Fruit Loop

October 19, 2025October 19, 2025

The Orchard Loop

Floating maple leaves sail by on the breeze

This week mornings got markedly colder. First frost signals a trip to the orchards.

A series of fruit orchards line the foothills under the northern slopes of Mt. Hood. In all, there are some 14,500 acres of fruit trees on the hills above the city of Hood River.

Just a couple of pears left on this tree

The first trees were planted in 1855 and now you’ll find 30 plus farm stands on a 35 mile loop road . . . the Fruit Loop.

The Farm we visit regularly is Kiyokawa Orchards. By mid-October they have around a 100 varieties of apples and pears set out in boxes, many featuring free samples. There’s also jugs of freshly pressed cider.

We make the drive to this orchard at least twice a year. We were here early in the season to get peaches, plums, and early apples.

Deschutes River at Warm Springs, a frequent stopover to stretch our legs

We return in mid-October to pick over the abundant variety of apples and pears. Most of these you’ll not find in you local mega mart, nor even in that nearby organic co-op.

The cloud cover lifts as we approach Mt Hood

It’s a bit of a drive, but we pack a lunch and make a day of it.

The morning starts with a trip out of the high desert on Hwy 26, and then down the east side of Mt Hood on Hwy 35 . . . turning west before we get to Hood River.

Looking south from Hwy 197 you see the Cascade Range and it’s foothills

After filling a few bags with a selection of fresh fruit, it’s back up Hwy 35, turning left on USFS 44 to Dufur, the Tygh Valley and Maupin.

Freight trains regularly run North/South along the Deschutes River

There is a mandatory stop on the Lower Deschutes where a couple of hours are spent attempting to catch a fish.

Enjoying a relaxing drive along the river

Then we take state route 197 to The Dalles-California Hwy (97) and back home. The whole loop passes through a myriad of different environments, which makes the drive not seem so long.

Plus, we have a box full of apples and a couple of gallons of fresh pressed cider. A good time was had by all.

August 24, 2025August 29, 2025

Seasonal Shift

Summer seems to be rushing away. We’ve been heading out early and seeking shade by late morning. Now, the cool of the morning lasts longer and we linger along the river until past noon. Very soon it will be fall.

One of the harbingers of fall is stone fruit.

When the produce aisle peaches actually give off their sweet heady aroma, the skin of a plum gives to the touch, and apple varieties triple, then summer is near its end.

A late summer storm starts to engulf Mt. Hood.

We’ll make several trips to the hillsides above Hood River before the end of October. Each visit is rewarded with a new variety of tree ripened fruit.

Stone fruits mark summer’s close. Apple and pear varieties will reach a peak toward the end of September, trailing off by Halloween, and at that point winter looms.

Some varieties require extra protection from birds.

On this trip we were treated to a glorious display of weather patterns. Clouds, rain storms and patches of sun encircled us.

From a vantage point on a sage steppe above the Columbia River, all you have to do is change your angle of view to get a different sky.

We started the day with rain and moved in and out of storms all the way north.

However, by the time we were at Kiyokawa Family Orchard it was under sunny skies.

A half dozen varieties of peaches were set out in boxes. There were some early apple types, as well as a couple of different early pears.

Tables holding thumb sized plums in various shades of purple rounded out the offerings.

A sample of orchard offerings kept cool for the drive home.

We had no problem filling our cooler, even with the limited early season offerings.

This is only the start of our trips to collect orchard treasures and take note of the seasonal shift.

October 8, 2023October 12, 2023

Apple Season

There are seventy-five hundred varieties of apples in the world, a third of these get grown in the United States. If you are still picking up Red Delicious at the grocery you’re missing . . . a lot . . . of great apples.

Now most of these varieties come from crosses of heirloom trees and their differences lay mostly in minute fluctuations in sweetness. It is also worth noting, how very difficult it would be to find samples of all apple varieties in any one place.

Fruit trees are regionally specific, but the Pacific Northwest is a major player in apple production.

There aren’t many types of fruit that offer this level of variety. Nor, perhaps, share the apples level of popularity.

In recent years the types of apples you’d find at a local grocer has expanded. To some degree this is being pushed by a more global market.

However, family orchards, like you find on the hills above Hood River, have done their part in the propagation of old and introduction of new apple types, as well as other fruit varieties.

Hillsides filled with orchards and exposure to so many different types of fruit is the reason we drive to the Hood River a few times every Fall.

The Kiyokawa Family Orchard grows around a hundred varieties of apples, from Akane to Zestar, most of which won’t show-up in the produce aisle at your local grocer.

There’s also a couple dozen different types of pears . . . Anjou to Warren, and again lots of unique names. At any given point in the season there will be thirty different boxes and bins of tree ripened fruit to choose from.

Still room for some more fruit in that bag

What is ready for sale sits in a ring of wooden racks supporting boxes loaded with fruit and wearing placards noting sweetness level and some tasting notes. You buy a container (bag or box) sized to meet your needs and then fill that bag from any of the available boxes.

We chose the standard bag which held a couple dozen apples and half a dozen pears. This translated into six different apple varieties and two different kinds of pears. We also picked up a couple of small bins of plums, most of which were devoured on the trip back over the mountain to home.

Is it really fall before you fill a bag with fresh apples grown on the hills overlooking the Columbia River?

. . . I don’t think so.

October 16, 2022October 14, 2022

Apple Season

Apples destined for sorbet, chutney, turnovers, fritters, tarts, and pies

To most, this time of year is Fall … to us it is Apple Season.

For a few weeks, on the northern foothills of Mt. Hood, between the end of September and early November, you can find roadside stands offering tree-ripened fruit.

Kiyokawa Family Orchards is in Parkdale, which is twenty minutes from Hood River, or two hours from Bend, depending where you start your journey. For us, the reason to travel to the highest reaches of the Hood River fruit orchards … is Kiyokawa.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better variety of tree fruit in one spot. There is literally a maze of apples and pears. JQ does her research and builds a list. In years past these excursions ended with bags of un-identified fruit, so now, armed with a list, we are more focused.

Dolgo crabapples for jelly and McIntosh for apple butter

From left to right, Hanner’s Jumbo, one of the largest apples, Dolgo Crabapple, Pink Pearl

Apples and pears for picnic boxes are only part of the haul.

There will be a batch of apple butter and slices for gallettes and pies added to the freezer.

Crabapple jelly is on the list of new projects this fall.

July 24, 2022August 6, 2022

Pick a spot, any spot

Columbia Gorge, from an overlook near Mosier, Oregon

This week’s travels were more of a route than destination. Typically, we pick a location, then plan a route. Occasionally, we pick a direction and stop whenever and wherever we feel like it. This was one of those trips.

We begin our trek heading north. We have a vague idea of “cherries are in season now” and realize … “it’s been awhile since we saw the Columbia River Gorge.”

As mentioned in previous posts (see “Fossils, Rocks and Turkeys”), there are rules we apply to every road trip. In this case, “don’t repeat route wherever possible.”

With cherries in mind, we head to Hood River’s Fruit Loop. We wind our way past orchards, then stop at Pearl’s Place Fruit Stand, one of our favorites. The owners are nice, the fruit, in this case cherries and fresh peaches, are delicious.

We notice traffic is really picking up on the Loop. We shift to a new route away from the tourists and toward the little town of Mosier in the gorge.

A few years ago, we picked end-of-season apricots from trees on Annie’s Orchard, which is located here. After all, cherries are in season and we are in prime orchard country.

We are ahead of the hottest part of the day as we exit I-84 into Mosier.

A fruit stand, manned by community volunteers and stocked from nearby Roots Farm, has several varieties to choose from.

We pick up a few pounds of Rainers, setting aside a small bag for front-seat snacking. And we are back on our way.

Instead of the freeway, we go east on Second Street, out of town, which is a stretch of the old Columbia River Highway, US-30.

This section is still in service, featuring lots of driveways, wineries, orchards, and scenic overlooks. We follow the narrow, twisty road, watching out for groups of bikers, and enjoy stellar views of the gorge.

Then, we are back on the freeway. This time we turn south towards home, taking an alternate route through landscape that morphs from grain fields into ranch country. Visible from the car are rolling hills with an abundance of sage. After a full day on the road, it is good to be home.