BNSF

[AlanLichty]

One of the "features" to the Columbia River Gorge is the amount of rail traffic that goes through it every day. There are tracks on both banks of the river - Union Pacific on the Oregon side and Burlington Northern Santa Fe on the Washington side. Between the two there is a train coming though about every 20 minutes 24x7 as it is a pretty busy corridor. This is a shot of a BNSF train passing along the northern shore of the river downstream from the Bonneville Dam.

C&C always welcome.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Nice and the drone provided a different perspective

 

[AlanLichty]

Nice and the drone provided a different perspective

Thanks Ben - I heard the train coming and flew over to see if I could catch a shot not really knowing quite what to expect. I think you could get some interesting angles if you flew down closer but I was more interested in shooting Multnomah Falls across the river.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Just drove the gorge on Thursday and was surprised at how little burn damage I saw. Not that it was good just that I expected more

 

[AlanLichty]

Just drove the gorge on Thursday and was surprised at how little burn damage I saw. Not that it was good just that I expected more

Most of the burn damage is on the ridge tops that you can't see from I-84. This view from the Washington side of the river might help put it in perspective - the thin line along the far bank is I-84 which was mostly below the burn area. The burn ran up Eagle Creek and jumped to the ridge tops. All of the grayed out areas are dead trees. In some cases the fire burned down the canyons and others got skipped. Click through for a wider view.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Wow we did not see that

 

[AlanLichty]

Wow we did not see that

You can't see it all that well from WA14 on the other side either. This is another drone pano from out over the river.

 

[JimFox]

That’s really cool Alan. My thought was I bet it would look really cool if you had flown down more at an angle. And you answered that question in your reply to Ben.

 

[AlanLichty]

That’s really cool Alan. My thought was I bet it would look really cool if you had flown down more at an angle. And you answered that question in your reply to Ben.

Thanks Jim - it would be pretty easy to get closer if you were better prepared for the train passage. I wouldn't want to get too close as trains do create a lot of air turbulence as they pass by.

 

[Alisa]

So cool! I love this view of the train!