Hood River Inn Outside Walk

Hood River Best Western

This hotel is conveiniently located next to the Colombia River Gorge and is easily accessable and hard to miss as it sits next to the a McDonalds and Starbucks so it is easy to find and is located at 1108 E Marina Drive, Hood River, OR 97031.

Need to see their website? Here is their homepage: http://www.hoodriverinn.com/

Outside Walk Tour

This tour starts on the left side of the hotel as you are facing it. So, if you are looking at the front entrance, the far left side of the hotel is a great way to start your walking tour as there is a sidewalk leading to the river where this tour starts. This particular day was great, as the temperature was perfect for a small walk around the hotel.

Riverwalk near Hood River Inn — Riverwalk and sidewalk on the backside of the Hood River Inn

Next up, I came across a small pier docked or made next to the riverwalk behind the Best Western Hood River/ Hood River Inn. As a note, the Best Western and Hood River Inn are used interchangeably on this article. I will be referring to the hotel as the Hood River Inn from this point on. Now, walking east on the river after you went to the left side of the building make a right and you will see the pier and the Columbia River looking West at this point. Here are a few pictures I took of this area:

Columbia River View from Hood River Inn — View from Walkway at the Hood River Inn

View of bridge from Hood River Inn walkway — View from Walkway at the Hood River Inn

Checking out the small pier, I imagine this pier is for small crafts and boast, jet skis, and whatever else happens to come along that would need a small pier here on the river. I’m sorry I don’t know exactly what else it could be for, but I snapped again a few pictures from the pier.

Pier walkway on Columbia River — Pier walkway near the Best Western on the Columbia River Gorge.

Once back on land, there was an interesting piece of modern artwork on the entrance of the pier. Not sure exactly what this means, but have a look:

Stone Art in Hood River — Modern art on the Columbia River

As you can see it is part of a “Big Art” series we have here in Hood River. Along the river you will see in other parts more modern artwork, not sure if it is for sale though.

Once on dry land, if you keep heading West along the river and behind the hotel you will see an eating area, and it slightly dips down a bit, but you get a great view of the river:

Walkway behind the Hood River Inn — Walkway with view of tree and river behind the Hood River Inn

Once you go down this path it then opens into a sort of gathering place, it has some nice things such as a firepit and grill. I imagine you can reserve this for some BBQ’s or something, or other types of gatherings.

Boulder on walkway in Best Western in Hood River — Nice area on the walkway with firepit

Open area on walkway — Nice area on the walkway with firepit

After you see this behind the “main” building of the hotel it still is a nice walk. You will see a grassy knoll area on the right hand side and there are actually two apple trees in this grassy knoll area. Keep walking and to your left is a rope handrail and then you come upon a beach sort of area and at this particular time there were a few jet skis out in the water and most likely during normal hours I think you can rent jet skis and kayaks and other water equipment. All this is located next to the pool actually so if you get bored of the watersports they have a pool not far, as well as a hot tub there also. Or vice versa..if you get bored of the pool you can then head to the small beach area they have there or have some fun with some of the watersports.

Rope rail — Rope Rail on Columbia River walkway

Kayak near Best Western — Rope Rail on Columbia River walkway

So, basically at this point I decided to walk back to my car and the walk back was great, of course I passed the grassy knoll area:

Grassy knoll behind Best Western Hotel in Hood River — Grassy knoll behind the Best Western Hotel

After passing by the open area with the grill and firepit, I then walked through the hotel through an open area to the parking lot where my car was located. I snapped a few pictures of the entrance and garden area of the front of the hotel, but overall this was a great little walk, I think it took somewhat like 20 minutes but you can continue to walk west along the river if you like to do so because the sidewalk keeps going along the river. I will post a few more pictures in the gallery below so you can see what the front of the hotel looks like: