Across the bridge

It was a beautiful day and the mountain loomed above. The trail was still mostly sand for a while as the PCT followed the Timberline Trail on its 40 mile path around the peak. As we entered the forests we left the sand behind for former ground and walked down by Little Zigzag canyon and on. Dayhiywere frequent and as I crossed the ZigZag River on a log I watched as another hiker walked straight into the water and then seemed to be stuck and indecisive about whether to proceed or turn back. I was wandering if I should try to help when a trail runner came out of the trees and went over to check on her. I figured they would work it out and hiked on. I climbed up the next hill to Lost Creek and found Uphill and another hiker taking a break so I joined them for lunch taking water straight from the glacial creek as I was still without a filter anyhow. It was a beautiful spot in the old growth trees. After lunch we hiked on climbing back up and down to the saddle before ascending the slopes of Huckleberry mountain in the warm afternoon. As it turned to evening I reached our planned campsite to which according to the map was sandwiched between Preachers Peak and Devils Pulpit. I made dinner and enjoyed a quiet evening in the woods. Mile 2119.2 a 21.7 mile day.

As I woke on the 19th, I knew it was time to head for Cascade Locks the town right on the Columbia River and the border of Oregon and Washington. It was nearly 30 miles away so it definitely wasn’t going to be an easy day. But 30 miles didn’t seem nearly as long as it once did. 25 mile days had become short days and nearos somewhere along the way. The trails had changed me I could hike a marathon over mountains with a fully loaded pack day in and day out. It wasn’t bragging or a big deal it was just what I did and who I was i was hiker trash and I hiked. So off I went to greet the sunrise and a gorgeous one it was as I strolled by Wahtum Lake. Uphill had to make it to the post office to get his shoes so he simply yelled a quick “GOOD MORNING!” as he jogged in by. I repeated the expletive and watched him vanish into the trees ahead. It was another lovely day and I enjoyed the hike. Forests and vistas ruled the morning hours and I smacked as I walked quickly covering the first 20 miles on the high ridges. The last 10 miles would be mostly down to the river. I ran into some awesome trail maintenance people out clearly some logs that had fallen across the path. The first group asked me to wait as they sawed the tree with a hand saw. I wanted to be polite so I impatiently waited thinking about all the miles I still had to go. I eventually got pst them and Wales around the bend to find another crew with a fellow yelling “stop” “stop” stop now” I looked at him and the last my sawing the log and knew of I had to wait I might as well just set up camp there cause I wasn’t going to make it to town so i just politely stated “I don’t have time to wait I have to walk to town I’ll go around” the guy continued to yell at me as I walked off the trail and made my way around them. I made it less than a quarter mile ahh was when I had to repeat the process with another crew. I was glad they were clearing the trail and appreciated it but you can’t expect backpacked to just sit and wait for hours killing their whole day. After the 3rd crew I didn’t se any more. At 8 miles out I could see the town and river below but I knew the trail did a huge circle and tons of switchbacks before it got there. At least it was good hiking through trees and downhill. But all too soon as I descended the trail turned to rocks ankle breaking rocks and I rolled my ankle. My ankle has had issues for a long time and i suppose most people would call it their bad ankle but like my knees it had carried me for thousands of miles of hikeing and running ultramarathons and it survived the Marine Corps so yea it is definitely high mileage and prone to destruction but not bad. Anyway it hurt like bad I’m not or to complain about a little pain but I was limping something fierce as I tried to continue my hike. I made it to a small waterfall in a grotto and sat down. I laughed as I looked around taking in the natural beauty of my rest stop. If I hadn’t sprained my ankle I wouldn’t have stopped to sit here; so close to town I would have rushed by. The trail was always teaching me telling me to slow down and take it in; sometimes the lessons can be painful but necessary before long this journey would be nothing but a memory or a story. So I took i the moment relishing the time I had: I also vaguely wandered what I was supposed to do with a sprained ankle. Cry?, yell for help? that made me laugh as I used to my trekking pole to pry myself to my feet and set off to limp to town. I knew I’d make it because I always make it and with a nights rest it would still hurt but I would be able to hike on it tomorrow too. Pains just part of living life.

It was only a few more miles to town and with several stops to rest my ankle I made it. I got ahold of Uphill and discovered he was outside the post office. His package hasn’t arrive yet but was supposed to be dropped off at 430 an hour and a half away. So he had called and gotten us a room at the Bridge of the Gods motel. We went there and got checked in and then headed over to Thunder Island Brewing for a quick meal. Afterward Uphill got his box from the post office and we returned to the room. We decided to go out for milkshakes and went to the local ice cream place where there was a walk up window and a Drive-Thru. We went to the walk up window which was open to the evening air and tried to order but the lady inside right next to the window said they weren’t taking orders there and that we would have to get in line with the cars and order at the drive thru because of Covid. It would have been easier just to take our order. Several other people that had walked up overheard and left. We looked at the line of cars and thought abought how stupid it would’ve to go stand in line with them and decided to just get snacks at the grocery store. We stopped at the store oom the walk back to the room. I sat up late on the porch enjoy the night air on my last evening in Oregon and typed till after midnight working on the blog before heading to bed in the wee hours of the morning. Mile 2147.1 a 27.9 mile day.

The 20th arrived and it was time to leave Oregon but first we found coffee and did the shopping. We had gone to the store the night before for snacks but we hadn’t felt like shopping so we had to do it that morning. We needed 6 days worth of food and Uphill had to but fuel. So we loaded up with mashed potato’s and ramen and lots of snacks and returned to the room to shove it all in our packs. It was 148 miles to our next planned resupply point and we were actually planning on slowing down a bit and doing fewer miles a day so that we could meet Uphill’s family in Northern Washington. This meant we had to carry more food which in turn led to heavier packs but at least if my pack got too heavy cause of food I could always eat it. We finished packing and checked out of the motel. It was time to leave Oregon and that meant crossing the infamous Bridge of the Gods across the Columbine river. I suppose with a name like that it was destined to be infamous. We started hiking out of town and met other hikers including Dundee and his brother coming in. Uphill realized he had forgotten one of his water bottles in the room so I sat on a rock and watched our packs while he ran back to get it. He soon returned and we took pics in front of the bridge signs and then passed by the toll booth and joined the traffic. There’s no pedestrian lane on the bridge so hikers just walk facing the cars and hope for the best. The bridge is medal grating with holes so if heights bother you looking down through the grates to the river far below can be a harrowing experience. It was a beautiful view down the river a train was rolling through along the other side, mountains stood tall on either side covered in thick forest. The sun reflected on the water and boats danced in the distance and halfway across we entered Washington. We made it to the other side and took pics in Washington and then walked down the road to where the trail reentered the woods. Ahead was the most remote and supposedly the most difficult parts of the PCT.