Day: September 11, 2016

PCT mm 2150.5 – Hello Washington

Another big milestone today, as Oregon is now complete and I am finally in Washington.  This is the first time I have set.foot in Washington, so this is really two milestones for me.  Kevin has headed on to Portland and I’m on my.own again.

We woke up at our usual time of 6:30 and had a quick breakfast and cold coffee and headed out by 7:15.  The evening was much warmer than the previous two nights and I slept like a baby all night.  We camped at the perfect spot.  It was just about a mile short of where all the waterfalls begin in the canyon.  We were facing eight miles of waterfalls then two miles on a bike path into town.  Today should be epic.

Right off the bat we come to a decent sized waterfall which we never learned the name of.  Even if it had been the only one, it still would have made the trip worthwhile.  But it was not the only one.  The very next waterfall was tunnel falls.  They have carved a path behind the waterfall so you walk behind it.  The canyon here is very tall and very steep.  I’m not sure how high this fall is, but it has to be well over a hundred feet.  Most of the canyons here are about six hundred feet deep and to think the tallest point.in Florida is just over half of that.  You could stack two Floridas in this canyon.

We kept on trucking down the canyon and the falls just never stopped.  I didn’t bother to count them but there must be about a dozen that are over fifty feet and many dozen small ones along Eagle creek.  We stopped to look at every one of them.  One pool that was not far from tunnel falls was a wide deep and rectangular pool that looked just like a swimming pool.  If it were not 8 am and cold, it would have been a great.place to take a swim.

The closer we got to the end of the trail and the trailhead, the day hikers got thicker and thicker.  The last quarter mile we would pass a group about every one or two minutes.  The parking area was huge and we stopped to look at the display at the salmon hatchery before heading out on the bike path.

Once on the path, we picked up the pace, as there was less to look at.  The path is apparently the old highway from the teens.  It was well graded and wound around the trees.  We saw a few cyclists on the path, but no other hikers.

We finally.made it  into Cascade Locks just after noon and after a quick break in a park to rest our feet, we headed straight across the railroad tracks to the local brewery.  They had an eight beer flight, which I got, and baby back ribs on special, which I also got.  The beer was decent.  I was not a big fan of their dark beers, and they had only one IPA, but it was a good one.  The food was also good.

I ran over to the grocery store while Kevin waited for his friend from Portland to come and meet us at the brewery.  The store was well stocked, and I was able to get everything that I needed.  By the time I returned and got everything packed, she pulled into the parking lot.  We chatted a bit, then the two of them accompanied me across the bridge of the gods across the Columbia river.  I was able to cross for free, but the two of them had to pay a $1 toll to walk across.

Once on the Washington soil, we said our goodbyes and they headed back over the bridge.  I headed north into the woods again.  It had been hot in town, and there were many open sections on the climb away from town that were also hot.  But in the trees the temperature was much more pleasant.  After two days of coolness, I had almost forgotten what it was like to sweat.  Almost.

I chugged along probably.only six miles or so out of town before finding a camping area with nice stumps to sit and cook on.  I found a spot for my hammock about forty yards further in the woods and set up quickly then went back to the stumps to cook.  

Taking over a week off has made me soft and slow, but it’s just now starting to feel normal again.  Yesterday afternoon I was stiff, but today alot of the muscle pains have worked themselves out.  The feet are a bit more sore today, though.  I look forward to having a full day in the woods tomorrow to get my groove back groovin.  But for now, I am hoping for another night of grade A sleeping.

PCT mm 2129.5 – Volcano’s everywhere

We had a very chilly morning of hiking, took a sun break in the afternoon, and hiked towards three more volcanoes.  This picture is from a second break on the ridge before descending to Eagle creek.  If you look carefully, you can see Mt St Helens to my left, Mt Rainier in the middle, and Mt Adams to the right.  All while Mt Hood is beind me.  I hope none of them decides.to erupt this week.
We got up at 6:30, ate breakfast, made some cold coffee, and were off at 7:15.  The night was cold, but not windy so it was not that bad.  The morning still had a brisk chill in the air.  I started hiking with my rain jacket on for warmth.  My gloves stayed on until nearly 2 PM.  We had to stop for water about thirty.minutes into the morning hike and the water felt even colder with the chill in the air.

We could hear logging in the distance and could tell they were using helicopters in the operation but we could never actually see them.  We got many good views of Mt Hood looking backwards.  There was more.climbing in the morning but nothing ridiculous.  We snacked all morning but we were both hungry most.of the morning so we stopped shortly after 11:00 for lunch.  I ate my tuna wraps and Kevin age his sausage and cheese wraps.  We were still cold so we moved.on pretty quickly.

Around 1 PM we hit a rock field in the sun, so we stopped and layed out on the rocks like snakes to soak up some sun and warm up.  We rested there close to an hour and both of us probably dozed off at one point or another.  We both got nice and toasty.  Just thirty.minutes later we hit another clearing with rocks and juniper ground cover.  Kevin was able to get an AT&T signal so we stayed there about a half an hour while he checked email and such.  

We had a fantastic view of the three mountains to the north of us.  All of these volcanoes look alike except for Mt St Helens, which is missing the top thousand feet or so.  I was not sure if the one in the middle was Ranier or not, but the maps cleared up any doubt.  But Adams is the closest.one and the one I will visit next.

After leaving that.clearing, the trail started descending, so this is the last brand view for a few days.  We decided to go ahead and take the Eagle creek alternate trail into Cascade Locks.  It is supposed to be alot more scenic than the official PCT.  But the first two miles are supposed to be a doozie of a descent.  And the rumors are true.  The first two miles are quite steep but not as rocky as the rumors had indicated.

We got down to the creek level in under an hour and the trail got much easier then.  There are lots of creeks to see, and some sort of waterfall about every thirty minutes.  The forest is pretty thick but the mosquitoes are not. 

We picked our campsite and made camp.quickly.and immediately cooked dinner.  We both ate quite a bit today and dinner was no exception.  Even though we did not do big miles today, we are both getting a little stiff from the ramp up.  We both turned in before dark and plan to get up at 6:30 again to try to make the last 10 miles into Cascade Lock’s for lunch.  Kevin will be meeting a friend to.or foe for more day hiking and I will probably resupply and head out before dark.  I doubt I will be able to complete the climb out of the Columbia gorge tomorrow, but I should be able to put a decent size dent in it.  I just hope I am not too sore tomorrow.  I need to make tracks as best I can to about snowfall in Washington.