Map › USA › Hood River / Columbia Gorge › Rowena
Columbia River Gorge e laghi interni · Mayer State Park near Rowena, Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge · Wasco County · The Dalles, Oregon (via I-84 exit 76); about 15 minutes east of Hood River, Oregon
Rowena
also known as Mayer State Park, East Mayer
Nearby Lyle, WA 3 km · Mosier / Rock Creek Park 11 km · Hood River Sandbar 19 km · Hood River Event Site (Columbia Gorge Sailpark) 20 km · Viento State Park 31 km · Rufus 43 km · Stevenson, WA 48 km · straight-line distance
On the clock
08:00 · 09:00 · 10:00 · 14:00 · 18:00 · 19:00
Morning is the dead half of the day: about 6 knots at dawn, still under 8 at 08:00. It builds from around 09:00, is over 15 knots on roughly a third of hours by 10:00, peaks between 14:00 and 18:00 and falls away after 19:00. Measured upstream at the airport across May to September and indicative for Rowena, which sits in a narrower part of the same gorge.
The marks are the clock times the record names, laid on a 24-hour day. The bar between the first and the last covers those hours; it is not a promise of wind.
The wind
locals call it westerly Gorge thermal / pressure-gradient wind
Direction
Kite sizes
metres · typical quiver highlighted
Character
thermal
fills in: Morning is the dead half of the day: about 6 knots at dawn, still under 8 at 08:00. It builds from around 09:00, is over 15 knots on roughly a third of hours by 10:00, peaks between 14:00 and 18:00 and falls away after 19:00. Measured upstream at the airport across May to September and indicative for Rowena, which sits in a narrower part of the same gorge.
Typical strength
Measured a few miles upstream at the airport in the same reach of the gorge, across May to September: monthly means of 9.4, 10.4, 11.1, 9.5 and 7.0 knots, and afternoons that average 13 knots between 14:00 and 18:00, with 15 knots or more on about 45 percent of those hours and 20 knots or more on about one in six. That is an airport anemometer rather than the water, and the river narrows at Rowena, so the good afternoons here read above those numbers. Nothing measures the launch itself.
Thermal or synoptic
thermal Gorge westerly pressure-gradient wind
The quiver, in words
No local list exists and the published wind figures disagree by a wide margin, so take these as indicative for a 75-85 kg rider: 12 m for the 12-15 knot early afternoon, 9-10 m through the 18-22 band a normal summer afternoon reaches, 7-8 m once a strong gradient day pushes past 25. The wind is thermal and it ramps through the afternoon, so size for where it is going rather than for what it is doing when you rig.
Direction to shore
cross-off
Dominant direction
W (also WNW/NW); occasional easterly Gorge wind on synoptic days
Forecast
Month by month
- Jan13
- Feb12
- Mar23
- Apr27
- May, riders' month55
- Jun, riders' month50
- Jul, riders' month61
- Aug, riders' month47
- Sep, riders' month45
- Oct23
- Nov7
- Dec3
windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+)
Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep.
- 13%Jan
- 12%Feb
- 23%Mar
- 27%Apr
- 55%May
- 50%Jun
- 61%Jul
- 47%Aug
- 45%Sep
- 23%Oct
- 7%Nov
- 3%Dec
windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+) · season highlighted
| Month | Windy days | Force 4+ | 12 kn or more | Knots | From | Peaks at | Air | Readings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 13% | 24% | 21% | 8.9 kt | NW | 13:00 | 1.3°C | 62 |
| Feb | 12% | 32% | 23% | 9.1 kt | NW | 15:00 | 3.9°C | 57 |
| Mar | 23% | 39% | 31% | 10 kt | NW | 14:00 | 7°C | 62 |
| Apr | 27% | 60% | 50% | 11.6 kt | NW | 15:00 | 9.2°C | 60 |
| May | 55% | 73% | 61% | 13.5 kt | NW | 16:00 | 14.8°C | 62 |
| Jun | 50% | 80% | 70% | 13.5 kt | NW | 16:00 | 19°C | 60 |
| Jul | 61% | 74% | 69% | 13.4 kt | NW | 16:00 | 24.5°C | 62 |
| Aug | 47% | 71% | 60% | 13 kt | NW | 16:00 | 24°C | 62 |
| Sep | 45% | 63% | 58% | 12.3 kt | NW | 14:00 | 19.6°C | 60 |
| Oct | 23% | 34% | 31% | 10 kt | NW | 14:00 | 13.7°C | 62 |
| Nov | 7% | 15% | 15% | 8.7 kt | SSE | 13:00 | 5.4°C | 60 |
| Dec | 3% | 16% | 10% | 8.6 kt | SSE | 15:00 | 2.8°C | 62 |
modelled
A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.
Modelled from the operational forecast archive at 1.5–7 km (2023-2024), daylight hours only, not a ground station: it resolves thermal, lake and valley winds far better than coarse reanalysis but still tends to understate a strong local thermal. A windy day has at least three consecutive daylight hours at 12 knots or more. The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.
High-resolution weather model (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical forecast archive — best-match operational model (ICON-D2 / AROME / ICON-EU / GFS by region), not a ground station · 2023-2024
The water
Type
mixed
Standing depth
effectively none at the launch: the water goes deep close to shore
Tides
No tide. This is a dammed reach of the Columbia and the level moves with dam operation rather than with the sea, changing often enough over a day to notice at the shoreline.
Temperature
20°C summer · 6°C winter
Wetsuit
contradictory, see contradictions
Currents
steady downriver flow, roughly 3-5 km/h, sharpened by the gorge narrowing at this point
Your level
The scene
What riders come here for
Launch and rules
three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you
With a school or a boat
No school names this spot
Nobody has been recorded teaching or running a boat here.
On your own
Room to launch: tight
Somewhere else
Lyle, WA, 3 km
Every spot within 40 km is on the map at the top of this page, with its distance under it.
Rescue
Launch
The kite launch is separate from the windsurf rigging area. From the parking area, walk east along a wooden fence to a small sandy cove. Don't rig or launch off the rocks near the lot: they are slippery and the water is deep immediately.Without a launch assistant, drift-launching is the workaround, and the wind runs with enough of an offshore component to make it workable.
Space
tight
Rules & access
Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.
Rider tips
- Rig in the small sand cove east of the lot, along the wooden fence, not on the rocks by the parking area.
- No launch buddy: drift-launch. The wind here has enough offshore angle for it.
- Look at today's actual reading before you commit to the drive; published wind figures for Rowena disagree by a wide margin.
- Buy the day-use parking permit on arrival, or bring the annual pass.
- Watch for barges in the channel, and never cross the railroad tracks along the bank.
- Do not drive out for a morning session. The wind is dead at dawn, builds from about 09:00 and does its best work from 14:00 to 18:00.
- The river is 21-22 C from July to September, which is shorty or shorts weather, but 13 C in May and under 10 C in April and October. The season's edges need a full suit.
- There is nothing at Rowena but a vault toilet. Lessons, rentals and repairs are 20 minutes west in Hood River.
Getting there
Airport
Portland International (PDX)
Route
About 90 minutes and 117 km east of Portland on I-84. From Hood River it is 19 minutes and 23 km, from The Dalles 14 minutes and 15 km. Take the Rowena exit, then turn right after the bridge and the railroad crossing; access is also routed via I-84 exit 76.
Transfer
90 min
Photos
FAQ
When is the best time to kite Rowena?
May through September, driven by the Columbia Gorge's thermal westerly wind.
Is it suitable for beginners?
No. It is intermediate and advanced only, with local sources repeatedly warning the launch is not ideal.
What is the launch and water like?
The kite launch is a small, sketchy sandy cove separate from the windsurf rigging area, with slippery rocks and deep water close to shore.
Are there rules or fees?
As of 2025, an Oregon State Parks day-use parking pass is listed for Mayer/Rowena access.
Last updated: August 2026