PCT 108 – Bridge of the Gods

Daily miles – 21
Total miles – 2165

Got rolling near 8am from the Motel.   We bid farewells to Mountain Man’s Mom,  Carol,  and headed out of town.   It was great having Carol with us for these last few days.   It is always fun to meet a friend’s parent and she fit into our little hiking group quite easily.

Washington and Oregon are separated by the Columbia River.   The PCT crosses over the river at the Bridge of the Gods.   One would think it is a spectacular bridge,  but it is really a pretty average metal bridge.   Cool views of the river though.  At some point t they will probably need to put in a pedestrian walkway along side the bridge.   The lanes are narrow and some cars cut pretty close.

Reaching our third state on the PCT is a significant milestone.   When we entered Washington,  we essentially had just 500 miles left of the trail.   Less than a quarter of the distance,  and even less in time as we expect the state to take us less than a month to complete. Oregon went by very quickly. 

The walking on the north side of the Columbia River Valley started out with a drier feel than the south side.   The plants and trail just seemed drier.   That being said,  today was one of the most dust free days on the trail.   All of our feet remained pretty clean throughout the day and we were surprised how little dirt there was to clean off in the evening.

We saw a few new to us hikers,  though we didn’t chat with many at any length.   The one person we did spend some time talking with was GQ,  who is from Germany.   A nice guy,  probably in his 30s who is just in the states to hike the trail.

We had a significant climb out of Cascade Locks,  gaining a few thousand feet over the morning and into the early afternoon.   The walking was fairly easy for the day as the trail was smooth.  

In the afternoon, we saw our first elk of the trail.   It was a female that was standing right next to the trail about 150 feet from us.  Hopefully more to come.

There was a little precipitation in the late afternoon and we have our tarps set up over our hammocks this evening as there is a little rainfall coming down. One night into Washington,  and the notorious wet weather starts 🙂  Ha!