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.