i was planning on doing this on the WA side of the river after The Dalles, but decided yesterday to accept the ~6mi of gravel to save about 7mi and 700' elevation overall. It was worth it. The ride between Hood River and The Dalles is a classic! A pretty gentle climb up gets you spectacular views of the Columbia below and rock formations towering beside you. You climb again after Mosier to the amazing Rowena viewpoint. The ride down the switchbacks along the walls of columnar basalt is some of the best biking I've ever done. After lunch in The Dalles, instead of crossing to WA, we continued out Hwy 30/Eightmile Rd/Fifteenmile Rd to the gravel Moody Rd. Moody Rd is a well maintained county farm road, I struggled with the initial, relatively short 7% climb (some walking) and the final mile or so is a steep (max 17%) downhill that was more partially controlled crash than biking, but the rest was pretty level and easy travel. The pavement until Moody Rd is a gentle incline among farmland. Once you hit gravel, you're out among grass plateau high above the Columbia with awesome views. The gravel ends at a pretty park on the Deschutes. It's a quick 5mi from there into Biggs Jcn on the shoulder of the relatively quiet Hwy 30. Biggs Jcn itself is a massive truck stop and nothing else. Bikers are outnumbered about 100 to 1 by semis, making it very odd to bike across indeed, but it also has the only services for about 40mi and the bridge that will get us across the river tomorrow.