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At the western entrance to downtown Troutdale, just east of where the freeway overpass deposits you (or if you come from the south, via SW 257th Dr*) you'll pass under a really pretty nicely-done archway gate.
TROUTDALE GATEWAY TO THE GORGE, it exults, adorned on either side with the fish that give the town its name. It's actually rather understated for a monumental gate.
And still, it's not overstating it. One will notice, as you travel eastward on Historic Columbia River Hwy, that there is a rather substantial knoll overlooking the main drag.
And though the road snakes down into the dell and crosses the Sandy River on a historic old girder bridge (which was being worked on and was closed when we were there) that road bends to respect the sheer rock face on the right bank of the Sandy. It is a headland against which the relentless rectilinear grid of the eastern Metro area breaks and, in a very real way, the first high point of the south rim of the Columbia Gorge.
The manmade gate is back several blocks. The natural gate, much more spectacular, you can see from quite a way off. Natural grandeur, only about 15 miles outside of downtown Portland ... and the Cascade foothills, on the doorstep of downtown Troutdale.
* One may find the name of a main road in Troutdale being SW 257th Drive a bit perplexing. Troutdale doesn't spread out that much. However, that part of town is in the Southwest address quadrant and was originally NE 257th Dr before the city developed around it. They address it like a Troutdale street, but kept the historic name.
TROUTDALE GATEWAY TO THE GORGE, it exults, adorned on either side with the fish that give the town its name. It's actually rather understated for a monumental gate.
And still, it's not overstating it. One will notice, as you travel eastward on Historic Columbia River Hwy, that there is a rather substantial knoll overlooking the main drag.
And though the road snakes down into the dell and crosses the Sandy River on a historic old girder bridge (which was being worked on and was closed when we were there) that road bends to respect the sheer rock face on the right bank of the Sandy. It is a headland against which the relentless rectilinear grid of the eastern Metro area breaks and, in a very real way, the first high point of the south rim of the Columbia Gorge.
The manmade gate is back several blocks. The natural gate, much more spectacular, you can see from quite a way off. Natural grandeur, only about 15 miles outside of downtown Portland ... and the Cascade foothills, on the doorstep of downtown Troutdale.
* One may find the name of a main road in Troutdale being SW 257th Drive a bit perplexing. Troutdale doesn't spread out that much. However, that part of town is in the Southwest address quadrant and was originally NE 257th Dr before the city developed around it. They address it like a Troutdale street, but kept the historic name.
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