Sat. July 9    Miles today: 24     Total so far: 1,026.1     Begin Washington Section H

Bill on the Bridge of the Gods

It poured rain all night last night, but as we were getting ready to leave our motel room at 5:45 am, it slowed to just a light rain.  The friendly tolltaker lady at the Bridge of the Gods assured us that we didn’t have to pay to WALK across.  Years ago, when I was around 10,  my family drove across this same bridge, and I was scared.  Well, walking across was worse.  I don’t like heights, and the Bridge of the Gods is not paved.  Instead its deck is made of a sort of steel mesh.  You can see right through it to the river FAR below.  Yikes!  I just kept my eyes on the other side and kept walking, and said, “Wheeeew!” when we reached the other side. 

At that point, instead of just crossing the road and heading for the PCT trailhead, we began a shorter alternate route recommended in the guidebook.  It would save us almost a day of walking, and with our packs loaded with over 6 days of food,  the fact that the alternate had less hill-climbing was very appealing. 

 First we followed Highway 14 till it reached the very nice town of Stevenson.  There was one short bit on the highway where there really isn’t much of a shoulder, and I guess it could have been scary there if we were trying to do it in the middle of the day with lots of cars whizzing by.  But at 6:00 am, there were hardly any cars at all.  We stopped for breakfast at a wonderful bakery/cafe called “The Dough Folks” and when we came out, the rain had stopped!  On we went, having fun watching freight trains go by, and enjoying the Washington wildflowers.

The alternate route then turned up the Wind River Highway and went through the little town of Carson, also very nice.  We reached the bridge over the Wind River Gorge–200 feet deep, very dramatic and very beautiful.  Then the route turns off that highway and into a nice residential area, and we wound past many pleasant-looking homes before finally reaching the Panther Creek Road, which would take us back to the PCT. We sat down there to eat a burrito/nectarine/cookie supper at the intersection, when a friendly hillbilly guy who lived just up the road (Panther “Crick” Road, he called it) spotted us and came over to “jaw a little.”  He was wearing bib overalls, a flannel shirt and battered cap, and smoked a cigarette while having one of our cookies and telling us about the PCT up ahead.  “Yer in fer some snow up there an’could be more a’comin'”.  He said all the nice houses we had passed were “retarred folks” and the large mill-looking building nearby, “Why they mek big cranes fer them Alaska fishin’ boats.” 

We finally said goodbye and walked a couple of miles up Panther “Crick” and back to the PCT.  Our packs felt awfully heavy–6 days of food–so we took them off and rested again.  A SOBO came by and said there were a lot more thru-hikers behind him.  Then it was “packs, heave-HO and here we go!” into an almost-rainforest, to begin a long climb to the top of Big Huckleberry Mountain.  We passed a mom and dad hiking with two litle kids.  Good for them!  We met more SOBOs and also a lot of HUGE slugs and snails.  The wildflowers continued to be numerous, and were totally different from Oregon.

We finally set up camp near the top of Big Huckleberry Mountain on a rocky/mossy summit.  The views were fabulous–snatches of Mt. Hood through the clouds, glimpses of the Columbia River far below, and very dramatic-looking clouds.  The only way I could describe them is that they looked as if they had been sculpted and watercolored.  But the temperature was dropping, and turning cold fast.  Just after we got into our sleeping bags under the tarp, it started to rain again.   But it was mega-exciting to be in Washington at last!