FOODIE PARADISE ALONG OREGON’S HOOD RIVER
As a teenager, Aaron Baumhackl loved cooking so much, he dropped out of Berkeley High to work in the kitchens at Oakland’s Oliveto, absorbing all he could about inventive Italian cuisine interpreted through fresh, seasonal California ingredients.
But when it came time to finally open his own restaurant some 20 years later, Baumhackl and his wife, Suzanne Wright, headed north. Today, they run Solstice, an artisanal wood-fire pizza eatery in a particularly enchanting location in Oregon — Hood River. About 60 miles east of Portland, the small former logging town is nestled at the foot of the perennially snow-capped Mount Hood and at the confluence of two rivers, Hood River and the mighty Columbia.
For a chef — or anyone who likes good food plus spectacular Northwest scenery — the verdant Hood River Valley, just south of town, and the Columbia River Gorge, a national scenic area, are “paradise,” Baumhackl says.
Historically known for its fruit orchards, this region has become home to craft breweries and more than 40 wineries in the Columbia Gorge American Viticultural Area, which spans rainforests and high desert on either side of the Cascade Mountains. As the foliage begins to turn, the fall harvest season is prime time for winery and farm tours along the famous 35-mile Hood River County Fruit Loop.
This trek has been a family favorite for years. My husband grew up in Stevenson, a small town on the Washington side of the Columbia River near the Bridge of the Gods, the 1926 steel-truss cantilever bridge that Pacific Crest Trail hikers use to cross the river into Washington. Fans of “Wild” will remember that author Cheryl Strayed ended her 1,100mile trail adventure at this bridge.
We’re drawn by both the landscape and those culinary enticements. The region’s most famous produce — cherries, pears and apples — grow in the Hood River Valley, and Highway 35, the main route around the southern side of Mount Hood, takes travelers there. Leaving downtown Hood River, the route climbs up the mountain then winds back down, opening to a spectacular vista of orchards, vineyards and forests, with an omnipresent Mount Hood seeming to float above.
This is home for Teresa Draper, who grew up on a 40-acre farm in the Hood River Valley that her parents bought in 1962. Now, she runs the property as Draper Girls Country Farm, named for the three daughters who help her raise and sell dozens of varieties of apples, pears and cherries.
Draper is finalizing her license to produce hard cider and open a tasting room — hard cider being another burgeoning industry in the Columbia River Gorge. She also raises grass-fed lambs and goats and hosts overnight guests in a cozy four-bedroom farmhouse that opens up onto a garden with, of course, a Mount Hood view.
She’s definitely seen a lot of changes in the area. “Growing up, it was just timber and fruit,” she recalls. “I didn’t have tourists coming here.”
Unlike some other longtime residents, Draper welcomes the tourists. They help her keep her farm going. “There’s not much pay in farming, but I’ve done it my whole life and I do love it,” she says.
When the Baumhackls first moved to Hood River, they visited the Bay Area or Portland as often as possible, missing the culture and energy that people seemed to put into preparing and enjoying food. Now, they don’t feel as compelled to get a regular bigcity fix.
“It’s all here, what the restaurants in Portland or other big cities bring to their tables,” Aaron says. “It’s exciting to be helping put Hood River on the map.”