Day 28 (10 Miles) -- Finished!!

I woke up eager, and at the same time reluctant, to finish my hike. Today's hike would end at Cascade Locks, a small town nestled on the Columbia River, thereby completing my journey all the way across the state of Oregon. Entering civilization is always a mixed blessing, on the one hand you have the noisy smelly cars and pollution, on the other hand you have nice things, like immediate gratification for pretty much everything.

The final walk down Eagle Creek was filled with more waterfalls and cascades. For those people who are ever in this area, I cannot recommend the Eagle Creek Trail enough -- the grade is gentle and the views are outstanding.

Three hours into the hike I got my first sight of the Columbia River, quite a feeling of accomplishment. I also caught site of the Bridge of the Gods, the way that PCT hikers get to the other side of the river (without risking their life swimming its deadly currents). And soon enough I was upon the tiny town of Cascade Locks.

I got a room from the super-friendly people at the Bridge of the Gods Motel and proceeded to eat and entire pizza down at the Pacific Crest Pub (can you believe there is a place called the Pacific Crest Pub!). Now I get to spend a couple days relaxing, eating, and typing until Molly gets here for the start of our road trip.

I hoped you enjoyed my journal! Thanks to everyone, especially Molly, for all of their support along the way.

Day 27 (21 Miles)

The bugs were flat out terrible for the first ten miles today. It was their last hurrah. I knew that descending into the windy Columbia River Gorge would mean the end of bugs so they had to get there last attack in, and they did.

I opted to take a scenic alternate route in to the Columbia River Gorge called the Eagle Creek Trail and I ended up being very happy I did. I witnessed many beautiful creeks, creeklets, cascades, and waterfalls as I began my descent. The highlight of the day was the incomparable Tunnel falls -- an amazing 100 foot fall where a trail has been bored through a cliff behind the water. So you get to hike underneath the falls without getting soaked. Very cool.

Day 26 (19 Miles)

I woke up just in time be the first person in line for the Timberline Lodge's all-you-can-eat buffet: homemade waffles, pancakes, applewood smoked bacon, sausage. scrambled eggs, potatoes and gravy -- it was all good. However the real star of the show was the fresh-squeezed orange juice machine. The machine literally took whole oranges and squeezed them into your glass. Eight glasses of OJ later and I was sure impressed!

Although I made sure not to overeat as with last time it was a long day where miles came slow. Could it be the late start? Most definitely. The slow miles were exacerbated by the slow, tedious climb that the trail made around the west slopes of Mt. Hood. The views of the summit were virtually non-existent and other notable features of this volcano were bypassed in favor of a rolling forest walk.


As the day was winding down I entered the Bull Run Watershed which supplies water to the city of Portland. Every one hundred feet some idiotic law mandated that a sign be posted that, out here in the middle of nowhere, there could be be no trespassing onto this enormous and remote watershed. Since it was the end of the day and I was feeling brave, I carefully looked both ways, tresspassed an entire 20 feet off of the trail, and made camp for the night. How is that for utter lawlessness?

Day 25 (5 Miles)

Due to the oppressive heat wave, and the fact that I was ahead of schedule to get to the Columbia River (where I was scheduled to meet Molly), I decided to spend most of the day relaxing in town. I found a great cafe with comfy couches and over-stuffed sandwiches that met my needs perfectly.

When it came time to hitch a ride out of town I was picked up by none other than Bob and Scottie! They took my back to the PCT and we laughed at the series of events from the last night and today. I thanked them profusely for the ride and waved goodbye again.

My hiking goal for the day was modest in miles but big in consumer ambitions: the Timberline Lodge at the base of Mt. Hood. The lodge was built as a public works project during the Great Depression and is a magnificent place with a view that is second to none. The PCT comed within a hundred yards of this grand place, and being the opportunistic cheapskate that I am, I pitched my tent hidden in a stand of trees about a hundred yards from the lodge. The lodge is very spendy but I was able to get my room at the right price!

I was able to get a heaping bowl of fantastic mac n' cheese for dinner and washed it down with a pitcher of lemonade. As I wolfed down the meal I looked out the window and, in the distance, studied the now familiar profile of Mt. Jefferson, where I had been a few days prior. It's pretty satisfying to look as far as the eye can see and know you have walked that entire distance.

Before I retired back to my hillside accomodations for the night I ran into, you guessed it, Bob and Scottie, who were amazed that I was already at the lodge only a couple of hours after they dropped me off. In reality it was only a five mile uphill hike but it is neat to see how people respond to the day to day accomplishments of a PCT hiker.

Day 24 (13 Miles)

I woke up to find that Little Crater Spring, that spring whose purity was the stuff of legends, was infested by a large number of cows. The elaborate fencing system that was also the stuff of legends was obviously a failure of legendary proportions. Those were some happy cows drinking that water!!!

My hike was cut short today by my arrival at Highway 35, where I was able to score a hitch into the resupply town of Government Camp, at the base of Mt. Hood. The town was sweltering hot and I immediately ducked into diner to grab a burger and milkshake. On the television I saw that northern Oregon was under a record-breaking heat wave. Even though I had been relatively cool in the high-altitude forest covered mountain, I could see that things were going to be different in the low country. I opted to rent a room for the night, only to discover after I rented the room that it had no air-conditioning!

The town of Government Camp is infested with a plague of pests. These pests are not the locusts of which are spoken in the Bible. No, these pests are the severely over-priviledged children of wealthy families who send them here for snowboard camp during the summer. Since Mt. Hood is able to sustain skiable snowpack year round, this is where kids come to "train" during the offseason. Imagine if you will a town full of visiting kids who have styled themselves completely in the over-marketed image of the X-Games, MTV, Mountain Dew commercials etc. Although unlike normal kids who at some point are forced to get job flipping burgers, thereby getting a little face time with reality, these kids are given mommy and daddy's credit card to enable their own delusion of becoming the next Tony Hawk. I made Molly promise that if, God forbid, I should ever been forced by aliens to choose one community in America that had to be liquidated, that I should be reminded to choose this place for termination.


For dinner I ate a fanastic salad and pizza and the Ice Axe Cafe in town. Since the outside patio was packed I asked two people, Bob and his wife Scottie, if I could share a table with them and they graciously accepted. I learned over the course of dinner that they were visiting from North Carolina on vacation and had a big list of things to see in Oregon during their trip. I wished them well on journey and we said farewell to each other.

Day 23 (27 Miles)

Today was all systems go. I felt strong and the trail was in great shape the entire day. The mosquitoes were the least obnoxious they had been in three weeks. The miles came fast and easy and the only reason I stopped when I did is that I had no reason to push further. This was the elusive "breakout" day I had wanted to have, where you know your body and mind are peaking and anything is now possible.

Before I get to carried away with saying what a perfect day it was I need to offer one cautionary tale. While was taking a snack break I accidentally knocked over my 2-liter water bottle. All of the sudden, I went from being two liters up to being two liters down with seven miles to the next water source. Funny how everything can change in an instant.

My final destination of the day was a visit to Little Crater Spring and Campground. The spring was billed in the guidebook as being one unmatched for purity and taste, due to the fact that an elaborate fence had been build on all sides to keep livestock away. When I arrived at the spring I did notice the elaborate fence. I also noticed a family taking a picnic nearby and stopped by to say hello. In return they offered me some chicken, banana, and kiwi. Score!

Tonight was the first night in three weeks that was completely devoid of mosquitoes. I had to convince myself at the campsite that I could actually relax. It took a lot of getting used to.

One other tidbit about today. As I crossed the Warm Springs River mid-day I crossed my halfway point for mileage on the Pacific Crest Trail. The trail is approximately 2,660 miles, and I had just completed 1,330! Only 1,330 to go! Yahoo! Even more interesting is that the Warm Springs River crossing happened to reside exactly at the 45th parallel -- that would be halfway between the Equator and the North Pole. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Day 22 (23 Miles)

I opted to get a later start today due to the snowfields that I would need to navigate a few miles out of camp. The optimal time to hike on snow is late in the morning when the sun has been on the face for a few hours. At this time the snow is no longer icy and slippery, and neither is it so soft that one punches through or "post-holes" the top layer of snow. Park Ridge was the snowbound section of trail that I crossed, and it was beautiful even though it required a lot of effort to cross.

At the completion of the crossing I opted to give Molly a call to let her know I was okay and to check in on her. Cell phone coverage was spotty but I tried to call her anyway. After a couple of minutes I finally got a ring tone, but a few seconds later the call was dropped. I tried in vain to call again. I decided to leave my phone on while I hiked in the hopes that coverage would improve down trail. A couple of miles later I heard a message beep and discovered I had gotten a text messsage from her saying that she was concerned that I was in trouble.

At that moment I realized that calling her had been a mistake, because a dropped call could be interpreted any number of ways. If, like Molly, I was keeping track of someone in the backcountry I would also be prone to thinking that any dropped call was made in a time of duress. A much smarter strategy with dodgy coverage is to send a text message first, saying that you are safe, and then try and make a call after that, so if it is dropped there is no worry. After 40 minutes of trying I was able to finally get a reply message back to Molly saying I was okay, but at that point I would have rather talked to her, only I couldn't make a call!!! In the end I realized the folly of my ways and decided to change communication strategy downtrail.

Today was a tiring day due to the later start. I am starting to be convinced that a late start almost always results in more fatigue later in the day, due to the fact that psychologically one feels pressure to get more done in less time.