Week 20: Cascade Locks - Trout Lake

 Day 141 - 143: ( August 19 - 21 ) Zero in.         Cascade Locks

There is a Trail Days tradition for hikers to clean up the streets of Cascade Locks before Trail Days opens. In one hour we collected enough trash to fill the back of a pickup truck. Good work Hiker Trash !! 

Trail Days started at 1 PM on the 19th. There were several companies showing hiking gear, talks and demonstrations, free food samples (true hikers never turn down free food) and giveaways galore. I tried several different backpacks but didn't find one I really liked. While I was standing in line, I met Alyssa and we chatted for a bit. I dropped my tent and sleeping pad off for (free) repairs and picked them up on the 20th. Saturday night,  after Trail Days closed, I camped on Thunder Island with a lot of hikers

Sunday, we moved off the island ( camping is only allowed on Thunder Island during Trail Days ) to a campground in town.

Thunder Island from Bridge of the Gods 

It surprised me to see how many hikers were still in town after Trail Days. 

Sarah and I  stayed because we needed to resupply and mail some items out and the Post Office was closed on Saturday. 

Day 144: On to Washington (state) !

I spent the morning updating the blog, packing up, shipping a small box home and a resupply box to Trout Lake. We had lunch at a restaurant near the Bridge of the Gods and started hiking at 1:30.

Hiking across Bridge of the Gods could be scary for some because there isn't a pedestrian walkway (there is a petition to get funding to build one) and the bridge deck is an open grid (don't look down if you're afraid of heights).

At 4PM we stopped for a break at a small lake and Sarah took a swim.

Bonneville Dam

We hiked on for three hours before pitching our tents at a trail Junction. My tent actually stuck out into the trail that connects to the PCT. 

Day 145: On the Rocks 

We started hiking at 8, which is Sarah's favorite departure time. We hiked over some cables and past a pile of logs that are all that remains of an incline ( pulled up and down by cables ) railroad that was destroyed by a forest fire in 1929.

We stopped to eat at 10, because Sarah was hungry ( she didn't eat before we left camp ). As we were eating, Greg ( aka Sir Gregory of the Knights of the Middle Ages ) joined us.

I was surprised because the last time I saw him was on July 9th, when Blaine and I were coming down from Mt. Whitney. Evidently he got "Vortexed" ( in other words stayed longer in one place because of lots of friends or having a good time) in Chester, California.  He hiked on as we ate. 

At 3 PM, we reached Rock Creek and decided to soak our feet. While we soaked our feet, we had a talk about our plans. Sarah is planning on doing 15 mile days to the border, even if it means she doesn't get there until October.  I confess, I would like to get done sooner, partly because I don't want to get caught by heavy snow in the Cascades and partly because, honestly, I want to go home.

By the time we finished our discussion and soaking our feet, it was 4:30. Sarah decided to hike a little further while I decided to camp by the creek. We agreed to meet at a road 13 miles up the trail. I also asked my coworkers to ship my pack to White Pass. Hopefully, UPS will do a better job of delivering it in a timely fashion than FedEx.

Day 146: The unmarked Alternate

I got up early and was on the trail by 6:30. I made very good time, so I decided to take a short detour up a steep hill. At the top of the hill I got a good view of Mt Adams to the Northeast and Mt Hood to the south.  Unfortunately, the photos were hazy because of the heat and humidity. 

Mt Adams

Mt Hood

While I enjoyed the view I checked my email. Good thing, because Michelle had a "how do I ship your pack" question that I talked her through.

Scenes from a creek before the road

I made it to the road at a bit after 1, but Sarah wasn't there.  I waited 30 minutes and started hiking. When I got to Wind River about a mile up the trail, a woman told me that Sarah left about 5 minutes earlier. 

Wind River

She had arrived at the road at 11 and waited there until Noon before moving to the river for water and shade. I caught up to her as she was filtering water two miles further up the trail.

We then hiked to the Panther Creek Trailhead, where a man was doing Trail Magic ( drinks, oranges and chips ). Sarah had heard that there was an unmarked alternate route that went past a waterfall. The hostess at the Panther Creek Campground offered to charge some devices for Sarah and I as she went to town. When I asked, she told me that Forest Road 65 (the road we were on) passed Panther Creek Falls about 4 miles up the road and then crossed the PCT about 5 miles past the falls. This route doesn't show in the FarOut App. Sarah and I started hiking up the road at 5:30. What was interesting was the juxtaposition of signs on the road.  South of the campground there were signs telling hikers NOT to hike on the road.  About a mile north of the campground there was a sign warning motorists of hikers on the road. Go figure. 

We had hiked about a mile, a father and son, out for a few hours fishing, picked us up and drove us to the falls. Panther Falls are 130 feet tall with two tiers. It is a beautiful waterfall.

There is a viewing area at the top and a natural, unimproved trail leading to the "bottom". The actual bottom of the falls is actually 30 feet lower than the bottom viewing area. 

After viewing the falls, we backtracked to the road and started hiking. We had gone about a mile or two, when the Mayor of Vancouver, Washington and her husband offered us a ride. I had doubts about fitting in the back of their fully loaded pickup truck, but she was able to shift enough items around so we could fit. The Mayor's husband then drove slowly towards the trail. A mile up the road we came upon a pair of hikers. Sarah and I waved and said "Sorry. No room", but the Mayor wasn't having it. Another shifting of the load and there were now 4 hikers sitting in the back of a slow moving pickup truck.

The Mayor and her husband were going to the Trailhead we were aiming for. They were going to do trail magic there in the morning. We got to the Trailhead just as friends of the Mayor were finishing trail magic for the night. We grabbed  what we could and set up camp. After we set up camp, we sat around the campfire and chatted with fellow hikers until "Hiker Midnight " (aka 9 PM). We calculate that the Panther Creek cutoff is about 9 miles long, but eliminates 16 miles of trail hiking.

Day 147: In the Bubble

We got another late, 8 AM start. Hey, when was the last time the Mayor of a large city (population 200,000) served you eggs she cooked to order ??

The Mayor and "Cowboy" cooking breakfast

Oops! I broke foodie rule #1and
ate some food before taking a photo.

Sarah asked me to hike ahead so she could have some "alone" time. I did the 8 miles to Blue Lake by Noon and waited for Sarah. When she arrived, we joined several other hikers on the shore of the lake.

A pair of hikers cooling off in the lake

Hikers aren't the only ones enjoying the lake.

After basically having the trail to ourselves for more than a month, having a couple dozen people around takes getting used to. We ate lunch and rested until about 2 - 2:30. Sarah used a cork massage ball on her feet to help her Achilles Tendon.

 I left early, because I was hiking further. I planned on hiking another 12 miles so that I would have only 10 miles to do tomorrow. Sarah is only planning on doing another 7 for today.

Because of my late start, I thought it would be dark before I reached camp. I made better time than I thought and made it to camp at 7 PM. Another surprise was that the campsite was full, so I ended up camping in a small space that I shoehorned my tent into. The final surprise occurred at 7:45 when Sarah arrived.  She did the 7 miles she planned to do quickly and was feeling OK, so she decided to hike on. Good Job Sarah !! My plan is to start hiking at 6 tomorrow so I can get to town and get our packages from the Post Office before they close. Sarah is planning on sleeping in and hiking in later.

Day 148: Welcome to Trout Lake 

I overslept. I hoped to be on trail by 6, but slept in until 6:10. Oops  !! I packed in a hurry and was moving out at 6:45.

I hiked at a fast pace so I could cover the 10 miles to the Trailhead by 11. I made better time than expected and reached the Trailhead at 10:30. Unfortunately I didn't have a Cell Signal, so I had to wait for the next scheduled shuttle which wouldn't arrive until Noon. Lucky for me and a few other hikers, a man dropped a hiker off at 11 and offered to take us into town.

I was able to pick up the packages I was expecting ( extra food I had shipped from Cascade Locks and a box of food I ordered from REI ) from the Post Office . I discovered that my phone isn't reading the SIM card so I can't make calls, send texts or access the web except via wifi.  I took a shower and did laundry.