9/26/2023
Section: Milepost 2149.6 to 2170
Total Trail Miles: 2167.9 Miles
Distance: 20.6 Miles
Moving Time: 08:41 Hrs
Elevation Gain: 4738 ft
Well, well, well - back at it again. Today marks a shift in so many things. Our direction is different, headed north again, for the first time in 78 days. Our location is different, we are starting back up 1360 miles north of where we left off. And our altitude is much, much different - from around 10K feet to basically sea level on the Columbia. One thing is the same though - the all-powerful line we have dedicated ourselves to this summer will be back under our feet, and now we can say that we have touched every part of it going back almost 2150 miles to the Mexican border!
We continued the rash of early mornings with another 5 am wake-up call. Cascade locks is an hour or so from Portland and we wanted to try to get an early start on the trail. We find ourselves in an interesting situation with this oncoming stage. Washington is unique in that, unlike Oregon and California, there are very few points to jump out on. The options are basically White Pass, Chinook Pass, Snoqualmie Pass, Stevens Pass and North Cascades pass. Oh, and Stehekin. That may seem like a lot but in 450 miles, it’s actually not much. The first section - from Cascade Locks to White pass, where our friends Josh and Maddy are dropping our van for us, is almost 150 miles. My youngest sister, Claire, is getting married in Bend next week and we are taking it off to head down for the wedding. So, all said, we have 7 days to do 150 miles which is 21 miles a day - totally achievable in good conditions but we are losing light fast now and the next 4 days call for heavy rain so… could be interesting.
Katie was kind enough to make a side-trip to quench my basic bitch desire for a pumpkin spiced latte this morning. Don’t judge me. After hitting a local Starbucks we headed east on I-80 out of Portland, quickly passing Troutdale and soon arriving at Cascade Locks. We arrived around 7 am and said our goodbyes. We would be seeing Katie and the rest of the Waldo-Curry clan in 7 days so this wasn’t a big farewell. It was pouring when we got out of the car and we did our best to stay dry. What a welcome from the PNW… Thirst, the coffee shop we had gotten breakfast burritos at when we came here to head south last time, was closed on Tuesdays. Just Tuesdays… which was today… so, instead of a nice, warm coffee shop, we made due with the insides of a local grocery store nearby. We needed another bottle of Butane. It was one of the things I had forgotten to ask Katie to get so we needed one before we left. The shop did not have any butane, which was a surprise being so far into the cascades and with a lot of popular backpacking spots around. We went outside to contemplate our situation. It was pouring, the rain coming down in thick sheets. As I was about to call Katie back a woman came by and noticed we were PCT hikers. “How are you guys doing?” she said - pointing out at the rain. We gave her our sob story about the butane and she said she could run us across the river to the town of Stevenson, Wa where we could probably find our butane. We thanked her and piled into her early 2000’s Suburban and she rocketed across the Columbia.
Our savior’s name was Sarah and she took us to 4 stores in Stevenson before we were able to find the butane we needed to support our march north. She returned us to Oregon about an hour after leaving and we decided to get breakfast before starting since, you know, we were already delayed. We thanked Sarah, said goodbye and went into the Bridgeside cafe where we had a “meh” breakfast and some coffee. The view was great though, even through the heavy rain. At just before 10 we decided we really couldn’t delay anymore and got under our packs before heading out into the tempest. So much for an early start.
The path today starts in Cascade Locks before heading north across the Columbia on what is another iconic landmark of the PCT - the Bridge of the Gods. The Columbia is just a bit above sea level so the start of the stage is at just over 100 ft, a stark contrast to the Sierra. From the end of the bridge, the PCT runs parallel to hwy 14 and doddles around the 200 ft elevation mark for some time, neither gaining or losing elevation in appreciable amounts. At 2 miles, the route turns away from the highway and bends north. It winds its way through low hills and open space before climbing in earnest at mile marker 6, just after crossing Two Chiefs ORV trail. The path passes by Sacagawea and Papoose Rocks near mile 7 and continues to climb along Cedar Creek, eventually leaving the drainage and climbing the western flanks of Table Mountain. The stage reaches its peak, having climbed just over 3000 feet and gaining a strong ridge just north of Table Mountain. From here the path maintains the ridge for 4 miles above the Hamilton Creek drainage. At Three Corner Rock, the trail makes a descent, passing the Rock Creek Pass Trailhead and descends into the Rock Creek drainage where it ends along the banks of a small tributary, called North Fork Snag Creek.
Ah, the rain. I grew up on the west side of Oregon and it always gets a bad wrap for raining a lot but what most people don’t know is that, while that is true and it does rain a lot - it’s usually closer to a drizzle than a true rain. Today was different. We were starting in Washington at the head of a massive atmospheric river storm that is going to drop inches of rain on the Pacific Northwest over the next 3-4 days. Can’t be helped but day 2-3, when nothing is going to be dry, is really going to suck. We know from experience now how ugly walking in the rain for several days can be. #HurricaneHillary2023
We wound our way up to the head of Bridge of the Gods. The massive steele structure stretched before us as traffic slowed at the outlet toll booth. Amanda turned to me with a smile and said “this is it!” She turned around and we began our crossing. The bridge is open, with a gridded floor allowing us to see the 140 foot drop below us in clear relief. “This is high!” I said to Amanda as we walked on. We crossed the 1900 foot length in about 5 minutes and passed into Washington - exclaiming that fact to each other when we were about halfway across. An immense feeling of homecoming swept over us as we crossed into this final of 3 states along the PCT.
On the other side we walked along SR 14. The cars made quite a bit of noise as they rattled along below us. The rain continued down as we walked through the open country above the Columbia. We ran into day hikers occasionally, as we made our way through the low hills. After about 6 miles the open country north of the river closed in on us and we were back in the Green Tunnel that had become so familiar on our trek south through Oregon.
The rest of the day passed without much of an event. Without a view, up in the clouds, we couldn’t see much. Without a vista to look at we put our heads down and cruised. We were back on that old, friendly loam which supported some higher speeds.
We made our way through the atmospheric river. For the most part, the re-waterproofed apparel held up remarkably well though, nothing can go through 8-10 hours out in the rain and keep you completely dry.
We stopped a touch early, wanting some time to practice setting up our new tent. We found a spot by a small stream in the midst of old growth trees which sheltered us a bit from the torrent above us. It was a nice spot with a big ol’ log to back the tent up against but the lush, dense and damp old growth left us feeling a bit claustrophobic after almost a month in the high and dry Sierra. The new Big Agnes is sick. An upgrade that they made from our earlier Copper Spur model is that it now has “awnings” that can be propped up from the vestibule using your trekking poles. We need to practice placement so that they don’t pool water before unloading it on us at random moments but, all-in-all, I like the idea and it let me prepare our dinners under cover and out of the rain while Amanda set up our sleeping bags.
Tonight is beef ramen with shredded beef from a bag. We discovered this shredded beef sometime in mid-California and love it. It’s like a pot roast in a bag and the fat that comes with it is exactly what we are looking for. After dinner we organized our things - a truly dreadful activity in the rain, but we were in more of a drizzle at this point so not that bad. I made one last excursion out to get water in the dark. This was a little eerie because, again, we are now in something almost akin to a jungle here in the Cascades with lots of places for things to hide. I made it back alive and tried to dry myself as much as possible before ducking into my sleeping bag. Keeping the sleeping bags dry is key to success in these damp conditions. We were now under the approach for PDX so we drifted off to the incessant drone of airplanes on final approach over us as well as the steady plip-plop of rain overhead.
