masks. “Everyone was going crazy,” Goldman said. Parents were reaching out to her asking if she was doing any art. “The kids were starving to do anything!”

This year, Goldman’s own kids couldn’t go to their annual summer camp since it was closed due to the pandemic. But the camp still offered engaging projects to past campers via computer. By chance, one such lesson was learning about embroidery. Goldman and her children had already been watching YouTube videos about the craft when she connected with the “Stitching Us Together” group.

Goldman set the students in a large circle and she sat in the middle. She taught the kids seven different embroidery stitches and helped them trace their self-portraits onto the cloth using photographs.

She established criteria: the students needed to use at least three stitches they had learned. And then they were off, excited when they learned their art would be displayed to the public in the fall.

A lifelong artist myself, I decided to join the project, too. I haven’t done embroidery since I was a teenager, but Lindberg’s call to artists was intriguing and challenging, so I ordered my kit and got to work making a self-portrait. Years ago, when I worked as a teacher, I often taught children how to draw a portrait using sheets of Plexiglas. I opted to use this material to draw myself, an apt medium as it was being used everywhere to protect us from the deadly virus. I found a photograph in my computer’s archives, laid my Plexiglas on top of my monitor, and traced my image. My design also included my husband, who has helped keep me healthy and relatively sane during the pandemic.

Many friends and family members decided to join me, and we are “Stitching Us Together.” We check in periodically via cell phone and email. Goldman is having her students text her with their in-process photos of their projects. The plan is to bring dozens of completed cloth portraits together in a public venue this fall.

My craftsmanship won’t get me a ribbon at next year’s county fair, but I’ve found the simple up-anddown movements of needle and thread to be therapeutic and calming. Lindberg would agree. “It seems like a cliché to say that art saves lives,” she said. “But I believe it.”

Me too.

An exhibit of self-portraits from “Stitching Us Together” will be shown in the lobby at Columbia Center for the Arts during the month of October.

Peggy Dills Kelter is an artist and writer who lives in Hood River. She’s a frequent contributor to The Gorge Magazine.

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Photo by Peter Marbach

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WELLNESS

Providing Help for the Helpers United Way of the Columbia Gorge steps up for nonprofits hit hard by the pandemic

N

o one could have foretold the deep devastation wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic, least of all nonprofit organizations. Often cash-strapped, these largely volunteer community service groups’ sole purpose is to minister to those most in need across an array of social categories — food, health, education and well-being. They rely on the kindness and largesse of neighbors, friends and caring strangers in their region to provide some level of comfort and care.

Imagine, then, that around this virulent and fast-spreading novel virus, plans and protocols are forced to change completely. Quarantines and lock-downs, social distancing, relentless sanitizing, contactless delivery of services. Seniors, children and at-risk segments of the population, including migrant seasonal farmworkers and their families, are swiftly, fiercely affected and potentially cut off from the lifelines and safe harbors on which they depend.

Who, then, steps up and helps these selfless service organizations fulfill their missions?

In this community, a couple of the knights in shining armor are the United Way of the Columbia Gorge and its partner, the Healthy Gorge Initiative. UWCG is a local non-profit agency, community safety net and change agent that supports non-profit human service programs in the counties of Hood River, Wasco, Sherman, Klickitat and Skamania.

Supported by Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital, the Healthy Gorge Initiative is a collaboration of nonprofits, community-based organizations, healthcare providers, and other agencies whose goal is to build a healthier community.

To help immediately face down the onslaught of this ravaging pandemic, UWCG and HGI in March quickly marshaled a new program, the Covid-19 Gorge Community Response Fund, to provide immediate funding for organizations that needed aid. Its streamlined application and approval process transfused much-needed grant monies into programs that were forced to quickly regroup, retool and provide.

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Courtesy of The Dalled Meals On Wheels

story by DON CAMPBELL | photos provided

“So far we have collected $263,000,” says UWCG executive director Christine Baratoff.

UWCG worked closely with the Google Tides Foundation, Pacific Source, Columbia Gorge Health Council, and many individual donors to launch the program.

“Many people just started to send in a hundred dollars here and $500 there and it added up really fast,” she says. “It was a community response from people not knowing how to help. Now we have distributed $170,000 so far, to 28 local nonprofits.

Some have applied more than once.”

Jordan Haas (both images)

The Covid-19 Gorge Community Response Fund, created by United Way of the Columbia Gorge, has helped a range of local non-profits, including those distributing food to kids, above, and food and masks to the elderly, opposite.

The Dalles Meals on Wheels was particularly hard hit. Amy Mallett, director of the program for the past four years, recounts that as the virus hit, everything related to funding — their thrift store and other programs that generated funds — had to close down and revenue dried up. “That hurt,” Mallett says. “All the programs that we do here to help fund the center. I reached out everywhere.”

Learning of the UWCG rapid-response program was literally a lifesaver.

“We didn’t know where to turn,” she says, “but they had everything up and running very fast, which was helpful because everything was an emergency.

We went to local funders, groups that had helped us in the past, and asked if they could help now. United Way knows our program and knew that we were worthy of the money.”

And that money went directly to their lifeblood — food and supplies that would feed the 200 people they serve every single day. The non-profit qualifies for food discounts through its affiliation with Meals On Wheels America, whereby they can purchase food from all over to get the best prices, and they generally buy what they need once for the year.

“When Covid hit we went through that in half the time,” Mallett says.

“We were supporting not only Meals on Wheels but the drive-up meals for people who don’t qualify for Meals on Wheels or because of underlying health issues were afraid to go to the store, but still needed help. We burned through it all in six months. Also, there was a period of time where processing plants for protein were going down — pork, chicken and beef — and the prices went up. In order to buy in the bulk that we need to serve the 200 people that we serve every day became even more expensive.”

The need was so dire, Mallet had to go back to the UWCG a second time and was granted additional funding to survive the crush. The picture going forward as we head into fall and winter is not pretty. Other funding sources they count on were forced to change protocols as well to account for Covid, making fundraising all but impossible, and making the United Way Covid-19 program incredibly vital.

The genesis for the unique response fund came initially from HGI’s Paul Lindberg, the group’s collective impact health specialist, a role he helped establish when the group formed some six years ago. While grant monies and other funding sources exist, they are often bureaucratically cumbersome and time-consuming to navigate. He imagined a more streamlined funding source.

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FALL 2020 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

“I had the idea years ago,” Lindberg says. “The idea was to get Providence and other hospitals to put money into a community pot to address Community Health Improvement Plan [CHIP] topics [which to date are in draft form] where we identified needs for people who are most likely to face barriers to health in our community.”

These needs, he explains, are not new to our community, but the approach in addressing them is. Step one is identifying A banner by The Next Door, Inc., thanking farm them and agreeing collectively that workers is displayed at the Mt. View Grange they exist and that they negative- in White Salmon, Wash. ly impact health. Having CHIP helps accomplish this step. All of those needs identified in CHIP have been exacerbated by the pandemic, so the community’s collective response to it also overlaps with the program’s response to the CHIP topics.

“Let’s have a community trust of money to access, to jumpstart, some of these ideas while we’re waiting for grant money,” says Lindberg. “The Covid hit became pretty clear we’d need some funding and it would need to be a quick turnaround. I dusted off the idea, called United Way and the board members, and revved it up with a focus on Covid.”

With United Way as the fiscal agent, the response fund would be focused on non-profits, a sector with which United Way had deep experience, in the five-county region. With 25 years of grant-writing experience, Lindberg designed the initial application. “We know what questions to ask to keep it simple,” he said.

The flow includes a Friday deadline for applications, a speedy review and decision process, with checks distributed to beneficiaries the following week. Despite the horrible reality of the pandemic, “It’s really fun that we can actually do that — get donations out quickly,” Lindberg says.

Grants range from $1,000 to $10,000, with an average grant of $5,000.

For UWCG’s Baratoff, it’s been an interesting time and something of a baptism by fire. She took over as executive director in June 2020, as the pandemic picked up momentum. There will be an ongoing, and extremely challenging, need for funding, not only for the response program, but for United Way in general. Fall is typically the time of year for the organization’s fund-raising efforts — including its annual gala, which has been thwarted by the ongoing pandemic.

“We’re just getting our feelers out,” says Baratoff. “We don’t start raising until September. The gala is a large part of that process. We will have to see what that now entails, and re-strategize. We just don’t know what it’ll look like.”

For Amy Mallett’s Meals On Wheels and other non-profit lifesavers working to continue to serve those most in need, more funding will be sorely needed.

“As Covid continues,” Mallett says, “funding is dying down. We’re going to see in a couple of months that the need will continue. How it plays out, I don’t really know.”

Courtesy of The Next Door, Inc

Mendy Maccabee, MD

For more information, including how give and receive help, go to unitedwaycolumbiagorge.org.

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.

MCMC ORTHO - Gorge Mag - Full page v2.qxp_Layout 1 8/12/20 12:00 PM Page 1

Sports Medicine & Sports Medicine & Orthopedic Surgery Orthopedic Surgery

WOrld-ClAss OrthOpediC CAre in the GOrGe WOrld-ClAss OrthOpediC CAre in the GOrGe

the sports Medicine & Orthopedic surgery program at MCMC offers a vastMedicine array of resources to patients sports, the sports & Orthopedic surgerysuffering programfrom at MCMC bone or muscle-related health issues.

Our orthopedic team offers a vast array of resources to patients suffering from sports, bringsorincredible experience toissues. the Gorge includesteam highly bone muscle-related health Our and orthopedic skilled surgeons, certified athletic trainers and physical therapists brings incredible experience to the Gorge includes highly who help patients recover mobility, restore function to therapists muscles, skilled surgeons, certified athletic trainers and physical relieve pain, and limit or prevent physical disabilities. who help patients recover mobility, restore function to muscles, relieve pain, and limit or prevent physical disabilities.

SPECIALTy AREAS INCLUDE: SPECIALTy AREAS INCLUDE: • Arthroscopic surgery.

Arthroscopic surgery.

• total joint replacement. total joint • surgery forreplacement. ligaments and tendons. surgeryinjury for ligaments and tendons.

• sports management and prevention. sports injury management and prevention.

• Fracture treatment.

• Fracture treatment. physical rehabilitation, including aquatic therapy.

• physical rehabilitation, including aquatic therapy.

Open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

We accept Medicare and Friday, many insurance Open Monday through 8 a.m.-5 plans. p.m.

We accept Medicare and many insurance plans.

orthopedics and sports medicine orthopedics and sports medicine 541.506.6500 541.506.6500

Our focus is on helping patients recover safely efficiently Our focus is onand helping patients through a holistic approach that recover safely and efficiently acknowledges and treats the through a holistic approach that entire body. and treats the acknowledges entire body.

AMONG OUR FACILITES ARE: AMONG OUR FACILITES ARE: • An aquatic center with two pools.

• An aquatic center with

two pools.

• A gym with comprehensive fitness equipment.

• A gym with comprehensive

equipment.

• fitness A concussion center.

• A Anconcussion orthopediccenter. center.

• An orthopedic center.

At Water’s Edge, 551 Lone Pine Blvd., The Dalles | At Nichols Landing, 33 Nichols Pkwy., Hood River | mcmc.net At Water’s Edge, 551 Lone Pine Blvd., The Dalles | At Nichols Landing, 33 Nichols Pkwy., Hood River | mcmc.net

PARTAKE I COOK WITH US

Mac and Cheese Recipe and photos by KACIE MCMACKIN

Mac and Cheese is undoubtedly at the top of the list of easy, delicious, go-to comfort foods for kids and adults alike.

This recipe is fairly basic, flecked with herbs, rich with gooey cheese, and topped with a crispy layer of broiled cheese and toasty breadcrumbs. A while back, I started cooking my Mac and Cheese on a rimmed baking sheet for the same reason I double my topping every time I make a crumble-topped dessert — because the topping is the best part. I often double this recipe and put one whole batch on the baking sheet in the freezer for a busy day.

Ingredients • 1 lb. large elbow macaroni • 1/4 cup butter • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour • 2 cups whole milk

Directions

• 4 cups grated cheddar cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Butter a rimmed baking sheet.

• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Gruyere

Heat the milk until hot to the touch; do not let it boil.

• 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs • 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper • 1/2 tsp. salt • 1/2 + 1/4 tsp. dried oregano • 1/2 + 1/4 tsp. dried thyme (or 1 tsp. minced fresh thyme) • 1/2 + 1/4 tsp. dried parsley • 3/4 tsp. each onion and garlic powder • 1/2 + 1/4 tsp. paprika • 1/2 tsp. minced fresh rosemary (optional) • pinch of nutmeg 46

FALL 2020 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and cook for a few minutes, whisking constantly. Slowly add the hot milk to the butter/flour mixture, whisking constantly. Continue whisking until the mixture thickens. Do not let it boil. Turn off the heat and add in 2 1/2 cups grated cheddar and whisk until it is all melted. Add in the pepper, salt, onion and garlic powder, nutmeg, and 1/2 tsp. each of the herbs.

Cook the pasta until just al dente; drain. Return it to the large pot and mix with the cheese/herb sauce. Pour the entire mixture evenly onto your rimmed baking sheet.

In a medium bowl combine the remaining 1 1/2 cups cheddar, 1/4 Parmesan or Gruyere, remaining 1/4 tsp. of the dried herbs, and breadcrumbs. Toss to combine. Sprinkle evenly across the pasta.

Turn on your broiler to low, cook the Mac and Cheese until the cheese on top is melted and starting to crisp and the breadcrumbs are toasted and golden.

PARTAKE I EAT & DRINK

BACKWOODS BREWING COMPANY

BRODER ØST

541-374-8477 • bridgesidedining.com Exit 44 off I-84, Cascade Locks

541-436-3444 • brodereast.com 102 Oak St. Suite 100 • Hood River

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

Located next to the Bridge of the Gods with stunning views and historic charm. Bridgeside serves tasty char-broiled burgers plus an extensive menu of breakfast items, chowders, fish-and-chips, sandwiches, a fresh salad bar, and desserts. Dine-in or take-out. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner with friendly service.

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!

Open daily: 11:30am-9pm

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 4-7pm, Mon-Fri. Full service bar, take-out menu, gift certificates and catering services. Open for lunch and dinner 7 days a week.

Gift shop • Special event room & terrace

We look forward to serving you! #broderost

CELILO RESTAURANT & BAR

CROOKED TREE TAVERN & GRILL

Celilo began with a desire to honor the bounty of this region and a commitment to a healthy and sustainable future. 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 daily.

A scratch-made Northwest kitchen hidden up in the woods at the historic Cooper Spur Mountain Resort. Sourcing local and bringing freshness to the table, from the handmade burgers with house baked buns to the hand-cut steaks. Open for lunch & dinner 7 days a week with daily specials. Happy Hour Monday thru Friday 3-6pm.

541-386-5710 • celilorestaurant.com 16 Oak Street • Downtown Hood River

541-352-6692 • cooperspur.com 10755 Cooper Spur Road • Mt Hood/Parkdale

Open Daily

DOPPIO COFFEE

EL PUERTO DE ANGELES III

EVERYBODY’S BREWING

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.

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).

Get in here and get to know us! At Everybody’s Brewing, you can enjoy an award-winning and ever-evolving beer menu, an inclusive food menu, and a welcoming environment with outdoor seating.

541-386-3000 • doppiohoodriver.com 310 Oak Street • Downtown Hood River

48

BRIDGESIDE

509-427-3412 • backwoodsbrewingcompany.com 1162 Wind River Hwy • Carson

FALL 2020 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

541-308-0005 1306 12th Street • Hood River, on the Heights

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

509.637.2774 • everybodysbrewing.com 177 E. Jewett Boulevard • White Salmon

Open daily and take-out available.

PARTAKE I EAT & DRINK

GRACE SU’S CHINA GORGE RESTAURANT & TIGER LOUNGE 541-386-5331 • chinagorge.com 2680 Old Columbia River Drive • Hood River (Located off I-84 and the base of Hwy 35)

A Gorge favorite for over 41 years! Enjoy authentic Chinese cuisine full of flavor and our friendly service.

Open Tuesday-Sunday, closed Mondays Offering takeout and curbside pickup Visit us on Facebook for hours & information updates

IXTAPA FAMILY MEXICAN RESTAURANT 2827 W. Cascade Avenue • Hood River 541-386-1168 810 Cherry Heights • The Dalles

Authentic, fresh, Mexican food and full bar. Proudly serving the Gorge for 20 years! Daily lunch and dinner specials. Mexican specialties including fresh seafood and vegetarian entries. Catering available.

Open daily. Takeout available. Visit us on Facebook.

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.

Beer & Food To-go. pfriembeer.com/togo

541-386-1606 • pietrosrestaurants.com 107 2nd Street • Hood River

541-716-4020 • remedycafehoodriver.com 112 Third Street • Downtown Hood River

REMEDY CAFÉ

RIVERSIDE & CEBU LOUNGE

Pietro’s is proud to serve the same famous original thin pizza crust and pizza sauce that has made us a Northwest favorite over the years. We use only the freshest and finest cheese and toppings. Proud to be locally owned and operated with four locations: Hood River, Milwaukie, Beaverton and Salem. Dine in, take out, online or delivery.

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

Diners seek out Riverside for some of the best food, drinks and views in the Gorge. Now offering distanced dining indoors and in multiple outdoor areas on the waterfront.

Fresh menus change seasonally – plus an award-winning wine list and dozens of beer on tap.

Open Daily 11am-10pm

Dine-In, Takeout and Curbside Options. Kids Corner.

WiFi. “Where Healthy Food and Your Cravings Meet!”

Serving Breakfast – Lunch – Dinner daily.

SUSHI OKALANI

THUNDER ISLAND BREWING CO.

YOUR PARTAKE LISTING HERE

Visit us in the basement of the Yasui Building, the local’s favorite spot for fresh fish, Pan-Asian Cuisine, and a rockin’ atmosphere! Lots of rotating specials, creative rolls, and a large sake selection means there is always something new!

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, in-house dining is not available.

Open 5-8pm, 7 nights a week for take-out. Please call ahead, phones open at 4pm. Check IG and FB for specials.

An adventure-based brewery that has been handcrafting creative and innovative beers in the Pacific Northwest. This Cascade Locks brewery makes crushable beers inspired by a love of outdoor adventures, with a nod to local history and with a respect for all that the Gorge has to offer.

PIETRO’S PIZZA

541-386-7423 • sushiokalani@gorge.net 109 First Street • Downtown Hood River

971-231-4599 • thunderislandbrewing.com 601 NW Wa Na Pa Street • Cascade Locks

Visit this restaurant and brewery in downtown Cascade Locks.

541-386-4410 • riversidehoodriver.com Exit 64 off I-84 • Waterfront Hood River

Contact Jody Thompson for more information: 425-308-9582 • jthompson@thegorgemagazine.com 541-399-6333 • thegorgemagazine.com The Gorge is a mecca for great food and drink: restaurants, cafés, wineries, breweries, food carts & more.

Help visitors and locals decide where to dine and drink.

They’ll see your ad in print and in the online digital edition of the magazine…for one affordable price!

RESERVE A PARTAKE LISTING SPACE TODAY

THE GORGE MAGAZINE II FALL 2020

49

OUR GORGE I YOUR GORGE

MARIA FOLEY of Underwood, Wash., took this series of photos in 15-minute increments on Sept. 7, as smoke from wildfires in Oregon and Washington moved into the Gorge. More than one million acres in Oregon and 625,000 acres in Washington had burned by the middle of September. The Gorge had so far been spared the flames, but not the smoke. We dedicate this page to all of the firefighters risking their lives battling fires up and down the West Coast during this unprecedented fire season.

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FALL 2020 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

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541.716.0701 350 brokers in 15 offices serving Oregon and SW Washington

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Sotheby’s International Realty is a registered trademark licensed to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates, LLC. Each office is independently owned and operated. All associates are licensed in the State of Oregon. Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc is owned and operated by Realogy.