Amazing Race to Bridge of the Gods
Wednesday December 3, 2008
Photo © Wendy Bumgardner 2008
I was thrilled to learn that my favorite reality TV show, The Amazing Race was having its final leg and winner's mat in my neck of the woods. Previews for Sunday's finale show the finalists using a 2000-foot zip line from Bridge of the Gods to Thunder Island in the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon, pictured above one month after the race. I've walked across Bridge of the Gods and drove across it in an ice storm last January. I have frequently circled Thunder Island as part of the Columbia Gorge walking weekends we have in June every-other year. Enjoy my photos of the area around the Bridge of the Gods in the Columbia River Gorge.
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Comments
Walking, yes. Zip line, uhhh, no.
(I’m listening to Loch Lomond, an Oregonian band, as I type!)
Beautiful area to walk, but I’m with Nancy — zip lines?? *shudder* No way!
It’s scary enough just WALKING across Bridge of the Gods. The bridge surface is open steel grating, you see down several hundred feet underneath your shoes! The Pacific Crest Trail crosses the Columbia River here, and they have to blindfold the horses and lead them across.
It looks like a place I’d love to visit - but I think I’ll pass on the zip lines too.
That is fabulous!
On the Road Again
Sounds scary but exhilarating! Beautiful photo.
That is so beautiful. It is proof that we have wonder all around us and we don’t necessarily have to go to far off exotic places to see something spectacular. Thanks!
I have loved the Gorge Walking Weekends and have stayed at the Best Western right by the Bridge of the Gods. It’s a wonderful place. Watching the sunset over the Gorge leaves wonderful shadows on the mountains and water. What a great place for my favorite show to choose!
If you want to know the location of The Amazing Race finish line, see the link below. Complements of the fans of the Amazing Race at realityfanforum.com
http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php/topic,17934.0.html
Was the zipline just put up for the Amazing Race? or is it for the public?
The zip line was only put there for the show, it isn’t normally there. The show last night was incredible.
First, Dan and Andrew were completely done in by their cab driver. How he ended up on Hwy 219 to get from PDX to Newberg is…total incompetency. He probably decided to take Hwy 26 and then go south though Hillsboro and Scholls, which is definitely the long, slow way. I can’t even imagine a GPS system or map that told him to go that way. Only once did I take the route the driver took them on, because we were driving home from Thankgiving and a portion of 219 was closed due to flooding, so we ended up going to Newberg via Bell Rd. as they did. Tiny, twisty road.
Next, I was impressed by how nice Portlanders came across and how the teams were able to get good info and directions from the Portland Building (major landmark, anyone would know it) to the food cart pad (been there often but its location is not fixed in my brain) to Voodoo Donuts (I didn’t know their “magic is in the hole” slogan but it is a major “weird Portland” location.)
It is just a zip up Burnside to the Pittock Mansion. I heard an ad for Pittock Mansion’s holiday displays on the radio just Saturday. It was built by one of the founders of the local newspaper, The Oregonian.
So, my area came off very well, except for one cab driver!
It was fun to watch them finish on the grassy area where I have walked so many times. It was a good show and my choice of team won. And there are no zip lines in the area. I walked out on the Bridge of the Gods once in the evening when there was no traffic and that was as scary as it gets there!
Liz
i watched it on amazing race,do they really have the zip line cause,i wanna do it…yeahhhh