Oregon and Washington

Well, it has been a red hot minute since my last update.  There has been a serious lack of computers as we've hiked through wilderness after wilderness all the way from Northern California to here, Skykomish, WA.  Only about 150 miles left til CANADA!

Northern California was some spectacular hiking.  Coming out of Dunsmuir (where the annual west-coast hobo gathern is held) we climbed into the Castle Crags Wilderness, crossed the Marble Rocks Wilderness, and then the Russian Wilderness.  The wildflowers in this section were absolutely incredible and I totally geeked out on learning the names of them, wearing them in my hair, taking pictures.  I felt like a real nature nerd.  But it was just another astounding facet of the natural beauty we see every day.

In Siead Valley we attemped the pancake challenge.  Five 1-pound pancakes in two hours.  Hiking in to town I was starved and excited for the meal.  The first pancake was delicious--what fluffy pancake dreams are made of.  The second was a punch in the stomach.  The third was a death blow.  I was in a pancake coma before I could finish the 3rd and sat outside recouperating with the other contenders for about an hour before I could think straight again.  Gotta say, if you can finish that pancake challenge, you are an eating machine and a stronger man than I.

When we reached the California/Oregon border it was time to celebrate!  After 3 months and 1700 miles of walking, we finally finished our first state.  Man, I can't even explain how monumental it was walking up to that sign.  California definitely felt our hiking wrath--we layed it down.  After seeing and going through so much, we were finally moving onto the next challenge: Oregon.

The first stop was Ashland, Or.  It was such a great town!  We took a zero day, relaxed, went out and saw some live music and had a great time.  Even though we are true-blue mountain men, it is nice to have the comforts of town life every once in a while.  After Ashland, we cruised on up to Crater Lake.  Planning on hiking 30 miles, we stopped after 6 when we topped the Crater Lake rim, setting our eyes on one of the most magical sights of natural splendor that we've seen on this trip.  It is such a special place--nothing else like it in the world.  We spent all day just gazing into the crystal blue water, camped on the rim watching the sun set and rise over the azure pool.

Oregon's trails were really mild, crossing flat meadows, lakeshores, river valleys.  We were able to pull 30 miles a day as we passed towering, snow-covered volcanos.  Passing around the bases instead of climbing up and over them, to which we were unspeakably greatful.  But, in the vein of the PCT, everytime the one aspect of the trail gets easy, another challenge presents itself.  The mosquitoes were the plague of Oregon.  Often times they were so thick that you could hardly keep your eyes open for all their flying into your face, down your mouth, completely mobbing you as you tried to walk.  Suffice to say, we did serious miles as we tried to out run those damn bugs.  When we'd set up the bug net at nights, clouds of the little bastards would hover overhead, buzzing their annoying little buzz that sounded more like the drone of a huge, blood-sucking death machine.

The Three-Sisters wilderness was one of the most rewarding hikes of the trail.  The walking was easy and the views were beautiful.  The wildflowers were out in full as we crossed mountain meadows in the shadow of Sisters.  Whoo, absolutely incredible.  Soon after, we crossed the 2000 mile mark which was a trip. Even though there was no marker and we were just in some logged out, mosquito infested valley, it felt important.

Next stop was the buffet at the Timberline Lodge, Mt Hood.  We'd been hearing about how great it was from all the southbounders we'd seen and dang, they weren't lying.  Fresh Salmon, stuffed tri-tip, locally grown fruit and produce.  It was a little spendy but I think we got our money's worth, probably hiking a few miles doing round trips from the buffet to our table.

Before we knew it, we were hiking down into the Columbia River gorge and the Oregon/Washington border.  We got in early to Cascade Locks, hit the Char Burger, ate ourselves sick, then settled down at a camp ground by the river.  The crown jewel of this campground was a shower that has gone unmatched by any along the trail.  You never appreciate a great shower like you should until you get on a schedule that involves showering once every 2-3 weeks.  This one was a mind-blower.  Haha, probably not that interesting to anyone reading this but hey, I loved it.  My friend Lauren also came out from Portland for a visit.  I saw her when I was a few hundred miles into the Appalachian trail--this time I was 2100 miles in and looking and feeling like a wild animal.  It's great to visit someone who you have known for so long and feel like a completely different and much stronger person.  Getting to share how much you have grown is a special moment.  She took Smokey and I out to dinner and then we sat by the water, drinking a bottle of wine, then wrote a little note and casted our message-in-a-bottle out into the mighty Columbia.  With that, Oregon was done.

In the morning we crossed the Bridge of the Gods and started the last state of the trail, Washington.  You could feel the change from dry, mosquito-ridden forests of Oregon to the thick, wet Washington woods.  Feeling like the end is near we charged through the first 100 miles.  As we climbed up into the Goat Rocks wilderness, a slight pain in my right shin turned into a debiliting injury as a terrible shin splint came on.  The Goat Rocks were amazing, one of the highlights of the trail.  Our first night we camped in a high alpine meadow, surrounded by wildflowers and jagged peaks.  Up above, a heard of mountain goats lazily grazed amongst the glaciers, coming down close during the night to check us out.  Yeah dude!  Mountain goats are a rare sight and this was a beautiful encounter.  The next day we walked a high knife edge ridgeline, the trail winding through the rocks with the mountain dropping straight off on both sides.  With my shin hurting more and more every step, it still wasn't enough to take away from the experience.  Trying to make it to White Pass in time to get some dinner, we decided to run the last 5 miles.  Suckerin' up to the leg pain, we jogged it out... Another herd of goats scattered as we rounded a corner and we found ourselves right in the middle of the pack.  I think we measured up, being just as wild as we were.  We ran passed a couple hiking south and the girl told us, "I saw you running on the ridge over there and I was like, damn, those are some G's right there!" Haha, thank you mystery woman for that badass compliment.  Then we snuck up on a trail crew as we came running down through the last switch backs into White Pass.  By coincidence, we'd passed them once already back at in the Three Sisters.  We said our hellos and kept running... All for nothing though because the store was closed when we got there. AAAAH, such heart break.  We went to bed hungry and showed up bright and early in the morning to wolf down some hotpockets and gas station fare.

Next up, more mosquitoes, lakes, excruciating leg pain, and a climb up to a ridgeline in Ranier National Park.  We could see Ranier, Hood, and St. Helens looming on the horizon around us.  These volcanic mountains are so impresive, rising high over all the surrounding landscape.  It is crazy to look at peaks like Ranier and know that when we climbed Mt Whitney, we were higher than that.  Makes you feel like a champ.  By the time we hit Snoqualmie Pass my leg was hurting so bad that I could barely walk so we called up Smokey's pops and arranged a little break at his house on the Pugent Sound.  We took 2 days off, resting up, eating like kings, and just straight taking it easy.  The Matsko's definately know how to take care of some weary, worn-down hikers.

Smokey's dad dropped us back off in Snoqualmie on a gray, rainy day.  We hiked in the rain for 9 hours and the rain didn't stop all night.  We were soaked through and through.  It was miserable.  The next day we awoke to patches of blue sky and thanked the lord for the break in the weather, I've never appreciated a tiny patch of blue sky so much in my life.  As we hiked, we talked about how great it was going to be to get to sleep that night, dry in our bags, making up for all the rest we'd missed out as we layed in our tent, soaking wet.   Well, it just wasn't meant to be.  Trying as we could to get our bags dry, that night they were still soaked and I layed there shivering for hours in the cold.  It was the coldest, most awful night of 4 and a half months of camping.

The North Cascades are some of the most ruggedly beautiful mountains we've seen since the Sierras.  It is extremely remote and every mountain pass reveals a new breath-taking view of the hiking ahead.  That said, the hiking is absolutely brutal.  Every pass takes hours of hiking steep switchbacks, climbing and climbing just to drop straight down the other side.   Then, cross a valley and it's right back up the next ridge.  Yesterday we hit four passes and by the end of the day we were wiiiiped out.  Fortunately, our bags were dry and we were treated to one of the greatest and hardest-earned nights of rest of my life.  We woke to the morning sun spilling into our tent across Hope Lake, had breakfast and coffee, then knocked out 8 miles to Steven's Pass.  From there we hitched down to the Hiker Haven in Baring, WA where we are now.  Watching Forest Gump and taking it easy.  The shin is feeling great, the weather is clear, and we've only got about 150 miles left!  Hard to believe, but this adventure is almost over.  There are some mixed feelings about the end but, there is time to deal with all that later.  For now, time to focus on the last leg of this journey. 

Hiking on!