Monday, August 30, 2010 Miles Today: PCT (45.2) Actual (27) Total: 2,200.8

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Bill was still not feeling well, but determined to hike on, so at 5:30am we were out the door and headed for Bridge of the Gods. We were well down the street when Bill suddenly remembered he’d left his hat in the motel room.  Oh no!  We turned back, retrieved the key from the drop box, got the hat, and once again walked out into the very early morning. 

Walking across the Bridge of the Gods along with the cars is “interesting”, to say the least.  Yikes!  Fortunately it was so early that there weren’t very many cars, and they were all going the other way.  Oh man, was I glad to reach the other side!  Then we turned right, away from the PCT, to begin the roadwalk to Stevenson.  The PCT guidebook grumps mightily about the “stupid route” of the PCT after Cascade Locks, and advocates for the alternate, which is what we took. 

Walking along the edge of Hwy. 14 can be a bit scary in places where the shoulder is very narrow and there are BIG trucks that go by on a tear, but there are very nice views of the river and of the trains going by. When we reached Stevenson, we walked the whole length of the town and nothing was open.  Bother!  We’d planned on eating breakfast there.  We decided to turn back to a Subway that had shown a few signs of life, and then I decided to look at a side street near there.  Score!  “Mark’s Cafe” was open for business, and we had a great breakfast before heading out under a cloudy sky that looked like rain, and sure enough, pretty soon the drizzle began. 

On we went, now through drizzly rain, up the Wind River Road, through the cute little town of Carson with its great big huge lumber mill.  I was looking at the forest along the way, searching for any sign of fall colors, but everything was still green.  Some folks along the way in Carson recognized that we were PCT hikers and said, “Headed for Canada?”  “Yup, Canada, here we come!” we cheered.  At noon we stopped along the road for lunch, then only another 15 minutes of hiking took us to Stabler’s Country Store!  Wish I’d known it was so close!  We could have eaten lunch THERE!  Oh, well. 

Stabler’s Store is a fascinating place.  It looks like it’s built of junk and falling down, but looks aren’t everything!  The owners are supernice to PCT hikers, our our resupply box was waiting, and there were plenty of other things to add to our food bags.  Stablers is very well-organized and super-friendly.  So was Charlie Brown, the ancient chocolate Lab who badly wanted to share my ice cream!  (Mean me, I kept all the ice cream for myself!)  According to the hiker register, if you get to Stabler’s on a weekend, there’s biscuits ‘n gravy that are awesome!  But today was Monday, so we missed out.  That’s OK, we ate plenty of other stuff before heading back to the PCT!

 The rain had stopped for awhile, but everything was soaking wet. We cheered when we got back to real PCT TRAIL again, then tackled the “killer climb” out of Panther Creek.  The forest here is very green and the trees are huge. Lots of huge ferns and plants and bushes cover the forest floor.  It’s like walking through a rainforest, and sure enough, it did start to rain again!  So it was back on with the raingear, and “Oh well, welcome to Washington!”  The only bummer about rain here is that there are some places that have awesome views but you can’t see anything in the rain & clouds. 

In Oregon, we constantly pushed ourselves hard, trying to make lots of miles.  Since Bill is not well, and we have no reason to hurry, we enjoyed being able to just walk happily along at a reasonable pace.  As the afternoon progressed, Bill was feeling steadily better.  Very encouraging! 

It was hard to find a place to camp.  We were on a mountainside fully of dripping wet trees & plants.  But I finally spotted a place that would work, and we’d just finished setting up when along came 3 PCT thruhiker guys, walking very fast.  “It’s freeeeezing!” they said.  “Gotta keep moving to stay warm!”  Off they went as the sunset was lighting up the mist around us and darkness was closing in.  “I hope they find a campsite,” I said.  I was a bit worried for them.  But they are young and strong, so I guess they’ll hike amd camp by headlamp if they have to.  Meanwhile, Bill and I were moving, too–into our sleeping bags!

It’s a very cold night–I can see my breath.  I prayed for Bill to be feeling even better tomorrow.  Hope the weather clears up a bit, but I’m not counting on it! 

Walk with Aragorn to Minas Tirith: Near Mt. Halifirien

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