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The Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail between Troutdale and The Dalles is one step closer to completion thanks to the opening of a 2-mile path at Viento State Park.
On Saturday, Sept. 9, Oregon State Parks and the Oregon Department of Transportation held a public ribbon-cutting at the site, which is located 7 miles west of Hood River.
In addition to the new segment of trail, which leads east from Viento toward Mitchell Point, the park has a new hiker-biker campground with a slew of features, including three cooking shelters, lockers with chargers, showers and an overnight site that that complies with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Crews who began work on this project last summer also updated an existing camping loop that is accessible by car.
The new trail does not yet go all the way to the Mitchell Point Tunnel. But the addition provides recreationalists who are traveling by foot or bicycle with a safer route in that area since it is free of motor vehicle traffic.
“Each segment of the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail that opens gets us one step closer to our vision of a fully reconnected Historic Highway,” Rian Windsheimer, ODOT Region 1 manager, stated in a press release.
Nearly 1 more mile of trail is needed to link the existing path to the new Mitchell Point Tunnel—a 665-foot-long shaft that echoes the aesthetics of the original, which was destroyed in 1966 to make way for Interstate 84. The attraction itself is scheduled to open next spring, though construction on the remaining stretch of path is still a ways off. ODOT estimates it could begin in 2026.
