The Sandy River Runs Through It, Tuned To Teen Spirit When A Swim Hole Tempts Oregon Buddies to Jump Like Van Halen

Up the Mount Hood Corridor, the river unveils myriad beauties. Beyond Sandy High School, perilous pool plunges awaited a wild ‘80s few. Downhill gold medalist Bill Johnson grew up down the highway.

A fisherman reels in a spoon lure as ducks paddle by. The Sandy River is native to trophy steelhead trout, whose fillets resemble salmon meat but differ slightly in flavor and texture.

Along shaded overlooks, the Sandy River is the kind of setting that shapes young lives, rippling over rough patches to placid pools.

When big fat rain drops splatter student foreheads on Monday mornings, tree moss, ferns, and breathing white water are there like loyal friends seated to the beat of Queen’s “Another one rides the bus.” The iconic song’s true lyrics were twisted by early ’80s Cedar Ridge Junior High kids riding in yellow transport along puddle-plagued roads.

When summer comes in 1986, four fresh Sandy High graduates take a ride up the mountain in our class salutatorian’s rumbling red ’68 Chevy Chevelle. Inside are David Harris, Todd Jones, Jeff Bailey and myself. A parent good-naturedly lectures Jones: “Gee, get a tin can for your muffler.”

Around the Ivy Bear restaurant, we step out with Super Big Gulps, winding down to “The Stump,” a secluded swimming hole with a sawed-off natural platform high above. Harris strips down to swim trunks and catapults through leaves, jettisoning his six-foot-eight frame like a torpedo dropping from a battleship’s edge. Bailey follows. The salutatorian eyes me. We say, “No way,” chickening out in favor of life’s further obstacles beyond places like Dodge Park, where currents have been known to claim lives.

We four are refreshed but have fast-food work shifts ahead, when tin tokens for chocolate sundaes are stashed in glove compartments. The coins get quick treats for cute dates, depending on who’s got charm. As in “Dazed and Confused,” the movie on senior-year muscle cars, Jones floors the Chevy before slipping in a rock music tape.

“Slow Ride, Take it Easy,” screams through the Mount Hood Corridor.

[Dedicated to the late Tonn Cummins and the class of ‘86.]

A paddle-boarder and golden retriever perform a balancing act on placid waters up the Mount Hood Corridor.

“A writer wanted to buy one of those houses,” says Lisa Read, a class-of-‘83 Sandy High graduate who grew up steps from the river.

Read, right, a professional caregiver and theatre graduate of Willamette University, remembers a long-ago ice storm that caused a symphony of crackling trees around shoreline houses.

The Sandy River attracts diverse nature lovers, including post-modern hipsters from Portland. Here, a paddle-boarder tests current, entering Duck territory. No Beavers allowed.

Cedar and deciduous trees flank a napper’s paradise above shore.

Mount Hood, technically an active “stratovolcano,” feeds run-off water to rivers and creeks. High up the valley is Timberline Lodge, where much of the classic horror film “The Shining” was shot. Skier Bill Johnson, a Sandy High graduate, won the gold medal in the downhill at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics. A helicopter TV news crew landed on a Sandy High soccer field to get the school-time scoop.

Boulders and bushy grass provide cover for diverse habitat. High water levels occasionally imperil houses built closer to the shore.

A kid from Sandy High’s class of 1986 gets in touch with his green side. Go Ducks and humble Ohio State.

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