Gorge-ous Skamania Lodge rejuvenates more than just its guests
by David Gillin, Tour Guide
Behind Skamania Lodge’s 18-hole golf course, its full-service spa and its spectacular Columbia Gorge setting lies a story of economic rebirth. Guests lounging in the hot tub (beautifully landscaped with its own waterfall) are blissfully unaware that Skamania Lodge not only is revitalizing them — it revitalized an entire county.
Intended to evoke the cozy feel of great Cascade lodges of the early 1900s, Skamania Lodge’s design uses large timbers, wood paneling and native stone, combined with wrought iron accents and mission-style furnishings.
Our story begins in the early 1990s. Skamania County was reeling, suffering from a steep downturn in the timber industry, long the linchpin of the county’s economy (90 percent of Skamania County is forest land). By 1992, when the county’s largest remaining mill shut down, unemployment was a staggering 18 percent.
Luckily, Skamania County had another undeveloped natural resource — its beauty. The county borders the Columbia River Gorge, a region so gorgeous and pristine it was designated by Congress in 1986 as the nation’s only National Scenic Area.
“You look down the Gorge and you’re actually looking at history,” says Brandon Ott, a BA guide and environmental educator. “You’re seeing the results of one of the largest floods ever to hit this planet.”
That event, known as the Missoula Floods, swept down the Columbia River plain 15,000 years ago, scouring its cliffs, leaving hillside streams high above the riverbed and creating one of the world’s greatest concentrations of waterfalls. On the Columbia Gorge trip, you’ll cycle by several, including jaw-dropping Multnomah Falls, which plunges 620 feet — making it more than three times taller than Niagara Falls.
The Act that created the National Scenic Area called for a variety of government groups to work together to protect the Gorge’s fragile resources — scenic, cultural and recreational — while encouraging economic development that respected those resources.
In a unique public-private partnership, the U.S. Forest Service, the Columbia River Gorge Commission, Skamania County and the developers of Oregon’s acclaimed Salishan Lodge joined together to build Skamania Lodge, the Gorge’s first destination resort and conference center. It opened in 1993, complete with an 18-hole golf course, heath spa, tennis courts and hiking trails.
Intended to evoke the cozy feel of great Cascade lodges of the early 1900s, Skamania Lodge’s design uses large timbers, wood paneling and native stone, combined with wrought iron accents and mission-style furnishings. The lobby’s centerpiece is a massive, 85-foot tall rock fireplace that weighs 500,000 pounds.
It’s a favorite spot for BA guests to kick back after a day’s ride, if they’re not relaxing in the lodge’s pool or the indoor/outdoor hot tubs — or getting a massage at the spa.
Skamania certainly has plenty to offer, but the best part of the lodge may simply be its setting, nestled in the woods on a ridge above the Columbia River, with a sweeping view of the Gorge below.
All in all, Skamania Lodge has proved a catalyst for economic revitalization, as well as a warm and welcome way station for BA guests as they experience the grandeur of the Columbia River Gorge.