Hood River, OR

My sister-in-law lived in Hood River for a while and has always spoken fondly of it. Thanks to her recommendations, we visited a few spots we might have otherwise known about, like Ferment Brewing Company and Pine Street Bakery.

Unfortunately our timing was off, and the day we dedicated to a hike was rainy and the expected views were nonexistent. The following day we spent alongside the Columbia River, but the morning fog didn’t clear up until we were just about ready to leave. Nonetheless, I think we saw a good cross section of Hood River living. 

The Good

• Really cool geology. This section of the Columbia River Gorge is known for its waterfalls and landscapes cut by the last ice age. There are tons of interesting rock formations and cliff faces. 
• Really accessible for outdoor activities. It’s a big windsurfing hub and it’s a great spot for Mount Hood, Mount Adams, and Mount Saint Helens access. 
• The town is cute and it’s situated in a scenic area. 
• There are distinct segments dedicated to agriculture and industry. It’s cool that many of the factories are for names that I recognize and like, such as Tofurky and Immersion Research. 
• For any city needs, Portland is only an hour away and Seattle is less than four. 

The Bad

• It’s windy! That’s a benefit for windsurfers but a downfall for everyone else. 
• The town climbs up a steep hill that makes up one of the slopes of the Gorge. 
• The train goes by regularly and could be heard from just about everywhere in town because of the steeply angled landscape. 
• Hood River is located on the south side of the Gorge, which means it has limited winter sunlight.
• Everything is set up for a heavy influx of summer tourism: you have to pay for parking, many stores are seasonally closed, and it’s obvious that the nicest parts of living here get overrun by Portland weekend visitors. I expect that traffic can be bad for the same reason because the access highway is pretty narrow, winding, and windy.
• This is a town for people who like to drink. I enjoy the occasional brewery/winery/distillery, but I don’t need literally every-other business in town to be a drinking establishment. 

The Verdict

Maybe, but for practical decision making that means no. There are a lot of similarities to Wenatchee, WA, including that they both are bordered by the Columbia River. When comparing the two directly, Wenatchee feels a little dumper, but I think Wenatchee is yet to grow into its potential, whereas I think Hood River is already too well known. 

The view of Mount Hood we should have had on our hike. 

The view we actually had. 

The riverfront was set up for heavy summer multi-purpose access. In the winter, we only saw runners and walkers going along the paved path, and lots of young kids playing at the playground and in the sand. 

These stairs were steep and went on forever – at least five blocks. 

After specialty bars, outdoor gear shops were the #2 most common business in downtown. There seemed to be at least one on each block. Bonus: you can see the “HR” Hood River banner that was prominently displayed around town in the top right of this photo.

Rainbow on the Washington side of the river. 

Homes in town were cute, but largely outside of our price range. Rather than living on one of these steep streets, we’d probably look for some land in the agricultural region about 15 minutes outside of town. 

Inside Ferment – a huge brewery overlooking the River and well set up for heavy tourism. 

Free advice offered outside of a seasonal ice cream shop, but the bulletin board was still in heavy use in the winter. 

This gas station-turned-pub was a cool vibe. 

These signs encouraging local produce consumption were slightly off putting to me. It seems like this should be the type of town that already is really locally focused. 

I love the geology at Memaloose State Park. 

Views of the industrial side of town. 

Looking at the mini factory inside of the Immersion Research shop. 

Overall downtown was super cute (especially once the sun came out) and probably felt bigger than most towns with less than 10,000 people because of the tourism.