Rainy Days in Astoria (Oregon)

Columbia River from the Astoria Column (Gold 200 film, Kodak Retina IIa camera, 1/250 ƒ/8 - click to see more detail)

Astoria is a historic sea and trading port on the Oregon shore at the mouth of the Columbia River. It is a wet city because weather patterns from the North Pacific thunder in most of the winter (and often in the summer). 

The mighty Columbia is the largest volume river to enter the Pacific Ocean from the Americas. The average flow at the mouth (meaning near Astoria) is about 265,000 cubic feet/second. As an example of scale, the Mississippi River during the flood of 2011 had a flow in excess of 2 million cu ft/sec, while a large tidal inlet on the Gulf of Mexico coast (Destin, Florida) has a discharge of about 100,000 cu ft/sec. From Astoria, the estuary looks immense.

Dusk on the Columbia (Moto G5 phone file)

Freighters at anchor, Columbia River, Astoria (Gold 200 film)

Great blue heron, Columbia River (Gold 200 film, 1/50 ƒ/4)

Yes, the river dominates everything. 

Riverwalk, Astoria (1/50 ƒ/4)

The Riverwalk extends along the entire waterfront. It is a nice walk or bike ride, but a bit damp in the rain. Many of the tourist restaurants are situated on the wharf or in warehouses.

On the Riverwalk (the door is fake)

Chow time, fish and chips, Astoria Brewing Company (Moto G5 phone photo)

What do you do after a wet day walking the docks? Well, eat fish 'n chips and drink craft beer at the Astoria Brewing Company. These were some of the best fish 'n chips I have ever eaten. 

Room with a view, Astoria (Moto G5 phone file)

Road with a view (Moto G5 phone file)

Astoria has plenty of hotels and even some old-fashioned motor courts. We stayed in the heart of the city, within walking distance of coffee shops, a bakery, and restaurants.

West Marine Drive, Astoria

Kick Ass Koffee - what could be better than that?

Former cannery east of Astoria

Wouldn't you know it? The day we left, the weather cleared. So it goes. I would love to explore the old cannery, but the pier was tightly secured. At one time, thousands of workers packed fish at this and other canneries.

Most of these photographs are from Kodak Gold 200 film, taken with my Kodak Retina IIa camera with its Retina-Xenon 50mm ƒ/2 lens. This is a fully coated 6-element Gauss-type lens. I had just bought this little camera and was very pleased with its performance. 

Columbia River Bridges

The mighty Columbia Rivers drains portions of British Columbia, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. It has the greatest discharge of any US river entering the Pacific Ocean and is the fourth-largest river in the United States. Because it drops steeply from the mountains of Idaho and the high plateau of central Washington, it has tremendous hydroelectric potential. Since the early 20th century, the Columbia has been developed with 14 hydroelectric dams, and almost every mile of the once free-flowing river now consists of reservoir pools. The map, from the Wikimedia Commons, shows the extent of the river's basin

I explored some of the lower Columbia River Gorge during a recent trip, and two historic bridges caught my eye. The photograph above shows the spectacular gorge near Cascade Locks, about 40 miles east of Portland. The locks were completed in 1896, but they were subsequently submerged in 1938 when Bonneville Lock and Dam was completed some distance downriver.


The elegant steel truss cantilever Bridge of the Gods was opened in 1926 at a length of 1,127 feet (343 m). But once Bonneville dam was completed, the bridge was too low for navigation, so it was raised and the approaches were lengthened. It now has a length of 1,856 feet (565 m).


About an hour drive east, you reach the The Dalles, once the site of a long series of rapids. This is a much drier climate zone, almost desert. The Dalles Dam was completed in 1957, submerging the rapids, along with fishing platforms and other structures used by native Americans for hundreds of years. The Dalles Bridge is another handsome mid-century steel cantilever truss bridge, spanning the Columbia between The Dalles, OR, and Dallesport, WA. It was completed in 1953.

Photographs taken with a Panasonic G1 digital camera.