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• Rooster Rock
• Rooster Rock Cannery
• Rooster Rock State Park
• Mirror Lake

Clarence E. Mershon, East of the Sandy: The Columbia River Highway

At the Overlook, the highway and the wire trail part, as the wagon road from Chanticleer to Rooster Rock essentially followed the wire trail to the riverbank below...

From Rooster Rock, the trail apparently continued eastward along the river bank to Latourell, Bridal Veil, Warrendale and beyond. From Latourell eastward, it is certain that the highway intercepted the trail at many points.

The road from the old Rooster Rock Cannery to the Chanticleer Inn site is still intact (not counting I-84), contrary to some reports. This route is NOT the route of the old Sandy River to The Dalles Military Road, it follows a different path through the area. The most recent research I've seen claims that the military road did run down this drainage between Chanticleer and Crown Point, but most the Rooster Rock Road was not actually on its alignment. Traces of the old Military Road grade do exist down there, though.

"From Chanticleer to the east line of Multnomah County, a distance of 20.48 miles, there existed no road. There was a narrow, steep and crooked link from Chanticleer down the side of the gorge to Latourelle, then up and over and down again to Bridal Veil, connecting with the short piece of road built in response to the petition previously referred to of Henry Wemme and others, when the Columbia Highway was inaugurated and where it had ended its course abruptly against a rugged mountainside some distance above the track of a trans-continental railway."

"Early train travelers could take a shuttle and brave a winding road from the base of the cliff to the inn. Portions of that road still exist. The upper end of it can be accessed only by hikers from the western side of the parking lot. Several vistas are available for those taking the time to walk the existing portion of the road which is passable for eight tenths of a mile from the park."

The whole thing is definitely walkable. Drivable, probably still, if not for the gates, the last time I was there. However, about 8/10 of a mile down there is another gate, and that may be what they are referring to. Officially, the road is not open as a trail but, except for passing over the UP land at the tracks, I do believe that it is all public property now.

"Before the road was paved, a trip to Chanticleer was, to say the least, an adventure. When the dirt road was dry, dust thrown up by the wheels would coat everything in the car. And during the frequent wet periods, the road from Portland through Springdale and Corbett to the inn was often a muddy quagmire. Another way to the inn was to take a train to the depot at Rooster Rock. There travelers could take a motorized shuttle and brave a winding road from the base of the cliff to the inn. Portions of that road still exist. the upper end of it can be accessed only by hikers from the western side of the parking lot. Several vistas are available for those taking the time to walk the existing portion of the road which is passable for eight-tenths of a mile (about halfway down the bluff) from the park."

"Oregon State Parks has included a proposal for converting an old road grade from the spot where this photo was taken to Rooster Rock in their draft Gorge Parks Plan."

Well, off the road in the bowl between the two points, we found an abandoned house (well, foundations and leftovers from...).

Links

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