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> Gorge Gallop

ABOUT 17 MILLION YEARS in the making, this is one drive you’ll remember for the rest of your days. Skirting along the edge of the Columbia River, Highway 14 (also known as the Lewis and Clark Highway) stretches 180 miles from downtown Vancouver in the west to I-82 in the east, just south of Tri-Cities. The richest part of the journey is the 80-mile swath that leads through the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, where rays of light and veils of fog bring the landscape alive in any weather.

Start your trip in Vancouver, picking up provisions at the weekend farmers market adjacent to Esther Short Park, with its clock tower and inviting water features. From here, it’s a straight shot east on Highway 14 through verdant green terrain that winds along the Columbia River’s northern bank. The national scenic area officially begins just east of Washougal at Cape Horn, where a viewpoint invites drivers to pull over and take in a sweeping prospect.

Hop back in the car and make a beeline for Beacon Rock. A vertiginous trail—accessible to most levels of hikers, but not for the acrophobic— leads to the top of the 850-foot-tall basalt mass, yielding unmatched views of the western gorge. After descending, drive on through more forest to the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center Museum in Stevenson, where you can explore the gorge’s cultural and geologic history. For a different sort of edification, schedule a stop at neighboring Skamania Lodge for a spa treatment or a round of championship golf.

From there, it’s about 45 miles to Maryhill; here, the gorge’s dense greenery gradually shrinks back to scrub pines and towering, grassy hills awash in sun-kissed splendor. The Maryhill Museum of Art beckons picnickers with its surprising sculpture gardens and its perch high above the river. After the nosh, you’ll want to follow the road just a few more miles to Maryhill’s resident oddity: a full-scale replica of Stonehenge. This memorial to local World War I veterans provides a particularly striking view of the gorge’s grandeur.
—JOHN PATRICK PULLEN

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MUST DO

> EAT SOLSTICE WOOD FIRE CAFÉ This haven of organic, farm-fresh foods on the small commercial stretch along Highway 14 in Bingen serves excellent salads, local wines and craft brews, and unforgettable pizzas from the wood-fired oven. Hungry kids will appreciate a bottomless bowl of buttered pasta. www.solsticewoodfirecafe.com

> SEE six-million-year-old remnant tells the tale of when the gorge was a fiery hot field of lava. Perched about 40 miles east of Vancouver on Highway 14, Beacon Rock is the frozen core of a small volcano preserved in the throes of its final eruption. Over time, the volcano walls were eroded by the river, leaving the basalt columns that tower over the roadway today. www.parks.wa.gov/parks

> PLAY MARYHILL WINERY At one of the gorge’s most scenic points, this winery hosts tastings year-round and a stirring outdoor concert series in the summer. From the vineyard and the area around it, oenophiles can look clear across the gorge and up and down the river before sampling wines in the tasting room. www.maryhillwinery.com

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