Day 118, 8.4 miles

Today I once again slept in! I’m getting used to this!! I hung out at the house with Claire and made sure I had everything packed up before we headed out towards Cascade Locks at 2:30pm. Claire is jumping straight into more Pippin rehearsals, but was kind enough to take me back out to the trail even amidst her crazy busy school/performance schedule! You rule babe!

We parked near the bridge and she walked me over and took a great picture of me. We said goodby and I was on my way to Canada once again! There is no shoulder on the bridge, so you just have to walk with all the cars passing by very closely. It was a little sketchy!

At the Bridge of the Gods (pic from Claire)

Still hazy

A little sketchy

Cascade Locks

Bye Oregon!

On the WA side looking back!

There were lots of blackberries on the WA side, which I was very pleased about. There is also a lot of poison oak, but it’s pretty manageable. The trail slowly climbed for a few miles, crossing many small dirt roads. I soon realized that I was nearing Table Top Mountain, a VERY extrenuous day hike that I’ve done before!

So many 

Blackberries!! 

The afternoon hiking was pretty uneventful. I mainly just wanted to chip away at the super long climb so I can knock out the rest in the morning before it gets too hot out! When I stopped at the waster source ~0.5 miles before my preferred campsite, Doobie caught up! I was so stoked to see him as I didn’t see him on trail days. We decided to stop together half a mile ahead and camp for the night. Today is August 20th and we started and met on the same day exactly four mounts ago on April 20th! We camped together that night too! Crazy huh? 

It was great to hang out and be silly. I’m in high spirits about the WA fire closures. I’m sure that as I get closer, more options will become available over time, and the trail will somehow work itself out, just like it’s done this whole time! Pretty stoked for Washington!

Thanks for reading!!