2MoreMiles…

Day 153: (21.22 miles)
mile 2313 – 2334.22

Froze our buns off last night. Surprised to see it didn’t snow and that our water bottles were still liquid. The rain was on and off all night. This morning the rain has stopped, but a low foggy cloud floats above us. We dress, eat breakfast, and pack our bags in the tent.  The last thing is to put our soaking wet shoes on.  At first it’s not that bad, but within minutes our socks are wet and the cold begins to penetrate our feet. “Walk em dry. Walk em warm” we mutter. With a loud sigh we begin to walk. The air is misty, but we are safe under our rain gear.

We pass many small lakes and brackish ponds along the trail with small campsites occupied by weekend hikers. Most are still asleep in their warm sleeping bags. We are so jealous. Within a few hours the low hanging cloud begins to lift and the weather improves. By lunch our shoes are nearly dry. We pass many weekenders going both directions near Dewey Lake, and another small, but pristine pond just before the highway.

Had it not been so cold, we probably would have taken a dip in this pond

We know we are getting close to a trail head as they tend to only hike a few miles. Three miles later we reach  hwy 40, a large parking lot and best of all Coppertone! Unfortunately, the weather had made a turn for the worst and has plumaged to 42 degrees. We told Coppertone we have to pass on his famous root beer floats and he offered hot tea instead. We enjoyed the tea, blueberry muffins, and pumpkin pie along with great conversation.

Before departing Coppertone took our picture on top of the PCT bridge, the entrance to Mt. Rainer National Park. We hiked the last two miles to Sheep Lake, made camp and and prepared for another wet cold night.  The lake was rather crowded, and the masses apparently were illiterate and could not read and/or obviously chose to ignore the ridiculously bright and perfectly placed, “FIRES PROHIBITED” signs on the trail and the side trails to campsite areas.  We would have liked to have a fire also, as we were “butt ass” cold (especially after Paul had walked his shoes dry only to slip and fall into the lake whilst collecting water for dinner and breakfast the next morning), but we understand why fires were prohibited.  Hardly any tree limbs were near any of the campsites, and Washington has recently had some outrageous wildfires.  Dewey Lake (in a National Forest) was fire free as well, but they had signs explaining why it was closed to campfires.  They also had campsite areas closed for “rehabilitation”.  I think they should have added a frank explanation as well, something along the lines of, ‘This area is closed because stupid humans can’t seem to pack out their trash (to include TP), bury their shit, and stop hacking off limbs of live trees to build campfires that are prohibited’.  I tend to think that would be more effective than a “PC” (politically correct) sign…”Area closed for rehabilitation “.  Just say’n.

Day 152:( 10 miles)
mile 2303 – 2313

We arrived at the White’s Pass Kracker Barrel store (that’s not a Cracker Barrel) at 8am sharp. It’s a small country store that serves some hot fried food and coffee with the variety of sandwiches. It’s also where we had mailed our resupply box, my new shoes, and our replacement tent from Big Agnes. Unfortunately, the tent had not arrived and it took a few hours to hunt down the tracking info and reroute the package and/or forward to our next resupply. Full of town food and coffee we donned rain gear to head out into the now pouring rain. We had planned to do 20 miles today and now we will be lucky to get 12 or 15 miles. The trail was wet but not muddy and the puddles were just beginning to show when we started.  We did not make nearly the miles we wanted to as the rain was relentless, so we finally succumbed to the wet and cold, and pitched our tent during a brief let up of the downpour.  Sopping wet and a little cold, we bed down and hope our shoes won’t be “that cold” tomorrow, and that we are rainless.

Day 151: (22.5 miles)
mile 2280.53 – 2303

We started climbing up to Goat Rock early before sunrise, which required enduring the cold chill. Several SOBO the past few days have said, “Wait to you get to Goat Rock!”. We are now anticipating an “Oh, Wow!” moment.

After about an hour we stopped to change out our jackets, as the climb was hearty enough that we were far from cold, and to “water the grass”.  While “watering”, I found a Spot. A Spot is a GPS device similar to our Delorme. Whom ever lost it must be really upset.  Unfortunately there was no identifying information as to the owner attached or etched into the device.  A call to the Spot company with the serial number might be a way to find the owner, but for now we’ll just have to carry it. 

As we crest the ridge we get our first real view of Mt. Rainer.  It’s incredible!  Between us and the mountain is maybe 40 or 50 miles, but it looks a lot closer. 

It is covered with snow, towering into the sky, and oh wow! amazing. The trail traversed along a very steep mountain face of slip shale rock, which I enjoy so much. 

But wait, there’s more…we also traverse through frozen icy snow…another fave. Without our trekking poles it would have been very difficult to safely cross this slippery junction, and near impossible for me to make it across.  We watched as another hiker, just ahead of us, without poles finally just sat down on his butt and slid across the snow by paddling with his hands. A mistake here could result in a fall of a thousand feet. As I’m not great with heights this wasn’t a lot of fun for me.

If that wasn’t enough, the trail eventually turned out onto a ridge. This was no ordinary ridge. This was the ” Knife’s Edge”.  At this point I’m thinking, ‘Ya, right. You’re gonna “love” Goat Rocks.  What’s funny is that we never really remembered any previous blogs describing goat rocks…and not a damn thing about Knifes Edge.  If I had known, I probably would have looked for an alternate route.  Geez. 

Anyways, this ridge was a very slim single track that went up and down in a VERY STEEP way…on both sides!  Imagine walking the flat railing of the Empire State building…wind and all.  The trail was littered with loose dirt with small marble size rocks mixed in. On either side was a very very steep drop off. I would have preferred to have worn a parachute rather than a backpack while making this crossing.  Thank goodness there was no one immediately behind us, cause it was a slow and deliberate trek.  Heaven forbid if a SOBO had approached, as there was no way I was gonna step aside for uphill traffic! 

The views, however, were breath taking when I took the time to stop and look around.  Paul of course had no problem, and probably walked with his poles in his right hand and his left hand in his pocket, without a worry in the world, as he often does during downhill jaunts. We had nearly finished crossing the Knife’s Edge, and onto a wider based trail, when a low cloud descended on top of us.

The air turned immediately to freezing and the visibility reduced to 10 yards.  Glad this did not happen whilst on the “edge” so to speak.  We continued to work our way down the trail and below the cloud. We wondered aloud how the hell you would coax a horse into doing that crossing as the PCT is also equestrian trail as well. 

The trail eventually entered a large valley that gave us a view of the Knife’s Edge from below.  Holy shit!  That is a “one and done”, moment. 

Below we were treated to a potpourri of color fed by snow melt.  We took a break, and sent our hiker friend, Arizona, who had flipped at the town of Chester, a text message. (A flip is hiker jargon for skipping ahead to Canada and heading south.) We had predicted that we would pass each other at White’s Pass, which was our end goal for today. He texted us that he had left White’s Pass this morning and we should look for each around 2 pm. We hadn’t seen Arizona since mile 942, Tuolumne Meadows,  (1400 miles ago) but have kept in contact periodically by texting.  We  happily hiked on with anticipation of our meeting. About 1:30pm we see him coming down the trail and it’s all hugs and back slaps. We spent the next 1 1/2 hours catching up on each others adventures and giving Intel on what’s ahead. While it was a sad good bye, we knew we all had to make miles for the day. The visit with Arizona put us way behind, and we knew we would be hiking in the dark to make it to White’s Pass. About an hour before dark we reached the top of White’s Pass Ski Area. We knew we were close, but the map showed 2 1/2 miles to go. It was a long day and we were both dragging when we saw a paper plate on a tree that said “pop up trail trail magic in parking lot”. Would the trail angels still be there when we arrive? With headlamps on, we reach a dark empty parking lot and see another plate which read “magic across the street “. Crossing our fingers we cross the street and find a few hikers with trail angels, Jerry Can and Chef. Music playing loud, dim lighting and the smell of “medical marijuana” in the air we are treated to a cold beer.

Chef, being a real chef, made us a great Mexican meal that was what we needed after the long trek. While eating we notice a note in the picnic table that read, “lost SPOT…if found please contact Acorn the Elder” and it had phone number.  Ah Ha, we know Acorn.  We will call his number in the morning at White’s Pass.  Now, being the only sober people, we made a quite stealth exit using the darkness for cover. Up the road we found an abandoned dirt road that had a cement barricade blocking any through traffic as a place to camp.

How'd we get this far from Mt. Adams?

Day 150: (22.39 miles)
mile 2257.91 – 2280.53

Today was a mostly easy trail hike.  We were in the green tunnel for most of the morning, then turned a corner and were presented with Mt. Adams, again…wow, but seemingly way in the distance.  How’d we get that far?  We also ran into a lot of local backpackers and some SOBO thru-hikers.  All of them said we’re going to “love goat rocks”.  After hearing that about a zillion times, minus any description, we begin to wonder, what is goat rocks.  Is it a pile of rocks that resemble a goat…a really big one, like Eagle Rock?  Is it a place where mountain goats gather or are seen frequently?  Or, are they saying it in a facetious manner, referring to the terrain.  As we always say, we can wonder all we want, or wander and find out.  Our first clue is when we pass a wooden sign declaring the area we are entering as “Goat Rocks Wilderness”.  Okay we observe, they were obviously talking about the whole wilderness area, but still without any hint of description. 

We are still wary, as all we see still is a lot of trees and steep hills covered in trees…been there, done that, check.  The trail opens up into a narrow valley, now we’re getting somewhere as the area is filled with colorful flowers.  Then of course, up we climb…again.  We reach a bench of sorts which houses an alpine lake…more backpackers en route to there. 

The trail hugs and climbs a hillside with a narrow meadow below. 

We climb higher and come upon a magnificent bowl (Yakima) obviously carved by an ancient glacier.  We consider camping here, but a sign says something to the effect that we have entered Indian lands and to stay on trail. 

We traverse a steep face strewn with granite boulders and fine crushed granite like a sandy beach.  Water seeps and flows from between the jagged rocks.  We reach the next crest (Cispus Pass at 6473 ft) and are out of Indian lands.  Now in search of a campsite. 

The terrain is severely steep and it appears that we will have to walk for some distance before reaching a suitable site, as we have dropped into another bowl and can see our trail directly across from us, separated by a deep valley.  We walk to the “end” of the bowl and find a large campsite area that has other backpackers, but with still enough room, comfortably, for us.  We set up camp. 

Paul collects water from the glacial stream nearby, and yes we filtered it.  This was a good thing, for as we look up above us way on the unbelievably steep and seriously rocky mountainside, we see large white masses moving across and down the mountain.  Mountain Goats!  Big fat white hairy bodies, with horns.  A neighboring camper, spies them also.  He has a camera with a rather long lens and starts snapping pictures.  Best part is he has a pair of binoculars that he let us better view the goats.  Alright, edible wildlife…finally.   We eat our moistened meals and turn in.  With any luck we will run into our friend Arizona tomorrow.

Our campsite view

Day 148 : (17.07 miles)
mile 2220.45 – 2237.52

Up early and highly motivated.  We were hungry, thirsty for something other than flavored water, and would like a shower and non-stinky, sweat soaked clothes. We walked through huckleberry fields, running creeks and thick forest.

It was, of course, mostly an uphill approach to get to road 23 where we will have to hitch into Trout Lake.  As we make our way to the road, we spy a familiar vehicle. 

Coppertones custum rig

It’s Coppertone’s!  Root beer floats! 

Rock Ocean and his VW

Even better, we spy Rock/Ocean’s VW van, and hope we can yogi a ride from him to Trout Lake.  Yes on both accounts.  Easy peasy.  We are in town in no time.  There we see Oklahoma, who graciously gives up his queen bed room for the single beds room above the Trout Lake grocery store.  We pick up our resupply, which include Paul’s new Salomon shoes, as his a seriously worn out.  As we do our laundry, which was free, we sit outside the store and talk with Oklahoma and consume more beer than I can remember.  This is a unique and tightly knit community, that actually likes hikers.  A flea market is being set up across the street from the store.  The proceeds from the sales there, which reach up to $20,000 dollars, helps to pay for every graduating high school senior in the town to go to college or trade school.  Talk about taking care of your own.  What a wonderful concept and incentive for their youth.  Once we are out of beer (the store closed) we wander down to the Chevron station, that also doubles as a Cafe, for some gourmet burgers and their signature huckleberry shake. Yum.  All packed up and asleep a little after hiker midnight, with a ride at 8am tomorrow morning we are ready for the next section.

Day 147: (24.75 miles)
mile 2195.7 – 2220.45

Had an earlier than expected wake up call last night. We had camped about fifty feet from what we thought was a seldom used forest road. In the middle of the night a loud truck pulled up, a person got out with a flashlight and headed our way. He was shinning the light around and then locked in on our tent. As he approached, Paul asked him what he was doing? He said he was looking for the trailhead because he was hiking the trail tomorrow.  He then asked if we were PCT hikers? We said yes, and he got all excited saying he had never met “PCT Hikers”. He asked if we started in Mexico.  We said, yes.  He said, “Wow, that’s cool!”. He started to ask more questions and then apparently realized it was late and we were literally half asleep (fully before he drove up) and apologized for the intrusion and drove away. We usually don’t camp near active roads for this very reason. In the morning we heard loud knocking noises and also what sounded like something or someone walking in the forest. It was below us, then behind us, then in front of us, and then up the trail near where we were camped.  The loud crunching we thought was deer or maybe even elk, but when we heard the knocking, we looked at each other and said, Sasquatch?  Then we saw it…a large squirrel up a tree, knocking pine cones out of the top of a tree. After knocking ten or so cones down he would come down and collect them. Actually there were several. Thus, why it seemed to be all around us. No Sasquatch! Darn. 

The trail winds upward along side massive trees

The forest is thick with trees, both standing and downed

2200 baby!

Mt. Adams beckoning

We hiked all day through dense forest,with some massive trees.  We passed the 2200 mile mark and crossed a few open plateaus.  Later in the day, we took a break to soak our feet in Blue Lake.

Had it been earlier in the day we would have swam and/or floated on our mats for a bit.  No such luck today.  While soaking we met two women drying out from a hail/rain storm last night. Fire Starter and Warden, were out for a five day hike and were being resupplied by their husbands.

Fire starter (L), Warden (R)

They described a horrific storm last night which we gratefully missed. We had camped on the other side of the mountain range were sparred from the deluge, in fact we never had a drop. Lucky us! We said good bye and hiked off making some extra miles for the day. Camping spots were scarce, if not non existent for more miles than we had initially intended on walking.  This however allowed us to experience the neatest optical illusion as the sun began to set. 

The bright orange light from the lowering sun shot through sparse openings in the trees, like a color filtered stage spot light, causing parts of the forest to appear to be on fire.  Simply spectacular.

Once the “light show” was over, we continued on our way in search of a flat piece of real estate.  We made camp about two miles past the Sawtooth trailhead, tired, hungry and especially happy to have missed a storm.

Day 146: (20.17 miles)
mile 2175.15 – 2195.87

Today was pretty much a regular hiking day.  We were warned about Washington.  You are either going up or going down, and as such there is very little even or rolling terrain. This is because the mountain range we are traversing runs perpendicular to the trail…lucky us. 

The forest while green, is different from the forest of Oregon.  Here the forest floor seems cluttered with downed trees, fallen branches stacked upon each other, new growth trees, giant ferns and other green leafy material.  We get the sense that if you veered off the trail, the forest would swallow you up and you’d never be seen or heard from again. 

Portions of the forest we walked through today appeared to have been logged about a hundred years ago, as there were remnants of some huge trees having been felled, most likely by a two or four man hand saw, as the stumps were about the right height and “flat” on top. 

These places are generally where the forest floor was near choked with the aforementioned “clutter”, however tall thick trees were abundant as well.  While the maps and apps don’t really show all the water sources, they seem plentiful and easy to plan for. 

Most of the larger creeks had sturdy bridges upon which to cross.  No time wasted changing shoes for water crossings. The last water source we crossed, Panther Creek, had some rock fish traps, of which we forgot to take pictures of.  We did however, capture a shot of ” Double stuff” from the UK issuing his family (via video) to the “Ice Bucket Challenge”. 

While there, the skies threatened rain as thunder rumbled over head.  The cloud cover however appeared to be moving away from us.  We’ll see.  As we approached our intended destination, after making the 2200 ft climb over 2 miles, we came upon a day hiker who appeared to be having some difficulty.  She was out of water and had about 2 more up hill miles till she reached her car which was parked on a forest service road we were to cross.  As luck would have it, we were fully loaded with water (5 liters and would have had 2 more if our platypus hadn’t sprung a leak…again) we would rather had not carried so much water for a 2200 ft climb, but the next water source was 11 miles from the Panther Creek, where we watered up and thus needed to carry water for the climb, dinner, breakfast and a liter for the next morning to get to the next water source.  Seeing that this woman was hurting, we filled her water bottle, let her quench her thirst and refilled her bottle again.  Today had been especially humid.  As it was, we were drenched from sweating most of the day.  The woman thanked us profusely.  She told us that although she doesn’t “look like it”, she is an avid weekend hiker, a fan of PCT hikers and secretly wants to do the PCT.  We told her we didn’t look like hikers either when we started, so anything is possible.  We made sure she was going to be alright before we continued on our way.  Just before we reached the dirt road, and a mile from where we intended to camp, we discovered as water cache with several gallons of water.  Magic!  The water we had given the woman, was now replaced, and we’re fully stocked again.  What were the chances we would come upon a water cache in the middle of the forest after a big climb.  Too cool.  Thanks “Toad”.  We rested and rehydrated at the water cache for a bit.  We also wanted to make sure the woman made it to the cache as well.  The boys (fast thru-hikers) who had passed us on the uphill had set up camp at the numerous spots there and we visited with them for a bit.  Not much after we arrived, the woman did also.  As she passed, Paul handed her a candy bar, and told her she probably needed to eat something as well.  She thanked us once again, and told us she had run out of snacks as well, and hadn’t really eaten that much today either.  We talked some more with the boys and then continued on for our last 2 miles or so.  We ended up passing the woman again, as she slowly crept up the trail toward her car.  We checked on her again, and decided that we would camp at a site just by the road, and where the woman had parked.  Once at the road, we saw her car and an awesome campsite across the way.  We set up camp, and figured she should reach her car by 8pm.  If she did not show by 8pm, we would go back and look for her.  She showed up, 8 pm on the dot, phew!  She told us she was starting to panic as this was the latest she’s been to her car.  We congratulated her on pushing through, and told her that had she not appeared by 8pm we would have gone back for her.  She thanked us and presented us with some fresh cherries.  While we didn’t make the extra miles we wanted, today was, “just right”.

Here we are about to set foot on the Bridge of the Gods

Day 145: (20.14 miles)
mile 2155 – 2175.14

As with all time off, it has to come to an end.  Our Zero in Cascade Locks spent comfortably at the Best Western was over, sounded the obnoxious beep of the alarm Paul had set.  Just one more hour of sleep in this comfortable bed I groaned.  Nope. 

Definitely NOT the "wrong way"

Canada will not come to us, and the sooner we get walking the sooner we can be home…in our own bed.  Bags are packed, we walk next door for breakfast.  We have to wait till after 8 am to get on the trail as we need to get a hold of the Kracker Barrel store at Whites Pass to see if we can mail a package out there.  I explain to the woman that answers, that we have a replacement tent from Big Agnes that will be mailed to us there with a return label for us to send our defective tent back.  We don’t want to have to carry two tents, because we can’t mail the other one back.  If that’s the case, we will duct tape the corner with the perforations and do the exchange once we are done.  She tells me it will be “no problem”.  Excellent!  Email Big Agnes.  Email Salomon and have them ship my warranty replacement shoes there as well.  One last look through the room and one more cup of coffee and we are off to the ” Bridge of the Gods”. 

This bridge spans the width of the mighty Columbia river, connecting Oregon and Washington. It was built in 1938, and was later refurbished and raised some 50 feet when they installed the dam,

View of the Cascade lock

which then made the lock obsolete as a means to avoid the treacherous rapids. We walk across the toll bridge (no toll for us), in single file, against traffic. 

On the bank of the Columbia are many Indian fishing platforms

From mid bridge we can see several Indian’s salmon fishing platforms, as they are still allowed to fish using nets.  We cross into Washington.  It is exhilarating! 

From here only 507 miles.  Only 507 miles.  The fact that we see it as “only” indicates we have obviously become “seasoned” and are confident in finishing this jaunt.  We can be done in as little as 20 days or as many as 30 days.  It all depends on the terrain, weather, and how many zeros or Nero’s we need to take.  We are more than ready to be done.  It is a mental game now and a game of numbers.  We will push ourselves to do a minimum of 20 miles a day.  We have committed to that.  If we can knock out more each day we will, but not at the expense of missing sights, or being sore and miserable.  Since Cascade Locks is only 262 ft above sea level,ushe lowest elevation on the trail, we have a climb ahead of us…all day. 

We are greeted on the trail by thousands of perfectly ripened black berries.  We weave our way through the trail engulfed in berries and gorge ourselves with handful after handful until we realize we are not getting anywhere. 

One more handful and we do our best to ignore the sweet abundant fruit.  Occasionally we succumb to its temptation, and grab a few.  Soon we are immune to their call and focus on putting one foot in front of the other.  We climb up through a lush forest that transforms into shale rock and back into forest.  It is hot and humid.  We met a new hiker, “Oklahoma”, who has been section hiking from Tahoe.  He had gotten new shoes at Hood River and was having difficulty adjusting to the shoes to the tune of developing shin splints.  Having had experience with shin splints, we offered him one of our compression sleeves to wear and see if that will keep them at bay, at least so he can make it to Trout Lake.  He offered us money for the sleeve, which we declined.  He later offered us whisky, which we did not decline.  This made our last 2 miles in the dark sooo much more bearable, and the makeshift site we had to create (as all the other sites were taken at the last spot) more “comfortable” as well.

Day 144: (Zero Miles)

After a glorious nights sleep we toddle off to breakfast next door with meal tickets in hand. 

We have an awesome view of the mighty Columbia River and the Bridge if the Gods that connects Oregon and Washington, and upon which we will travel to cross into Washington.  We resupply for this next leg at the local store, do laundry and soak as often as we can in the jacuzzi.  We run into the UK couple we met at Kennedy Meadows (north) who we find out are Yo-Yo-ing the PCT (from one end to the other and back again) and who are about to leave and continue SOBO.  They tell us that the snow in
Washington should be completely gone when we go through and that while there are lots of ups and downs it’s not anything we haven’t already done…so we got that going for us. 

We finish our zero with pizza, beer and ice cream, and walk to the locks park where we see the original steam engine that portaged the boats around the unnavigable rapids. 

Once the lock was built, portage was no longer necessary.  Once the Bonneville Dam was built (1938) it changed the depth of the river, rendering the lock obsolete as the rapids now became less treacherous.  The engineering feats of the portage rail line (mid 1800’s), the lock and the Dam were awe inspiring.  Time for another soak and a good nights sleep.

Day 143: ( 28.75 miles)
mile 2126.25 – 2155

We awoke to a very brisk morning.  Seems that even though the calendar says “Summer”, Fall is definitely in the air.  Today we get to see the fabled Eagle Creek and we’re pretty excited. 

Salmon berry

We walk on a narrow path that hugs the mountainside which is covered with huckleberry and salmon berry bushes. 

The trail is mostly shady and we bask in the ribbons of sunlight that burrow in through the trees.  The wind is crisp and conjures up memories of Baden Powell. 

As we near the Eagle Creek alternative route the trail opens up onto a color field of rock and growing cairns.  From here we see off in the distance, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainer and Mt. Adams.  We reach the alternative apex point and lunch with “Acorn the Elder”, who lives in Washington and tells us the Indian tale of the three mountains.  He has been to Eagle Falls, so he will be taking the “official” route to Cascade Locks.  We take the “short cut” to the Eagle Creek Falls trail.

It is beautiful, but knee and hip jarringly steep.  Eagle Falls is everything it’s fabled to be.  Pictures can not capture and/or convey the magnificence of its water features. 

Eagle Falls Creek is a rock lined river worn from hundreds if not thousands of years of earth moving water  Loud, crashing waterfalls, make the air moist and misty.  The trail is lined with vegetation that is thick, green and wet with over spray. 

Parts of the trail have been cut into the steep rock walls, with steel cables afixed to their walls to provide some measure of “safety” for those not sure of foot…aka. Me.  When we get to Tunnel Falls we meet a 2009 PCT thru-hiker, Joe, who is on a road trip with his girlfriend.  This is his first time back and was his favorite site when on the PCT. 

Tunnel Falls. Can you find the tunnel opening?

We cajole him into taking our picture, as we are rarely seen together…photographically.  I walk toward the tunnel, hugging the wall and grasping the rusting steel cable from time to time.  The air is wet and if you had a bar of soap one could have had a semi effective shower. 

The roar of the waterfall is near deafening, like standing on the edge of a commercial airport runway, and is exhilarating. 

Paul at the mouth of the tunnel

We feel like little kids, who have just entered the gates of Disneyland.  Once through the tunnel, we decide to make a break for Cascade Locks.  This will make for long miles for the day, but it is “early” enough and there are enough day hikers on the trail we are confident we will be able to yogi a ride to town.  The trail to the parking lot is brutal on our feet.  As we are nearing over 25 miles, we feel every jagged rock, (of which, there are many), beneath the soles of our shoes.  We make it to the parking lot and meet up with Joe once again.  Joe offers to take us into town, once he finds his car.  We walk with he and his girlfriend in search of his vehicle, and who should pull up behind us, but Fresh, who has yogied a ride of his own from Ammie, who we saw on the trail as well.  Ammie offers us a ride, Joe too.  We all cram into her car, and promptly put the windows down.  Turns out that Joe’s car was a few miles away on the other side of the Bonneville Dam. 

Ammie drops us off at the Best Western in Cascade Locks with Fresh who is meeting his parents.  As it is late, and there is only one place open for dinner now, we drop our gear, switch to our Crocs and hobble off to non-rehydrated food…and a beer.  The only place open is the Cascade Locks Inn (diner), and who do we see, but Joe and his girlfriend (for the life of us we can’t remember her name, sorry).  They invite us to dine with them.  We talk about trail experiences and share stories.  They have both finished law school and had just taken their California Bar exam.  They decided to travel through Washington and Oregon while they wait for their results. When dinner is complete, we part ways, but not after they give us a ride back to our hotel.  We consider taking a dip in the jacuzzi, but decide on a hot shower and soft bed.  We will soak and zero tomorrow.