Pacific Crest Trail : Cascade Locks to White Pass

Miles this section : 148
Miles completed : 2292

PCT beer courtesy of Geared Up.

Washington seems pretty much like Oregon at first, more green tunnel with occasional glimpses of the world outside as I walk up past Table Mountain - Mount Adams dominates the northern horizon, and I can make out Rainier too.  The Cascades seem to be characterised by isolated giants, rather than the crowd standing shoulder to shoulder that is the Sierras.  I follow the trail up to over five thousand feet, walking along undulating ridges, Washington is not as flat as Oregon, though like the previous state it does have some level sections with many lakes, old lava fields maybe.  It is very green here, thick undergrowth carpets the forest floor, probably due to a different climate - it's supposed to rain a fair bit, but no sign of that yet, it is still pretty hot in fact.

A view of Mount St. Helens.

I enjoy a day of so much trail magic, firstly courtesy of Geared Up at 9:30am, he has tacos, and also champagne?  Well why not.  Beer ensues, this all takes a couple of hours, then Bliss says his wife will have trail magic too, ten miles or so further on, an incentive to get moving and in fact I get there for 4:30, there's more beer, chilli dogs, cake, and food to take away - fresh bread!  Somehow I manage a twenty mile day despite all this.  Of course I need to do slightly longer days now, but OK, without much food in my pack I can manage twenty-five mile days, helps to have encouragement from some familiar faces on the trail, from Cascade Locks and earlier.  There's more free food too, huckleberries fresh from the bush, most tasty.

Repairing the tent.

I'm packing up the tent with a day and half to go until my next stop, White Pass, when the elastic shock cord holding one of my tent poles together snaps, oops, well, I leave fixing it until the afternoon, it's a fiddly job, I have to sacrifice another bit of my pack, a bit of shock cord from the top intended to allow stuff to be attached there.  This takes me an hour, leaving me a little short on time, not ideal as the trail now heads into the Goat Rocks, much climbing is involved and indeed this section includes the high point of the trail in Washington.  It's a beautiful walk along a high rocky ridge, the air is very smoky though, only the nearby slopes are visible, beyond them are dark shapes in a grey void, all lit by a red sun.  I make it to camp for 8pm, there's just enough light to pitch the tent, the nights are drawing in.  From here it's just an easy morning's walk down to White Pass, where as I often do I get a burrito for lunch, then busy myself with a shower and laundry.  News here is that seventy miles of trail are closed to the north... I will find a way.

The rather splendid Goat Rocks Wilderness.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Pacific Crest Trail : Cascade Locks Interlude

Miles this section : 0
Miles completed : 2144

The Bridge of the Gods, as seen from the Washington side of the river.

Cascade Locks is not a big place, but has the best selection of useful stuff I've seen in a long time, there's a good store, a laundromat, and oh wow a hair salon, I can stop looking like a hobo!  I even find a scanner at one of the motels and get my Canada form sent off - still not sure it'll work mind you.  In fact, I like this place enough I decide to take a longer than usual break, fully two and a half days, well why not.

Looking towards Cascade Locks from the bridge.

I spend much of that time eating masses of cheap food, cookies, peanut butter sandwiches and the like, then some convivial evenings drinking cheap store beer at the campsite.  Lego, who I first met around fifty miles into the trail, is here, doing his normal thing of working for a few days to earn the money to get back to hiking.  For something to do, I cross the bridge, for which I have to pay a dollar - this massive construction, high above the waters of the Columbia, which I can see through the open lattice below my feet as a strong wind tries to blow me over the side, would have scared me witless once.  There's a good view here though, interesting place this, apparently an ancient rockslide from the nearby mountains once dammed the river, forming a natural bridge, which in turn was swept away following am earthquake centuries later.  On the Washington side, I walk to another small town, Stevenson, just three miles of highway from the bridge, turns out to be not much of a place, has a good store though, and I find a nice walk back along a footpath.  It really is very hiker friendly here, two of the bars give me a free beer, the third has beer for $2.75, the cheapest in US I've found I believe - plus dinner of tacos and cherry pie for a whole five dollars, it's actually quite hard to spend money here.

One of the iconic PCT locations.

While in Cascade Locks I hear the sad news, that my Gran has passed away - I remember thinking when I first started the world travel thing that one downside would be that I might not get to see her before she died, but I went anyway, now I wonder if it was right.  She was a lovely lady, part of many fond memories, and always took an interest in what I was up to.  Walking near the bridge I find a small heart, a bit of jewellery I think, I will bring it back to England to take to the cemetery, not much of a souvenir for her but I guess it is the thought that counts.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Pacific Crest Trail : Detroit to Cascade Locks

Miles this section : 136
Miles completed : 2144

Back on the trail.

I like Detroit, and decide to take a day off here - I can do this now, having made it to the eclipse I'm just not in a hurry any more!  The state campground people create a hiker camping section for me, so I can have a shower, then into town for my normal fare of burrito, burger and of course beer.  It's still twenty-three road miles back to the trail, along a minor road though, so easy enough even with some four thousand feet of climb.  I meet a couple of other hikers on the road, good to know it is not just me walking it.  One of them, DK, is meeting her parents later, they were here for the eclipse, in the event they drive past me and stop to give me food - I'm never too proud to accept food these days.

Timothy Lake.

It is nice to be back on the trail, it's a bit of a green tunnel here though, with not much for views, I missed Mount Jefferson doing the detour it seems.  I'm feeling a bit down, tired, my pack seems heavy even though it isn't, all the long miles to get to the eclipse catching up with me I guess.  I walk past my namesake Timothy Lake, it's a big one, good to see - there really are a lot of lakes in Oregon.  Also mountains, a large and very pointy one is now visible to the north, that will be Mount Hood.  Funny to be doing short - well, twenty-four miles or so - days now, finishing at 6pm feels weird.

Mount Hood.

Here's something to cheer me up, food - the legendary Timberline Lodge lunch buffet, I sit and eat for two hours, salad, cheese, good ham, fresh bread, proper food!  There is meat and actual veggies, proper hearty chilli, oh and so many desserts.  A pity I then waste an hour trying to sort out my Canada entry form (a bureaucratic requirement I need to complete before entering Canada via the trail).  It seems to work, but the scanned pages never reach me?  It adds up to four hours at the lodge, still I manage twenty miles in the day, less than forty left of Oregon now.

The Columbia River, Cascade Locks on the
near side, Stevenson, Washington on the far side

Still, that twenty miles was less than planned, so now I have a long day, including half an hour of walking the wrong way, oops.  There's more smoke in the air, the trail is open, though I pass campsites that are shut.  Mount Hood disappears behind me, and I can see Mount Adams in Washington - over forty miles away - ahead from a high viewpoint, before the trail plunges downhill, way downhill into the Columbia River gorge - the river crossing, via the famous Bridge of the Gods, is at around three hundred feet - the lowest point of trail.  The nearby town is called Cascade Locks, it seems very nice, hiker camping is a mere three dollars, and I find a burrito for lunch, sorted.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.