Day 134 – From tentsite to Trout Lake, mile 2229

Sept 1.

The alarm went off as usual at 6.15am. As we had feared, the tentsite had had a lot of humidity from the vegetation surrounding us over night. So in the inside of my tent was wet from condensation that had also settled on my sleeping bag. And it was very cold – a wet cold.

Slow start, we were still chewing our breakfast at dawn when Spirit Kick walked by, not recognizing us in the red down jackets.

Started walking with sleeping underwear and my hoodie as well as the down jacket and gloves on… But got warmer maybe 30min later. Caught up with Spirit Kick again a bit later and caught up on the latest. We hiked for a good part together chatting.

Refilled some water and discussed the hitching options into Trout Lake. One road just 10 miles from our tentsite with very little traffic and a second road another 5 miles and 1500 feet altitude later with a bit more traffic and a potential shuttle into town.

We gave it 15min at the first road that we hit around 12pm – but with no cars at all, we moved on.

At 2pm at the crossing, Tinkle was quickly lucky and stopped a ride. There was only space for two – Spirit Kick took the ride together with another hiker. Shortly later Tinkle got us the next car. Bill – a friendly older guy who has been living around Trout Lake for 50 years. Bill is a dog lover. As we passed through the neighborhood, he stopped from time to time. Dogs would run up recognizing his car – and he threw some goodies out for them.

Trout Lake is a small community. We went through our town duties quickly. Met up with Spirit Kick again, had some burgers, moved on to the grocery store that also held our resupply packages and new shoes for me. We had trouble finding the packages… we looked again and again. I found again a package addressed to another hiker Florian Eckert. I never met him, but had seen packages for him along the trail again and again.

When we looked one more time, we got our packages!

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While there was free camping in the yard of the grocery store, we opted for the village campground – it had decent showers! After pitching our three tents, we went one by one to have the shower. Tinkle attracted some trail magic – coming back from the shower, we were greeted by water melon, hot dogs and more snacks.

Cleaned up and well fed, falling asleep at 9pm.

Day 133 – From tentsite to tentsite, mile 2213

Aug 31.

Got a little earlier start at 7.30am. The vertical profile looked a bit easier for today. With weather still decent, we made it to the 2200 miles marker around noon.

We took our lunch break at Blue Lake. The clouds turned darker and the wind was cold – it was not easy to find a protected spot to lay down for a while. The lake however was popular with day hikers. It was really icy, we cut our break short and moved on.

Water at Bear Lake some miles later. And we had so much blueberries today.

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With many day hikers around, we ran into two mothers with 4 kids around 5pm. With the kids getting tired, they were getting desperate to find a campsite. We pointed them into the requested direction and moved on.

We had amazing views of Mt Adams just before pitching the tents around 7.15pm.

Had two dinners – hungry from the cold wind… and I need the energy.

Day 132 – From tentsite to tentsite, mile 2190

Aug 30.

Started hiking around 7am. The trail continued through the same scenery like yesterday. The trail was constantly climbing, but slowly. I was quite happy with that. I had been worried a bit the last weeks hiking in the flat section of Oregon about possible tough climbs in Washington like in the Sierras. We had planned for Washington and the resupply an average of 22 miles per day – less than what we did in Oregon, but more than in the Sierras. Of course this was only day 2 in Washington – but it would turn out easier from the climbs than expected.

Also the climate continued to stay humid.

About 24 miles. Pitched the tents around 8pm. Dinner and sleeping time. A good day.

Day 131 – From Cascade Locks to tentsite, mile 2166

Aug 29.

We had another big breakfast in town where we met up with Crumbs. Then we brought our resupply packages for Washington to the Post Office. We were sending 4 packages – to our planned stops at Trout Lake, White Pass, Snoqualmie and Skykomish. Due to the fire closure around Stehekin, we had not decided yet to send a package for a last resupply there or not.

Then came a big moment – crossing the Columbia river from Oregon to Washington via the Bridge of the Gods. The bridge is famously featured in the movie “Wild”:

Crossing the narrow bridge by foot, we got a nice greeting by the lady in the toll both – and a mix of friendly greetings and confused looks from drivers passing by…

A beer before noon to celebrate the last section of our PCT journey – the state of Washington. The trail started soon after the crossing to lead us back to the woods.

The vegetation looked differently. Lush green vegetation, big ferns… it always felt like rain forest. The expected climb turned out to be not too bad.

We found a campsite with water at 7.30pm around mile 2166 – 20 miles despite our late start and the celebration beer. Good start into Washington!

Days 129 and 130 – Zero Days in Cascade Locks

Aug 27 and 28.

Food. Resupply shopping. Getting my gear ready for Washington. Shipping resupply boxes. And rest. So I will let the photos speak for themselves.

Special thanks to Helen and Al – the couple from Oregon had spent time last year at Tinkle’s family’s bed and breakfast in Switzerland. They got friendly with the family and offered help for Tinkle’s upcoming PCT hike. They were so kind and drove us to Portland for shopping and invited us for lunch. Thank you! That made our preparations for Washington so much easier – and I really enjoyed meeting you!