Hood River to the Dalles Professional Review and Guide

"This is the classic cycling route in the Columbia Gorge: a nearly perfect combination of low traffic, spectacular scenery, and enough climbing to be a challenge—especially if you make it a round-trip. It works well as a quick one-way, a straight out-and-back (the scenery doesn’t get any worse the second time around), or a hillier round-trip lollipop loop via the fairly fearsome 7-Mile Hill.

Climb your way out of Mosier to a short section of flat road, then begin a long, steady ascent through the fertile land of the renowned Hood River Valley. The orchards here are so plentiful and bountiful that a local tourist trail is called the Fruit Loop. All in all, it’s about 10 miles of up, but again the grades are humane, and the surroundings are captivating."

--Jim Moore , 75 Classic Rides Oregon (The Mountaineers Books).