Leaving our family in the Portland area was hard but we were expected at our new assignment so we drove along Route 84, then Route 82 – mostly along the Columbia River. We’ve been as far as the Bonneville Dam before, stayed in a campground around there and have been to the waterfalls along Old Columbia Highway more than once. But on this trip, we had to stay off the Old Columbia Highway due to the damage from the fires that raged through there. We saw Multnomah Falls from the highway and there still is access to that falls but not much else.
After a long day of driving, we were here – our rig is parked in Charbonneau Park – a beautiful Army Corps of Engineers Park along the Snake River. We met up with our supervisor, Heather, and picked out the site we will be living on for the next few months. We have a view of the river and we’re shaded by huge trees. It’s a very large grassy site – just perfect for us.
Our site at Charbonneau Park
Heather spent the next day with us orienting us to our volunteer position and the Corps Rules and Regulations. Primarily, we are assigned to staff the Visitor Center at Ice Harbor Lock and Dam. We show visitors around the building – take them up to the Fish Ladder window to view the Chinook and Steelheads that are going up and over the dam; explain some of the artifacts in the history section; discuss the workings of the navigation lock, the powerhouse where the electricity is generated and the wildlife display. Visitors have a choice of 6 short films in the auditorium. We also can bring visitors up to the top of the dam to show them the spillways, see the fish ladders from above, show them how we divert and help the juvenile fish, and if they want to walk the full half mile across the dam we show them the navigation lock. Not all visitors want the complete tour and they can only go up if they wear one of our hard hats and have closed-toe shoes. The top of the dam is an amazing place to be – not something you see every day.
Ice Harbor Lock and Dam
Click here to download and view shad passing by the fish ladder window!
We love this part of the job and both of us after a week or so felt comfortable explaining and answering questions. We also took on the task of helping the Rangers get forms and materials from the storage area to the three different campgrounds. We are still finalizing our schedule but one day of the week we gather the forms and brochures and drive to the parks to distribute them. While at the parks, we inspect the bulletin boards and make sure the PFD boards are filled. What, you may say, is a PFD? Well, it’s a Personal Flotation Device. The Corps provides loaner boards of life jackets along the fishing, boating and swimming areas.
We are learning so much here – the geological history of the Ice Age Floods, Lewis and Clark’s journey in this area, lock and dam technology, and the life cycle of anadromous fish. I had the unnerving experience of seeing my first lamprey through the viewing glass. It’s an eel-like creature unlike anything I have ever seen. It was disturbingly ugly – a part of the natural world with its own place in the river’s and ocean’s ecosystem. Something new to get used to.
Pacific Lamprey
To round out our duties we also run the Movie Nights on Saturdays in the outdoor amphitheater at Hood Park. We helped Heather decide on the movies, she printed the list that we posted at the parks and the local library, and now we are the Movie Volunteers. It’s been fun – we get to the park early and walk around to each campsite reminding them to come to see the movie. The first night we showed Bobber, The Water Safety Dog (which is a short Corps of Engineers cartoon) and followed it with another kid-friendly drama about water safety called Safe Passages. We had a huge turn out! Over a hundred guests! But that was because the Boy Scouts were camping in the park and they were doing a presentation in the amphitheater – giving us a captive audience. This week we showed The Greatest Showman on Saturday and then an extra movie night on Sunday for the Memorial Day Holiday crowd – Madagascar. The Bobber Cartoon is always the first feature and the kids love it! We had good crowds (80 and 60 folks) each night. A perk for us is that we get to see the movies too.
Getting ready to show the Bobber movie at Movie Night
There are two other volunteers doing these tasks with us. For all this fun, we get our lovely site with full hook ups. Doug and I, because we are a couple, work 24 hours each week. We also have the use of a laundry facility in the Power House. So I wear a hard hat when I do the laundry! The other volunteers, who are singles, work 32 hours each week. We work out the week’s scheduled with them and basically provide these services which otherwise would be done by the Rangers. So we are again working closely with Rangers – interacting with visitors and helping to make the parks and visitor center a great place for education and fun. Love this job!
We have even had our first visitors – Rocky and Chris Baker, whom we met at Kartchner Caverns, camped right near us for 2 nights and we spent the time together sharing meals and checking out this area. We took them along the Snake River to a quiet spot where they did a little bird watching. We saw some birds, some ducks, geese and a river otter. Then we gave them a tour through the Visitor Center and up to the top of the dam. We went out for dinner at Sterling’s and followed our meal with a walk along the very high Columbia River.
The four of us spent the next day at the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Hanford. We took the four hour tour, including bus transportation, to see the nuclear reactor that produced the material for the atomic bomb. Wow! A part of this nation’s history – a complex and impressive era in our history that brought out many different emotions. This free tour is provided by a joint effort of the Department of Energy and the National Parks Service – in an effort to educate the public.
The reactor core at the Hanford B Reactor Site
It was wonderful to see Rocky and Chris. They are off to their next volunteer stint in an Oregon State Park on the beach. As we talk to all our new friends and read more about the opportunities out there – we realize how diverse and interesting these positions are. By the start of 2020, we will have lived and worked at a cave, a dam, a beach, and a park and back to a cave. In between we will have crossed the United States twice and seen the miracles of nature, the amazing museums and cuddled our grandchildren!