The Columbia Area Transit runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so we called to reserve a spot on the bus to Portland for today. We had to visit some outdoor stores to get some warmer gear, and figured that we could probably get a better lunch and resupply in Portland than the tiny town of Cascade Locks. After purchasing an Ursack…
Tag: Oregon
Day 122: Pause
Today I did nothing. It was an excellent zero day. Miles: 0 Camping: Mile 2155, Cascade Locks (not camping)
Day 121: Eagle Creek and the End of Oregon
No surprise that this morning began windy and chilly again. I’m expecting more of this the further north I get. Luckily it makes the actual hiking part of hiking a lot more fun, because I don’t feel like I’m about to overheat with every step up a hill. The first few miles of today therefore passed very uneventfully and rather…
Day 120: Water, Water Everywhere
Another cold and windy morning but no rain today. We took an early bus back to Timberline Lodge and jumped on the trail around 9:30am. Within a few miles we hit the first of several river crossings today; the Zigzag River. We heard it roaring from the top of the hill and I was nervous that it was going to…
Day 119: Escape to Government Camp
Rain rain rain. This morning it was raining so hard that I suspected it wasn’t going to be possible to lie around until it stopped. During a lull in the downpour we hastily packed up and ran for it. Even with full rain gear it was cold and wet, and a brief respite in the covered trailhead amenities (aka the…
Day 118: Rainy Days
I woke up to more rain today, this time heavier and windier…so I stayed in bed until it stopped! It eventually gave up around 8am, and we were hiking at 9am so we knew big miles were going to be a slim possibility today. The trail was chilly and damp, winding through dense forests. The forests have changed though, still…
Day 117: Welcome to the Pacific Northwest
Today I woke up to the sound of rain. I shouted for Chug to put on his rain fly and scrambled to hide the backpacks under a poncho. It was 5:10am, so no falling back to sleep for me. Lying awake in the tent, I heard some scuffling as the wind got up, and assumed it was an early-rising…
Day 116: Jefferson and Russell
We tracked the ridge we had camped on for the early part of the morning, but the trail opened up frequently giving views of Mount Jefferson in the distance. Moving across an open plateau, I caught sight of a Peregrine falcon overhead which was a welcome surprise. We took a brief pause at Shale Lake for lunch and watched the…
Day 115: A Few of My Favourite Things
Raindrops and roses and whiskers on kittens. Etcetera. Note no lava fields or sand mentioned in there. Actually the lava fields were kind of cool. The rocks were indisputably painful on the feet, and the vast expanse of bleak, black rocks was not the most interesting view I’ve had. But the lava rocks are at least stable when I put…
Day 114: Of Volcanoes and Obsidian
An interesting day today. It began in much the usual way, although later than usual and feeling cooler as a result of the forest shade. But at the first food break, we were approached by a man and his son who stopped to talk with us. Casey aka Chinaman thru hiked in 2004 and again in 2008 before getting stopped…